GIRLS’ AND BOYS’ HOCKEY SUCCESS CONTINUES AT CHRIST COLLEGE
12 Aug 2016
THE SPORT OF HOCKEY CONTINUES TO GO FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH AT CHRIST COLLEGE UNDER THE EXPERT COACHING OF PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY COACH, CHRIS MARRIOTT AND OUR DEDICATED MASTER IN CHARGE OF HOCKEY, DR DOMINIC PHELPS.
After a fantastic season for the girls’ teams the U18, U16 and U14 squads were regional and county champions with the U18s and U14s coming third in the National Finals. The 2nd XI Girls’ Hockey team also had a storming season being unbeatable across every game they played across the term against some extremely tough competition. It was a testament to their resilience, determination and excellent teamwork that they finished the season unbeaten.
The boys’ season has been one of the strongest for some considerable time with the 1st XI winning every game of the season bar the final match when an under-strength team travelled away to play the University of South Wales 1st XI. With the regional, county and national finals all to come over the next four months, there’s much to look forward to.
On top of their school commitments, four of Christ College 1st XI have just returned from representing Wales at the test series in Lausanne, Switzerland with a clean sweep of wins.
Local Brecon pupils Jet and Harry played for the U16 team while Tom and Ben featured in the U18 squad. The U16s played a seven-match series of a new Hockey Fives format as well as a two-match regular eleven-a-side tests and won both series, outscoring the Swiss hosts by a significant margin over all matches. Harry was given the honour of captaining Wales in the first test. Jet also played in that game but injury denied him the chance to repeat his good performance in the second test the next day. Jet had performed well in the Fives format and the full squad was weaker without him.
Tom and Ben both featured in the U18s 3-0 ‘blackwash’ at the same venue. Ben, being the new member of the squad, sat out the first game but got decent pitch minutes in the next two matches and showed some of the form that has helped the school’s 1st XI to success this year.
Christ College’s Professional Hockey Coach, Chris Marriott travelled on the tour as coach of the U16s and will be leading them through the rest of the season which sees them play a two-match series on the Commonwealth Games pitch in Glasgow and the European Championships in Vilnius, Lithuania. Harry and Jet will no doubt continue to work hard to stay in the squad following selection which takes place in six weeks’ time.
Similarly, Tom and Ben are both fighting for places in the U18 squad who have a test series against Ulster, France and the European Champions, Glasgow, to look forward to.