U16s and U13 Boys Tournament
Posted by Nobody on 16 May 2011
In an exciting tournament that saw a number of motivated juniors have a great day out, the Leceister Westleigh hockey club hosted a tournament to finish off the hockey season. In an early start the U13s travelled to Leceister under the able organisation and guidance of Lesley Easton, Robyn Wright and an army of mums and dads.
At the ground it was then over to Matthew Bowden, as coach extraordinaire who, handled the strategies and positional aspects of the team. The juniors played exceedingly well and put a particularly strong effort against Burton, who were one of the strongest teams at this tournament, the result being a draw.
The U13s finished 3rd in their group and then went onto a playoff game to decide their final placing. A huge thanks needs to go out to all the organisers, coach, umpires and taxi drivers that braved the early start to be there.
Later in the day, the U16s met and beetled off to Leceister to have their turn of glory. A tournament with a very high level of hockey turned out to be a complete load of fun for all those concerned. Organisation from Del Bowie and Jackie Rose had covered everything from taxis, food, drink and rastafarian hair. Del had even organised a bag carrier in the form of Plugsly Flowers...
The hockey was slow to start from the U16s with Jeremy Wan only waking up after the 3rd game. Exceptional play from all the youngsters and a string of goals from Ally Rose and Greg Summers meant that the U16s had a real chance to be one of the top clubs there.
The U16s played all their games with excellent comraderie and sportsmanship, ate all the food Jackie had provided and anything that walked past their base camp. Winning both of the friendlies (including the Coach and Team friendly against SLV) resulted in a day enjoyed by all. The final game played was that of the 5/6th playoff which Northampton won to be crowned 5th out of the 12 teams that entered. Belper won the tournament with Melton second with some monster U16s (grown in a chemistry lab somewhere) but the most enjoyable day was had by all.
Huge vote of thanks goes to drivers: Steve Summers and Jeff Moran; feeders and massive support: the Rose family (particularly Jackie); team organiser and umpire: Del Bowie. A big thanks also goes to Jake and his dad John for being there and helping Northampton Hockey Club. Thankz to the boyz: Ally, Jeremy, Greg, Anthony, Lewis, Tim, Mark, Patrick, Jake and Ben.
