First class squad hockey......
More squad news from our Development and Performance hockey players. On Sunday 11th March, over 30 East Lothiain players travelled to Edinburgh to play in friendly squad matches with Watsonians - a first in the squad history playing Watsonians and first in our history too of mixing Pais athletes with our Development squads. And what a day to make history!
First up were two U10 girls team - there was no holding them back. Within minutes the teams gelled, showing off their hockey skills and delighted to come away with 3 comfortable wins and 1 draw. Well done girls!! Next up was a team of U10 boys, no pressure boys after the girls. Well the pressure didn’t get to the boys at all. Lots of great play and lots and lots and lots of goals! Happy happy boys.
Now to our U13 boys team. Little bit of background to this team. The team was a mix of U12 and U14 Development squad players and Pais players. Unfortunately the fixture clashed with the Dunbar festival and some of the boys in the U12 development squad chose to play that which left the team a little light on numbers. Big thanks to Carolyn Middlehurst at Meadowmill Junior Hockey Club who provided two excellent P6 boys to make up numbers to ensure the game could go ahead. So the scene is set, a collection of boys who had never played together and also many never played in an 11 aside. Super powers were running high, the boys stepped up to the challenge and showed off their first class hockey skills, team dynamics gelled and the goals came within the first 10 minutes of the game giving the boys immense confidence. Watsonians kindly lent the team one of their goalies who was exceptional behind our strong defenders. Each and every one of the players played at the highest level, finishing with seven goals against Watsonians 2. WELL DONE boys!
A delightful comment from a couple of the Watsonians coaches which sums up the day - “Wow, your players are Ninja’s from the East!”
