junior hockey tour 2008

The annual Junior Hockey tour to Stockport and Cheadle Hulme was another great success. The girls left school on Friday lunchtime, took part in six games of hockey over two days, had an enjoyable evening meal at the hotel, and had great fun at the swimming baths.

After a quiet journey in one of the minibuses (not both) the girls played their first fixture at Stockport Grammar. The 'B' team game was closely fought but one goal was enough to give the hosts victory - not a bad start considering it was the first ever school match for half of the team. In the 'A' team game Arnold showed some fine skills but were unable to break the deadlock, leaving the half time score 0-0. However, even though Stockport scored early in the second half, Arnold responded well to score two late goals (Victoria Matthews and Sophie Greener) to give them a deserved 2-1 win.

A short trip to the hotel followed. Here the girls had time to relax and enjoy an evening meal in the restaurant. After the meal we visited the Grand Central swimming baths in Stockport with the star attraction being the two water slides, with everyone having great fun racing down them. After tiring everybody out we returned to the hotel for an early night!

Breakfast on Saturday morning was followed by a short drive to Cheadle Hulme school for four more matches. Arnold's first opponents were the hosts. In their match the 'B' team started to show more threat on goal and a Cheadle strike was sandwiched either side by two great goals from Emily McKnight and Victoria Stanforth. This left the final score 2-1 to Arnold. In the 'A' team game Cheadle were the much brighter side and the Arnold girls, feeling rather tired, struggled to cope with the pace and energy levels of their opponents. The final score in this game was 3-0 to Cheadle.

The final two matches of the tour were against Birkenhead School and we ended the trip with two fine victories. The half time score in the'A' team game was 1-1 with Victoria Matthews scoring from a short corner. However, their second half performance was much improved and three more clinical strikes from Victoria, and Sophie Greener scoring with a deft touch, made the final score 5-1 to Arnold. The 'B' team also played their best hockey of the weekend scoring five goals without reply to win 5-0. Emily McKnight and Victoria Stanforth scored two more goals apiece, and Megan Eccles scored the fifth.

This ended a cracking weekend and as well as seeing the girls make excellent progress on the pitch, it was good to hear the staff at the restaurant comment on how well behaved our girls were!

Posted by: Mr A Hodgkinson
Date: Sunday 12/10/2008