Gelli Primary Hockey Squad Achieve National Recognition

On Friday 4th July, our Hockey team travelled to the Maldwyn Sports Centre Complex in Newtown Powys to compete in the finals of the Welsh Primary Schools Tournament.
Having qualified through the two regional tournaments, we were up against the other BEST nine teams from regions around Wales who had also qualified through winning their regional events. The ten teams were divided into two pools of five and would play in a round robin format. Each team would play four games with the top two teams in each pool qualifying for semi and final play offs. We were drawn against schools from Sychdyn and Pen y Bryn from Mold, Nantymoel representing Bridgend and Llancarfan representing the Vale of Glamorgan.
This was a huge step in class for our players. Many of the opposition players represent hockey clubs in their villages and some play representative level for their county.
Our first match was against Sychdyn. We lost 1 – 0. The opposition were more physical than us and pressed our defence into making several high class saves. Ceri in goal led the defence with some class saves and long clearances. This was a close match with nothing between the teams. Sychdyn’s superior experience was probably the deciding factor in their victory. Our team did themselves proud.
In our next match we were drawn against pre tournament favourites, Pen y Bryn. In their first match they had won 3 – 0 and looked ominously efficient. Again, Ceri in goal led the defence who kept the sharp Pen y Bryn offence at bay. After two minutes they scored. Our defence held them out right until the final minute when Ceri was beaten by a stinging shot which would have beaten any goal minder in the tournament. Despite playing well, again we lost narrowly to a team that would top the group.
After a short break (where Mrs. Date did a little coaching of her own, as you can see from our short video)

we played our penultimate match against Nantymoel. For a vast majority of the match we pressed their goal and were unfortunate to hit the post. This time Ceri and the defence hardly needed to make a save. The game ended goalless with both teams earning a point each. However, we felt that we were the better team and deserved to have won the game.
Our last game was against Llancarfan. Super coach Miss Hatch decided that the children needed a bit of an incentive and told the children that if we scored Mr. Jones would buy them a MacDonald’s as a treat. Enough said. We spent most of the game on the attack and after a through ball from midfield which split the defence Ashley raced through and slipped the ball past their keeper. GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL for GELLI
Mr. Jones was so pleased that he stopped filming the game and followed the play. You can see Ashley and the other players celebrating, but not the goal. (Let’s remember to bring a better cameraman with us the next time.)
We had finally won. The players celebrated as if they had won the tournament.
After all the games had been played we looked at the board and we had come in eighth place on goal difference, so we are the EIGHTH BEST HOCKEY TEAM IN WALES, some achievement. The squad have come a long way in a short time. We have a young squad with Ethan in Year 3, Jenna in Year 4, Bradley in Year 5 as a basis for a strong squad in the future. Coach Hatch can also be very proud of their accomplishments and with super supporters Mrs. Date and Mrs. Dunning (who helped transport the pupils to the earlier rounds) the future is bright.
The squad also looked very smart in their new kit (sponsored by NRG). Thank you very much Mr. Gimson for your kind donation.
The whole day was a fantastic experience for all who participated. A special thanks to Mrs. Hatch (or Mummy Hatch as she will now be known from henceforth) for driving the mini bus so skilfully.
This was a tremendous achievement by our pupils and coaching staff. They represented the school and our area with dignity. It was very pleasing to hear that Miss Hatch received several glowing comment not only about their play but also about their sportsmanship. WELL DONE GELLI.

Further articles (including Mr. Jones' videos) will appear on the PESS page on the school website soon.