King's Hawford

24 November

Sports teams give it their all

U8 Hockey Festival: Mrs Beech’s Team

On a chilly, windy Tuesday afternoon, a team of five Year Three girls travelled to Winterfold for a very successful hockey festival with RGS Springfield, Bluecoat and Winterfold.

The girls played hard and had a great first experience at a competitive yet friendly festival. With all five girls playing three 14-minute games, we knew it would be challenging.

The team consisted of Persie D, Aurelia A, Connie C, Eleanor N, and Ellie H, our Captain. From the first whistle, the girls were competitive and put in some hard tackles; occasionally forgetting positioning and space, the girls then listened to advice and played exceptionally well in their second and third matches.

All the girls played strongly, with some great skills on display. The team dominated the games with some strong midfield play from Persie, Eleanor and Aurelia, who carried and distributed the ball well. Connie, Eleanor, and Ellie showed great predatory ability in front of goal, also displaying great defensive skills, using close stick skills to great effect. When attacking, all the girls are starting to carve out space, and unleashed several great shots on goal, with most of them scoring.

It was an excellent all-round team performance, which provided positivity going forward to the next hockey season. There are things to work on, but a good platform on which to build, and from a coach’s point of view it is wonderful to see them improving and developing as young players whilst having fun at the same time. The next generation of King’s Hawford hockey players are showing great potential.

Persie and Aurelia were chosen as Players of the Festival and the Coach’s Player Awards went to Connie, Eleanor and Ellie.

U8 Hockey Festival: Miss Lake’s Team

Over on the second set of pitches, Miss Lake had an equally eager group of girls, all of whom grew into the game as the festival progressed. Facing some tough competition from all three schools they played, the girls began to work together and find space on the pitch during the second match. Chaya and Alanna marked their opponents well, meaning Simi had space to run the ball up the pitch and a take a shot on target. Amelie worked hard in defence and also showed promise when moved to an attacking position, using the wings well to drive the ball forwards. Miss Lake’s Player of the Festival for her team went to Simi for some excellent skill demonstration in match play.

U9 Hockey v Winterfold House School

In a thrilling U9 hockey match at King’s Hawford, every girl in Year Four showcased immense energy and enthusiasm on the field. The team displayed exceptional teamwork, executing strong, hard passes to advance the ball up the pitch and launch formidable attacks. The girls seamlessly linked passes, combining excellent individual skills to create numerous goal-scoring opportunities.

The camaraderie continued after the match, as the team enjoyed a delightful match tea together, fostering a wonderfully positive atmosphere that highlighted their excellent sportsmanship. There were many outstanding performances from all the teams, and a special mention goes to Charlotte P, who kindly offered to play for Winterfold to even up numbers in our second match.

A huge well done goes to Jasmine O and Adelyn K, who were rightfully awarded Players of the Match by the opposition for their outstanding contributions to the team’s success.

U8 Boys’ Tag Rugby

On Tuesday, the U8 boys travelled to Winterfold School for their penultimate rugby festival of the term. It has been great to see them working hard in their games lessons throughout the term and they have really enjoyed applying this practice within semi-competitive festivals with other schools. The Hawford boys demonstrated fantastic shape in both attack and defence throughout the afternoon, which included matches against RGS The Grange, Winterfold and Moor Park. Mr Hodgkins was very impressed with the increased frequency of tackles being made, but was even more pleased by the way that the boys have started to play as a team. They scored several excellent tries by passing into space and offloading the ball to effective support runners. We played the best rugby that we have played all term, and look forward to taking that into the final festival of the term next Tuesday at King’s St Alban’s.