On Tuesday 23rd November, the Rotherham School Games organisers hosted the Rotherham U11 Hockey Finals in conjunction with Rotherham Hockey Club.
160 girls from 16 schools took part in the event, with two groups of eight battling it out to see who would make it through to the semi-finals in the afternoon.
Mr Walker, School Games Organiser, said: “It was great to see so many girls taking part in inter-school sport after a challenging few years. All participants grew in confidence as the day went on and played the game with a smile on their faces – exactly how school sport should be played.”
The group stages were extremely close with two schools narrowly missing out on the semi-finals in their last game.
Aston Fence, Thorogate, St Gerard’s and Thornhill made it through to the knockout stages, with Aston Fence beating Thorogate by one goal and Thornhill beating St Gerard’s with a golden goal in extra time to make it through to the final.
After a tense game where both teams had chances, even extra time couldn’t split the two sides. Rotherham Hockey Club explained the winner would be decided by a ‘penalty shuffle’, where the attacker would have six seconds to score a 1 v 1 – best of five wins. Thornhill had a chance to win it after five, but the scores stayed level and sudden death was required.
Aston Fence managed to come out on top, but both teams were a credit to their schools and will both represent the borough in the South Yorkshire Finals in February.
Well done to all who took part!
