20 September 2018
Last weekend, our newly-formed senior netball and hockey teams got to play together for the first time, on tour in Cardiff. We arrived a little late for our first fixture on Friday, due to traffic, so it was a case of ‘straight onto the pitch’ for our 2nd XI. Fortunately, come Saturday morning, they had time for a proper warm up before their match! Both matches were tough, but it was clear that the girls were clearly starting to understand each other as a team.
We headed to Wagamama for lunch, but they couldn’t quite cope with the mass order, so Sparkle had to grab hers as a takeaway. Luckily she doesn’t play netball, which was on the post-lunch menu! The 1st VII played first against a strong club side, but put up a good fight to limit the number of goals scored against us. The 2nd VII had a great game, and Poppy Hancox won player of the match.
On Sunday morning we all woke up a little stiff from such a busy day, but all ready to play once again. As the 1st and 2nd VIIs played their second games, you could see teams really beginning to mould together. As we travelled to Cardiff University for the final game of the tour we had no goalie! Netballer Freddy Prime stepped up to plate, despite having not played hockey since Year 10. Woldingham had a great game, and had Miss Pratt in stitches on the sideline when Freddie Brookes and Phoebe Nicolls played for the opposition. Although we had superstar hockey player Sophie Foster scoring the goals, alongside sister Liv, we came away one goal down - but no one was downhearted as we’d given our all.
We all returned to Woldingham pretty much in one piece - just one black eye, some stiff muscles and a few grazes. We had left as Year 11, Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth, but we returned as the senior teams, having got to know each other well, made new friends and had lots of fun.
Lauren Hindley, Sports Ribbon
