Romsey U10s kick-started their hockey season with an outstanding team performance at the Bournemouth tournament on Sunday 6th October.
The team of eight was unbeaten in all six matches, scoring 28 goals between them and only letting in a single one! All children played in every position demonstrating excellent versatility by responding well to coaching.
It was lovely to see them making full use of the pitch to keep possession and demonstrating some lovely passing which they had been practicing in training. There was lots of exceptional team play with everyone working for each other off the ball, a great recipe for success for the coming season.
Well done Caitlin, Grace, Camilla, Daisy, Anna, Henry, Charlie and Oscar.
Junior Awards, Fun Day and BBQ 2019
Almost 100 junior members, their families, coaches and managers enjoyed a great celebration of the season on Saturday afternoon at Romsey School.
Everyone, parents included, were divided into team and they played a fun round robin tournament with a few special rules. No one could tackle a mini unless you were a mini yourself and extra points were given to each team by the umpires for sportsmanship at the end of each game.
In the end Rufus’s team pipped Noah’s side to the title and the winners enjoyed a box of chocolates to celebrate!
After the games came the BBQ, chef’s Simeon and Jo Field, Rex and Linda Taylor, Pete O’Hara and Clare Cooper coped brilliantly with demand and much food and drink was consumed. Thank you to everyone else that assisted and those that brought along the cakes.
To finish the season awards were given to each age group for their Player of the Season and their Most Improved Player. The winners were as follows:
| 2019 Player of the Season | 2019 Most Improved Player | |
| U8 Boys | Zach Woodgate-Jones | Hamish Nicholson |
| U8 Girls | Cherry Cadge | Grace Gomarsall |
| U10 Boys | Jake Attfield | Ben Gladstone |
| U10 Girls | Caitlin Jupp | Clara Fuller |
| U12 Boys | Rupert Willes | Tom Westmore |
| U12 Girls | Katie Butson | Eliza Herbert |
| U14 Boys | Lorne Thomson | Harry Garton |
| U14 Girls | Hannah Procter | Sadie Franklin |
| U16 Boys | Rob Budden | Rufus Taylor |
| U16 Girls | Alex Orak | Jess Grout |
The Bonham Cup for the Most Improved Junior Player was awarded to Alex Orak who has excellent both in the junior section and playing for the ladies – she has gone from ladies 4s to end the season playing for the ladies 1s.
The Junior Club Person of the Year was awarded to Noah Cooper who, despite not doing Duke Of Edinburgh, still turned up to assist in coaching the minis every Sunday morning during the season. Well done, and thank you Noah.
U8s at Andover – the future is bright, the future is yellow!
The last tournament of the season should have been a celebration of the season in the spring sunshine, but a combination of the clocks change and a cold wind made it tougher than expected for all. A full squad of regulars for the season, plus William playing in his second tournament and Rory making his debut gave the stand-in coach for the day a selection challenge in all games.
The team started strongly against Andover B, dominating the game but not getting close to scoring. The opposition were very strong in the tackle, sometimes putting anything in the way to stop the Romsey attacks. Eventually the pressure told and Zac crossed for Henry for the first, and they then combined again for the 2nd just before the final whistle with a very sharp first time finish from Zac. A 2-0 victory was a solid start.
The second game was against Trojans B who were a shadow of the A team that were held to 1-1 in the previous tournament. Zac was properly warmed up with an appetite for more goals to add to his season’s tally with 2 more goals scored quickly after the start. Hamish began to win tackles in midfield and showed real pace down the right escaping tackles before scoring at the near post. Trojans struggled to keep the ball with Cherry particularly showing awareness to look up and pass after winning tackles. The early goals enabled plenty of substitutions and Rory made his first appearance for the team. After a rest on the sidelines, Zac came back on to score a 4th which was the final result.
Southampton B only turned up with 5 players causing too many selection headaches for the stand-in coach as I agreed to match their number. Their 5 players were stronger than expected and matched the starting team, with Grace showing great determination to get strong and low in the tackle to win back possession. For the final few minutes, Zac and Henry came on in their last game to try to win the game. Unfortunately, their shots either narrowly missed, were stopped by feet and a ‘goal’ disallowed as Zac couldn’t score directly from a free hit. A 0-0 finish was disappointing for the team, but it was the coach’s fault for not getting the goals first.
The team bounced back against Winchester B with a strong 4-0 victory with Zac getting another hat-trick and Henry also getting on the score-sheet. The highlight of this game was Henry’s determination to sprint 40 yards down the pitch to stop Zac’s pass just before it went off the pitch. Zac had followed up and managed to knock in Henry’s cross, but he definitely owed that goal to Henry’s efforts.
The penultimate game was against New Forest who beat our young side 4-0 earlier in the season. This was a much more competitive game with Romsey just dominating possession and territory, but Emma and William made critical tackles when they were about to break up the pitch. The team made it difficult for New Forest on sideline-hits, making a ring to make it easier to win back the ball. But they also managed to pass their own side-line hits to team-mates showing improvement during the season. Zac scored another goal to put Romsey 1-0 ahead, but unfortunately New Forest managed to escape once and score in the last couple of minutes to level the match at 1-1, which was a fair result after a close match.
The final game was against Andover C, although early on it was clear that this was not a weak team. They tackled as strongly as the B team in the first game and we struggled to get around them either with lots of action on the right hand side. Olivia was getting more involved having warmed up and managed to put in several good tackles to win back possession. As legs and brains tired at the end of the tournament though, Andover escaped our high defensive line and ran through to open the scoring. Zac managed to level with his final goal for the Under 8s after a very impressive, high scoring season. But it didn’t take Andover long to retake the lead after another break and we were down 1-2. Noah showed his skills developed over the season to beat a player and then ran on strongly towards goal. However a great Andover tackle won them the ball with the final whistle coming shortly thereafter.
Although a disappointing finish to another good tournament, this young squad has improved so much during the year thanks to their own efforts and Super Coach Stuart. Stuart – all us parents are very grateful to you for your time, commitment, knowledge and enthusiasm for teaching our children so well over the past season. Thank you very much!
U10 Girls In2Hockey
Our u10 girls travelled to Haslemere for the Hampshire round of the In2Hockey competition yesterday.
They had a great day with a mix of results and finished well placed in their group but missed out on a playoff place.
Minis enjoy the sunshine
Last training session of the season so the minis enjoyed some fun and games in the sunshine this morning 😀
U10s In2Hockey
Good luck to our future stars in the Hampshire In2Hockey Championship today in Haslemere👍
Full report and photos later😀
U10 Boys show promise at Trojans
Sunday 10th March 2019 at Trojans Hockey Club, Southampton
Time for another mini tournament for the U10 and this time the coaches, Natalie and Cat decided to split our youngsters into a boys’ and a girls’ team to practice their team play for the up and coming IN2 Hockey. The teams shared one goalie kit so for half of the matches Romsey boys had Benji in place as a fully kitted out goalie doing his first hands on saves. In the team “Boys” were also Charlie, Oscar, Jake, Dylan, Hugo, Joe and Ben all practising their play in different positions of the pitch.
Romsey boys started their first match against an alert Trojan 4. Trojans were much more coordinated and quicker in their passing, making the ball travel fast over to their half of the pitch. With a constant pressure, Trojans scored two goals despite Jake and Joe’s hard work in defence.
Having had a “wake up” from Trojans in the first game, Romsey were much more alert in the second game against Southampton. Romsey took control of the game from the start and the first goal was a team effort and within minutes Oscar scored the 2nd goal and had another shot in goal but from outside the D. Southampton only had a one proper attempt to score which was beautifully saved by Benji and then defenders Jake and Hugo passed the ball up to midfielder Charlie and Oscar. Charlie played a great shot to Joe who scored the 3rd goal and shortly after Charlie came back with another “near goal”, finishing the match with a much happier 3-0 to Romsey.
Andover were up next and that was a very even match with play over the full pitch. Dylan scored the first goal after great play and passes from Jake and Charlie. Oscar showed off his goalie skills by throwing himself on the ball, avoiding Southampton to get a goal and the match ended 1-0.
From the fourth game onwards, Romsey were unbeatable and were seeing the benefits of passing the ball to each other to get to score goals. New Forest worked hard but Romsey were quicker. Ben shot a straight corner, passing it across the goal and then Oscar, Dylan and Ben had a lovely series of passes in between them which ended with Ben scoring the first goal. A Quick play out and Joe attacked the goal with a 2nd shot and Oscar following on with the 3rd goal. Before the match ended Joe had put in another two goals, finishing the game with a strong 5-0 to Romsey.
In the fifth game the goalie kit was handed over to the girls and Romsey boys carried on without a designated goalie. Jake was now playing midfield and dribbled single handed up to score the first game. Oscar and Jake were shooting into the goal from a long corner but that goal was disallowed. Jake scored the 2nd goal with a great pass from Ben. Oscar and Dylan had another attempt to score which was nicely saved by Bournemouth goalie. Joe played strongly in attack and scored two lovely goals, ending the game an amazing 4-0 to Romsey.
In the sixth game against Salisbury, Romsey had the majority of the play and finished it with another strong 4-0. Dylan scored the first, Jake the 2nd, Joe the 3rd and finally Oscar the 4thgoal.
The last game of the day was against Trojans 2 and Romsey kept their strong play by putting in five goals compared to Trojans one. Joe score the first goal and then, finally, Charlie scored two goals himself, followed by Jake and Dylan scoring one goal each.
Romsey boys entertained us all with fast and fun games with an amazing 22 goals scored. The more the boys passed to each other the better they played. Well done all boys for fantastic play on a windy day.
U8s blow everyone away at Trojans!
Romsey’s awesome U8s battled the gales and fallen trees to Trojans for their Mini Festival on Sunday. The young squad of 8 players, half of whom are only 6 years old, performed brilliantly for the whole morning playing some tremendous hockey.
The first game was a 0-0 draw against Andover 1. Both teams were still half asleep and neither managed to create any meaningful chances.
Next up were Winchester 2 and the young Romsey team had certainly woken up. They were on the attack from the start with Zak and Hamish bossing the game but it was young Noah who really took his chances scoring 4 goals, Zak and Henry got the other two in this 6-2 win.
Romsey continued their form into the next fixture against New Forest. They ran out 4-0 winners with Zak getting a hat-trick and Henry getting the other. Grace was equally determined in attack and her frustations in not scoring were plan for all to see. She will undoubtedly get one soon!
Andover 2 were dominated again by the Romsey hordes and we ran out 4-1 winners. Zak got a couple, Noah added to his tally and Cherry scored her first goal for the club with a clinical finish at the back post.
The match against Southampton 2 ended in a similar way with Zak getting two, Noah and Henry one each in another 4-0 win. William, on his debut for Romsey, continued to show his enthusiasm and application making useful inroads in the midfield.
With five games played our team of heroes were starting to flag. All that was left was a tough double header against Trojans 2s and then arch rivals Trojans 1s. A pep talk from coach Robertson and some sugar loading from assistant coach Cadge spurred the young team on to one final big effort.
Trojans 2s proved to be no match with Zak scoring again and Henry getting a brace. Romsey winning 3-1.
The crowd held their breath for the titanic clash between Trojans 1s and Romsey. Old rivalries were reformed and the battle commenced. The young Romsey team battled valiantly against the older and stronger Trojans boys and it was slightly against the run of play that young star Zak managed to nick possession and than ran the length of the pitch to put Romsey 1 up against the hosts. Trojans did not role over though the the intense pressure on the Romsey goal continued. Emma worked tirelessly in defence to break down the waves of Trojans attack but with only minutes to go a fine reverse stick shot saw Trojans equalise and what ensued was a nail biting finale. Eventually the final hooter went and a magnificanent effort from all saw the teams draw 1-1.
A great performance from the Romsey team who are barely recognisable from the squad that was initially formed at the start of the season.
U10s at Trojans Mini Festival
Game 1: Romsey girls vs. Andover mixed
3:0 loss
Our first game of the day and the girls were very excited to play. We had Clara at centre back who was doing some amazing defending with very strong tackles and hard passes to our midfield players. Lots of hard work, determination and running from midfielder Caitlin who was trying to move the ball up the pitch as quickly as possible, which she did successfully. Our girls set up a very high press, trying to put as much pressure as they can on the Andover defence but unfortunately, they managed to get the ball through which was how Andover got their first goal as our players couldn’t get back in time to defend. Well done to our defence as they were working very hard but receiving many strikes from Andover which resulted in their second goal. The third goal got deflected in off an Andover foot, but the umpire did not see it, resulting in their third and final goal.
Game 2: Romsey girls vs. Winchester Girls
0:0 draw
The Romsey girls had multiple shots on goal but unfortunately could not get it through Winchester sweeper who was defending very well. There was beautiful passing done between Elsie and Grace up front which made it easy to move around the Winchester players. Well done to Caitlin who worked very hard in the midfield making countless tackles and not giving up.
Game 3: Romsey girls vs. Trojans Mixed
4:0 loss
Trojans is always a tough opposition to play and they took the lead by scoring a very early goal. The Romsey players weren’t concentrating and it took them a while to get into the fast pace of the game. However, Trojans had a mixed team with a few tall and very talented boys which made it a lot tougher and harder for our all girls team. Our girls worked very hard but cannot defend everything.
Game 4: Romsey girls vs. New Forest Mixed
3:0 win
Our fourth game was by far the best team effort from the girls and they all started to play very well together. The first goal was scored by Camilla who was very well positioned on the left post as she received an amazing pass from Caitlin in midfield, she tapped it in the goal. The second goal was scored by Caitlin, who took a strike at goal and it got deflected in by New Forest defender. The third goal was scored by a pass into the D by Grace and was then slapped in again by Camilla. There was amazing defending done by Elsie and Sophie who made sure that New Forest would not have the opportunity to score. Special mention to Daisy who played her first match in goal!
Game 5: Romsey girls vs. Southampton mixed.
1:0 win
The girls walked onto the pitch feeling very excited and confident for the next game after their brilliant performance against New Forest. Southampton had 2 forwards who were hanging very high which kept our defence slightly under pressure but that did not stop our girls from scoring. Another goal scored by Camilla after seeing beautiful passing from the defence through the Southampton players to our midfielders.
Game 6: Romsey girls vs. Trojans mixed
Our 6th game of the day which was another tough one against a different Trojans team. Romsey scored first from a long, hard pass from midfielder Caitlin that went through all the Trojans players to Camilla who did a hard slap into the goal. Our goalie, Daisy, made some great saves but the Trojans team were just too strong. Well done to our girls for being the only team of the tournament to score against this Trojans team! Their coach was very impressed with our all girls team performance.
Game 7: Romsey girls vs. Salisbury
The last game of the day and they were feeling very tired and cold but they all worked hard to end the day off well. It was a very even game between the two teams as we both had many shots on goal but because of our great defenders- Elsie, Mya and many saves from Daisy in goal, Salisbury only managed to score 1. Caitlin and Clara worked amazingly together in midfield doing lovey passes in order to get the ball to Camilla, who once again easily slotted it in to the goal!
Jen and Natalie are very proud of our team who held their own against some very difficult mixed teams and we hope they had a fun morning!
U8/ U10 Training – Cancelled – 3/3/2019
Apologies for late notice but training this morning is cancelled due to the horrible weather