Hurst’s U-16’s Hockey squad crowned West Sussex Champions and power on to the Regionals where they reach the Quarter Finals

Confident, skilled and consistent Hurst performance drives drives success throughout the season

After four fine matches in freezing conditions on Tuesday, 19^th January, Hurstpierpoint College’s U16 Hockey squad emerged as clear winners to take the West Sussex Championship.

Five schools qualified to reach the tournament which was hosted by Hurstpierpoint College, the matches all taking place on the school’s superb Astroturf.

Hurst dominated play in its first match against Lancing College gaining half a dozen chances to score, succeeding in two and holding their opponents well in check to come away with a 2-0 victory.

Their next match against Chichester High School was fast paced with both sides moving the ball well and whilst Hurst created several opportunities to score, they failed to find the net, resulting in a 0-0 draw.

This result clearly focussed the players’ minds and they let no chances go to waste when challenging Seaford College, producing a final score of 4-0. Subsequently in their final match against Bishop Luffa School, they produced an exhibition standard game which they won 5-0.

Chris Wilson, Hurst’s Head of Boy’s Hockey, commented after the match that he was “enormously proud of the way our boys worked so closely together as a team ”.  “The quality of their play” continued Mr Wilson “continued to improve throughout the tournament and they really got into their stride for the last two matches”.

As West Sussex Champions the team were invited to play in the Regional Finals held at Kingston Grammar School in Surrey.

Their first match was a tough call against Wellington College in which both sides had chances but failed to capitalise on them not least because of some superb defence work. Next up, Hurst faced what was (not unusually these days) a strong Sutton Valence team and after an unfortunate defence mistake we went 1-0 down but after a long and hard fight recovered to achieve a 1-1 draw.

In their final match of the pool, our U16 squad faced Churchers and again went 1-0 down in the first few minutes. The lesson had been learnt, however, and Hurst fought back with commitment and style to end the match 2-1 up.

The demands the squad had made upon themselves during the day began to tell, however, and it was obvious relatively early into their game against RGS High Wycombe that they were beginning to tire. All praise, however, to RGS who played an astonising game and deserved their 6-1 victory.

"I am" said Mr Wilson "quite extraordinarily proud of our boys whose achievements throughout the season have been quite remarkable and whose performance on the day was outstanding. They have a great deal to be proud of, not least because they achieved a first - for no Hurst hockey team has ever before reached the quarter finals of the Regionals. It was a great day for Hurst hockey."

Hurst's U16 squad this year were (see below):

Back row, left to right:
Giles Orchard, Tim Griffiths (Captain), James Newland, Joe Martin, Ben Blundell, James Mitchell,  Stefan Leth, Warwick Meyler.
Front row left to right:
Chris Wilson (Master-in-Charge), Ken Tsang, Edward Zeidler, Dominic Mayes (goal), Charles Atkinson, Jacob Orgill.