In the early hours of Wednesday 30th August, 33 girls from years 10-13 embarked on a pre-season hockey tour to the Netherlands. After a long travel day, the tour party checked in and enjoyed a good meal before turning in for the evening. The following morning the girls had their first training session at the internationally recognised H.C. Rotterdam training facility which was run by a member of the Ladies 1st XI. The girls then enjoyed lunch at the club while watching the Mens 1st XI train which was inspiring and mightily impressive. That evening the girls were hosted brilliantly by H.C. Alecto where they enjoyed some hard fought games and appreciated a wonderful match tea socialising with the opposition. The following morning, they were back at H.C. Rotterdam for another high-quality training session from the Ladies 1st XI, this time on the stadium pitch. After the practice, the Rotterdam coaches performed a shooting master-class which was great and our keepers were able to show their qualities against professional opposition. Post lunch, the girls were back out on the stadium pitch where they carried on training, this time run by our own excellent coaches to earn themselves an evening off at the bowling. The following morning their leisure activities continued as the girls enjoyed a pancake canal cruise in Rotterdam. This allowed the girls to rest and recuperate before their final fixture of the tour that evening against HC Alphen. Again, two well contested games were had but our 1st XI ran away with it in the end securing a convincing 8-2 win to finish the tour on a high. A long but enjoyable journey followed the final day and the girls returned ready for the season ahead.
Huge thanks to our sponsors Magdalen Health and McARDLE Sport Tec for the generous donation towards our tour kit and also to our wonderful staff for their endless efforts to make the tour a success.
