It's been a pleasure to welcome pupils back onto the hockey pitch, enjoying the game and representing their Houses with great aplomb
The hockey programme for the Year 9s and Year 10s consisted of two seeding rounds followed by a finals day in the last week of term. This event was divided by one week of squad training and 11v11 match play on the two weekends. For the seniors the focus was on enjoyment and game play. We are hopeful that this year’s leavers will be able to play a fixture in the summer term when club hockey is back up and running.
Year 10 House Hockey
After two league rounds in which promotion and relegation was possible, the final groups for the House Cup and Plate were decided. This produced evenly matched games with one of the competitions being won on goal difference. In the Cup group, Saunderites prevailed by securing a draw and a win from their two matches. Daviesites were left to rue missed chances in their first game of the afternoon which ended in a loss to Saunderites. After equalising late on in the match, Daviesites were bitterly disappointed to have their efforts dashed by Saunderites scoring with the last play of the game. This left Pageites as the third placed team in the Cup after securing a draw against Saunderites.
The Plate competition was a tightly contested affair and it was fantastic to see such competitive spirit from the players. After relegation from the Cup group in week eight, a combined Gownboys and Hodgseonite side were out to prove a point. This effort started well with a convincing win against Verites. However, when they were held to a draw by the Lockites/Weekites combined team the final result was out of their hands. They were left watching from the sidelines in the hope that the result of the next match would go their way. It wasn’t looking hopeful. After early pressure on their goal, Verites conceded two goals quickly and with the result of the match looking assured Mr Hingston was required to do some quick maths in order to decide the final winner. Eventually the numbers were published, the Gownboys/Hodgesonite combined team won the Plate competition with a positive goal difference.
Year 9 House Hockey
The Year 9 competition was played with a similar format to the Year 10 competition. However, with larger numbers in this year group on site it was possible to play a Cup, Plate and Vase competition on the final games afternoon of the spring term.
The Cup semi-finalists were Daviesites, Bodeites, Weekites and Robinites. These matches were fast paced throughout and the pupils were eager to succeed in their first experience of a House hockey competition. Both semi-finals were end to end affairs with lots of goals. At the final whistle the results meant that Daviesites would play Weekites for the Yearlings House Cup. The quality of hockey was very high from both sides and the lead was exchanged throughout the match. Unfortunately, the smaller size of the Daviesites squad meant that they ran out of legs in the second half and Weekites were able to score two unanswered goals to win the final 4-2.
The Plate competition was also full of quality hockey and it was pleasing to see that the pupils had improved their game in the short time that they have had on the pitches. The plate semi-finals saw Gownboys play Lockites and Duckites play Pageites. Silky skills were on show in these matches with a number of pupils demonstrating their talents well. Duckites and Lockites progressed to the final after both teams secured wins in their semi-finals. Lockites were pushed to the wire by Gownboys in their semi-final and won 5-4 with a late goal. The final was tight throughout with neither team being able to secure a comfortable margin over the other. Goals were going in at both ends and this created a tense finale to the Plate competition. At the final whistle Duckites were 4-3 up and crowned the Yearlings Plate winners of 2021.
The Vase group consisted of three Houses (Hodgesonites, Saunderites and Verites) this tournament was played as a round robin allowing all teams to play twice and battle it out for silverware. Saunderites and Verites were competitive throughout and supported each other well. However, Hodgesonites secured the points needed to win the group and take the Vase trophy for 2021.
Thank you to all of the Carthusians that have taken part in the hockey programme this term. It has been unfortunate that external fixtures have been off the table. However, I have been unbelievably impressed with the open-mindedness with which all of the players have approached their training and House matches. It was great to see the Year 10 pupils all attending Saturday hockey and playing fun 11v11 intramural matches containing lots of laughter and good hockey. The Year 9's have been fantastic and have fully bought into the Charterhouse experience. There is a lot of hockey talent in this year group and this has been demonstrated by 30+ pupils participating in extra training on Fridays after lessons.
Finally, the seniors have persevered tremendously well. The situation is far from ideal and I recognise this. A number of our sixth form have been great servants of Charterhouse hockey in their time with us and it is unfortunate that they have not been able to showcase their talents this term. However, they have been a pleasure to continue to work with and have taken responsibility in trying to leave the programme in a better place. I can’t thank them enough for this. They have set a good example to the lower years. That being said, they might get some competitive hockey yet… there are rumours that Mr Bicknell, Ms Batty and Mr Gillespie are putting together a staff rebels team to play the Year 13's in a leavers event during the summer term. Although we can’t be sure that the quality of the opposition will match the likes of playing in the England Hockey Cup, I am sure that it will be a competitive affair.
