The Chronicle

Last Thursday 11 November, the U11 Hockey Girls travelled to the Lee Valley Stadium to take part in the ISA National Hockey Tournament. Taking part were 28 teams from across the country.

The girls had a very early start and, after stopping for breakfast en route, arrived at the Lee Valley Stadium just before 10.00am. They went straight into the morning pool round, playing on the outside pitches. The team had a slightly hesitant start as they adjusted to the atmosphere of a big stadium and although the girls kept up the pressure and dominated in defence, they just couldn’t get onto the score sheet and their first match finished 0-0. In their second game, they played with a renewed confidence and, once they scored, they just couldn’t stop! They finished that game 3-0. The final game of the pool was a tough challenge and the team fought hard and ended up the victors 1-0. That meant that Crackley Hall had won their pool and they went through to the Cup Finals in the afternoon.

The Cup competition was against the top seven teams in the tournament, playing for the top three medal spots. Crackley Hall started well in their first Cup game but despite excellent attacking play, just couldn’t manage to score. That was a pattern that continued across the afternoon as the girls struggled to find the goal (partly due to exceptional goalkeeping from the opposition teams). An end-to-end game against Littlegarth School resulted in their only loss of the tournament, 0-1. That was the only goal that the girls conceded throughout the entire tournament, and their only loss of the tournament – against the eventual National Champions!

Overall, the girls finished 5th nationally out of the 28 teams competing on the day. A really super result.

A well-deserved stop off at McDonald’s for tea allowed the girls to celebrate in style before a late return home at 8.00pm.

PE and Games Co-ordinator, Kat Vaughan, was delighted, commenting, “We are so proud of the girls. Their attitude, conduct, manners and perseverance were outstanding all day. We were very impressed with their progress in their skills and game play and exceptionally proud to say that the girls are from Crackley Hall School.”

Player of the tournament was Issey Cleary, and most improved player was Elle Weir.

Playing for Crackley Hall were: Olivia Burley (Goalkeeper) , Issey Cleary (Vice-Captain), Isabella Downes-Black, Elsie Glover, Grace Johnson, Holly Lloyd-Evans, Willow Rochford, Jasmine Staveley and Elle Weir (Captain)

On Saturday 13 November, the U9 boys travelled to Repton Prep, for their annual football festival. Playing were six teams from five schools and they all had fun playing lots of fantastic football in the sunshine. With no results published, the morning was all about gaining on-pitch experience, learning the game and just enjoying playing football. Throughout the morning, the boys grew in confidence and this was reflected in the way that they played. It was great to see their determination and wonderful attitude, they thanked the match officials after every game, and congratulated their opposition after every match. Host of the festival, Mr Clarkson even said “Crackley Hall are always the best-behaved school we have visiting us!” Well done to all of the boys, we are very proud of you!

U11 A & B Hockey vs Kingsley:

On Wednesday 17 November, the U11A team played hockey against Kingsley. We won 1-0 (although we did score 3 more goals from just outside the D!).

Jaz had a great game in defence and Issey was quick in mid-field. Player of the match (as voted by the opposition) was Grace and Holly was voted the most determined. Mrs Vaughan’s player of the match was Jasmine.

(Written by Elle)

On Wednesday 17 November the U11B team played hockey against Kingsley. We drew 2-2. We were very happy with how the team played as we were determined and improved as the game went on. Player of the match (as voted by the opposition) was Willow.

(Written by Willow (Captain) and Elsie (Vice-Captain)

U9A & B Hockey vs Croft:

On Thursday 18 November, the U9A and B team girls travelled to Croft to play hockey.

The girls had to adapt quickly to a game on grass, as they soon found that the ball doesn’t travel nearly as easily as on astroturf!

All of the girls fought very hard. In the A team game, Croft just had the edge in the D and converted their chances, where Crackley couldn’t quite get the ball to cross the line. This meant a 3-0 loss in a game that was much closer than the score line suggests.

The B team had more success in front of goal and managed to convert two of their chances, so winning 2-1.

Player of the match for the A team was Sienna.

Player of the match for the B team was Elsie.