On a very hot and sunny afternoon the Under 14 B team travelled to Taunton to play in a friendly tournament against King’s College, Taunton School and Queen’s Taunton. The girls were excited to play despite the heat of the day.

The girls adapted well to playing 11 aside hockey and we prioritized using the width and height of the pitch to create space. In the first match the girls had good ball pace and strong leads into space which enabled players to pass the ball around the opponents defense. At half term we talked about good positions for forwards to get into in the D. The girls took the feedback and worked hard to get to top of the D, back post and having an early shot which resulted in a 4-0 victory.

The second match started slow as the girls struggled to keep their intensity high in the heat. We lost our structure which resulted in over crowding in the middle. We tried to go through defenders which resulted in a lose of possession. Our defense worked hard to keep the ball out of our D.

The third match the girls worked on not diving in to make a tackle but to use their body and stick to channel players out wide and protect the middle of the pitch. We moved the ball on early and played some great hockey. The final result was a 1-0 victory to SG.

Well done girls on a fantastic start to the season! Plenty to work on moving forward but overall I was extremely impressed with every player’s attitude and determination on the pitch.