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We are unbelievably proud of our U14 Hockey superstars who became National Champions on Monday afternoon! We won every game and Miss Withers describes the change in atmosphere when we pulled back to 1-1 as ‘the moment we realised that we could do it’. Thank you to Miss Withers and Mrs Scovell for their coaching and continued support, Mrs Miller for minibus duties and all the parents who came to support. Here, Daisy has provided us with a tournament report from this very exciting day:

After winning the county and regional tournaments, the TWGGS U14 hockey team ventured up to Nottingham hockey centre for the national tournament on the 5th of February . And, for the first time in TWGGS history, we won the national tournament!

The team travelled up to Nottingham on Sunday on the mini bus ( driven by Mrs Miller), and stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn . The next day, the squad woke up early, in order to get to the hockey centre for a warm up and professional photo. 

After stretching and a strict 15 minute warm up on the pitch, TWGGS played their first match against Kings Macclesfield. Even though the opposition started without TWGGS team on the pitch and in position, the players managed to quickly get in formation, without letting a single goal through in the first match, thanks to our amazing goal keeper, Lizzie. The first match was a great win, with the team scoring 4 goals from a range of players. 

Next, TWGGS were to take on Presdales. This match was tougher than the previous, however TWGGS managed to score 3 goals, the third slapped in the air to the goal by Tabbi. We only conceded 1 goal; this was a great start to the national tournament. 

So far, the team had won 2/2 matches, and in order to get through to the final, we needed to win the last group stage match. This match began with TWGGS scoring an early goal, and we were one up for the majority of the game. However, in the second half, the very physical opposition scored, taking it to a tie, but the TWGGS girls weren’t going to stop there. Within seconds of the equaliser , Tilly pushed the ball back to Anjalie, who dribbled through the middle of the pitch, around all of their midfielders and the defenders, drew the goalie out and secured the win with a decisive hit into the corner. Soon after, the match ended and the team had made it through to the national finals after a well deserved win. 

We then had to wait 1 hour and 40 minutes until the next match, however as soon as we hit the pitch we managed to focus. The final was not going to be easy though, and the opponent's King Edward VI Southampton scored early on in the first half - this was the first time all day we had been behind. Even though TWGGS were playing well we were having to work really hard as a team. On the attack we forced a number of short corners until finally our star player Anjalie took the ball herself from a long corner, and once again dribbled past multiple defenders, gave herself room and hit the ball into the edge of the goal, equalising to score in the final. Hope was not lost. Finally, in the last two minutes, TWGGS had one final short corner. Charley powerfully injected the ball to the top of the D, where Anjalie skilled past the first defender runner, and flicked it into the netting- TWGGS were 2-1 up! In the last minute, the other team got the ball into our D, however with Alice’s superb tackle, TWGGS were safe. Shortly after, the umpire's whistle blew and TWGGS had done it - we had won the national final! After being 1-0 down for the majority of the match, the team amazingly managed to pull together for a 2-1 victory!!

After lots of practice sessions and running training, the committed team deserved their success, and proudly received their gold medals and trophy from the England hockey manager. 

Every single player of the squad played throughout the tournament, and everyone contributed, whether it was a goal, major tackle, big pass or eliminating dribbling.

The team would like to say a massive thank you to Miss Withers and Mrs Scovell, for providing us with support, extra training, tactics and cool quarter zips to wear. Also thanks to Mrs Miller for driving us all the way to Nottingham and back and the large amount of TWGGS parents and grandparents who came to cheer us on.