1st XI girls pre-season hockey tour

The talented 1st XI girls spent pre-season this year in the beautiful cities of Barcelona and The Hague. 20 girls played four matches (all on water based pitches) and had five training sessions over the course of 9 days, finishing the tour with a 100% winning record and laying great foundations for the season ahead.

The first victory came against another touring team, Scranton University, USA (5-1) in which, to the girls’ surprise, Mr Schilling was in goal for the opposition as their GK was injured! This was followed up by ‘El Classico’; as Real ‘Ardingly’ Madrid playing in white, defeated FC Barcelona field hockey team, 1-0. In the Hague, the toughest match was a 4-2 victory over a strong HDS side and the girls then finished in style winning 13-0 against HCC with Rebecca Chee and Phoebe Workman both scoring hat-tricks. Ciara Branagan and Issy Malzer finished the tour joint top goalscorers with five while MVP for the tour was jointly awarded to Charlotte Childs and Immy Waters.  The way the girls responded to a tough schedule and the quality of some of their hockey, especially by the end of the tour, was really impressive.

However, the tour was so much more than hockey. In Barcelona there were trips to La Rambla, one of the busiest streets in Europe, to Port Aventura theme park with the biggest rollercoaster in Europe and a tour of the Nou Camp Stadium, home of FC Barcelona. Training took place at the Royal Polo Club and Olympic pitches, while in The Hague, the girls went on a canal cruise and finished with a visit to the Anne Frank Museum, with everyone touched by the story of an incredible young lady during the Holocaust.

Thank you to all the girls and staff who made this such a special tour.