Sporting success for Hull Collegiate Year 5 pupil Xavier in Roller Hockey.

15 Jun 2018

Top Goal Scorer in the U11’s Northern Counties Roller Hockey 2018

Xavier plays U11s & U13s for Grimsby Red Hawks. This season he emerged as Top Goal Scorer in the U11s Northern Counties League with a cumulative tally of 50 goals. He also ranked number 5 in the U13s league with 17 goals.

Xavier has made the England U13s squad for the Portugal tour next Easter.

He absolutely loves roller hockey, he has been playing since he was four years old.

Alison, Xavier’s Mum, said ”It has been a very exciting season. We love to watch Xavier play. He works extremely hard and we are very proud of him.”

Xavier said, ”I love roller hockey. It’s a really fast paced game. I think it’s cool I’m the top scorer and I’m looking forward to the tour next year.”

Roller hockey is a fast, exciting form of hockey played on a dry surface, using quad-skates. Games are played with a keeper and 4 mid-field players.

Early records suggest the game was first played in 1878 in London. Today over 60 countries are registered with the International Roller Hockey Federation. The top teams are Portugal and Spain. France, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland and England are regular finalist in international competitions.

There are several international competitions with club and national teams, for ladies and men. Though, mixed teams are allowed for all youth games up to U17s.

Youth inter-club matches generally run for 24 minutes with a 5 minute interval. International youth games are extended to 40 minutes, the time is divided into 5 sets, with 2 minute intervals between each set.

Kicking the ball, or passing it overhead are disallowed. So is making body contact with an opponent, which is why players learn the skating manoeuvre called a ‘hockey stop’, this enables them to halt or change direction instantly while travelling at high speed.