U13 Tier 1 National Schools Hockey Tournament

Continuing on from the huge success of our U15 hockey team on Monday our U13 girls certainly didn’t disappoint in their tournament on Tuesday. The team travelled to The King’s School, Macclesfield to compete in the prestigious Tier 1 National Schools Regional Tournament against nine other schools from across the North West. With an exceptionally high standard of hockey on display throughout the day and one team even making the journey from the Isle of Man the competition promised to be both challenging and rewarding.

Facing four matches in the qualifying rounds, the team showed resilience and determination, securing two impressive wins and two hard-fought draws. Their disciplined structure, excellent communication, and growing confidence on the ball saw them deservedly progress to the semi-finals; a fantastic achievement at this level.

In the semi-final, they came up against a strong side Cheadle Hulme who went on to become the eventual tournament winners. Despite a spirited and determined performance, Westholme narrowly missed out on a place in the final.

However, the girls responded superbly in the third/fourth play-off, where they faced the host school, King’s Macclesfield. Demonstrating composure, teamwork, and maturity beyond their years, they delivered a confident performance to defeat the home side and secure an outstanding third place finish overall.

This marks a significant milestone, as they are the first Westholme team in many years to finish in the top three at this level and they certainly proved they belong there.

Goals on the day were scored by Emily (3), Tilly (2), Scarlett and Maria. While these names appear on the scoresheet, the goals were very much the product of collective effort. There was some lovely flowing team hockey played throughout the tournament, with intelligent passing, strong defensive organisation, and tireless work rate across the pitch.

It was a beautiful day played in glorious sunshine, and the tournament was marked not only by competitive spirit but also by wonderful camaraderie, both within the team and between schools. A memorable and highly successful day for a talented and determined group of players.

A tremendous achievement for a talented and hardworking group of players in both the U15 and U13 squads, the future of Westholme hockey is certainly bright!

One proud parent commented afterwards: “It has been incredible to watch how far the girls have come this season. The teamwork, confidence and belief they showed today was fantastic. A huge thank you to the staff for their unwavering commitment to developing hockey within this team and across the school: there dedication, time and encouragement are clearly making a real difference. The girls are thriving because of it.”

The students were asked to comment on what they considered to be their highlight of the day:

“My favourite things about yesterday were when the team helped each other and worked together. e.g, the last goal in which Maria used her skill to get to the back line, committing the goalkeeper and floated the ball across to me to score.

As the tournament went on, we were there for each other. And now we are all very confident when playing together. When my head went down, I have now learnt that if there is a really good team then congratulations and good luck to them is important and helps you accept the loss.”  Emily

“Hockey on Tuesday was really fun and I think I learnt a lot. I loved that I scored and I loved the supporting factor from the whole team when someone scored or when something didn’t go how we wanted but we kept our hopes up with positivity.” Scarlett

“I was proud of the team trying so hard and being successful in many matches and I enjoyed tackling and using recently learned skills in game. I also enjoyed eating biscuits and food.” Grace

“I extremely enjoyed the day especially when we scored and everyone would clap and cheer, plus we were all working really well as a team.” Daisy

We would like to wish Cheadle Hulme every success at the forthcoming National Final, as they go on to represent the Region.

Final standings;

1st Cheadle Hulme

2nd Kings Chester

3rd Westholme

4th Kings Macclesfield

5th Kirkham and Sedbergh

7th AKS

8th Altrincham girls Grammar

9th Rossall

10th King Williams School, Isle of Man