Under 11′s Home Tournament Saturday 19th Feb 2011
Letchworth U11’s Home Tournament at North Herts. Leisure Centre 19th Feb. 2011
Firstly, what a great day all the boys and girl (Mia) had on Saturday. This was their first home tournament back at North Herts and what a performance they put on for the crowds that had gathered to watch them.
It was great to see the return of Mia in goal, after a long lay off with a broken arm sustained whilst doing a triple back flip off a bouncy castle at her cousin’s birthday party.
Now back to full strength, Letchworth fielded a squad of 6. Kai, Mia, Samuel, George, Ollie and Brad.
We had three games to play against more experienced and what seemed larger opposition. We lost all three games albeit in two cases marginally but our spirit and determination shone through. If awards could be given out for sheer effort, our team would have won hands down.
Some highlights
Mia although definitely the smallest keeper, made an inspirational return to goal keeping duties for Letchworth. I think she went into the first game a little bit anxious but this did not show in her performance. Time and time again Mia made decisive saves blocking and deflecting the ball in neutral areas of the rink. Good movement between the posts and good use of her stick demonstrated that size doesn’t matter. In my eyes and I am sure others, Mia came off a giant.
Kai’s drive was/is unstoppable. Kai for one of the younger players showed a great amount of ball control, skating ability and determination. Kai is never one for giving up and that’s to his credit. We lost the first game against Chesterton 2-1, but Kai was there in the right place and the right time to receive a ball from Ollie on the half way line to skate between two defending players to plant the ball in the back of the Chesterton net. I would have broke down into tears if they weren’t so many people about, what a great goal supported by his team. Great player
What a couple of month’s difference makes? George has shown himself to be one of the strongest defenders in the U11’s. I noticed that on several occasions George had taken what he learnt during training and applied it to the tournament. Using the box defence and smartly realising not to chase the players but to stop at certain points to reform. It was great to see. George is a no nonsense player who tackle strong, skates hard with passing like a rocket. I know during the next tournaments George will use this ability to push further up field to put the opposition’s keepers under more pressure. Keep it up George!
Samuel too has transformed in the last couple of months. Along with George, Samuel is a lot more confident on the ball. Samuel has used this confidence to push out of defence and put the opposition under pressure. Samuel is our John Terry in defence, solid, reliable, willing to put himself about and has scored some wonderful goals. I have yet to see any slide tackles but I guess will leave that for the football pitch or when the senior’s play. Well done SP!
Ollie is very similar in style to Kai. He is determined, skilful and fast. What a combination and what a prospect for next season. Ollie’s skating is second nature. The way he can makes his feet point outwards past any normal angle that most of us can’t imagine (yes you’ve guessed it) brings tears to my eyes. Ollie had some near misses in this tournament either bouncing off the post or the keeper. Ollie uses his head (and eyes) and has the confidence to lift his head whilst skating looking for the pass. Star player.
Brad. It’s difficult to write about Brad. He is a lovely lad, with lovely parents. He is a great little player with a lot of ability and determination. He reminds me a bit of Ashley Young (Aston Villa and England winger). He gives everything 100%, doesn’t like losing and tries to win the ball back no matter what. He’s great to watch, great for the team and has a great personality (as they all have). He scored some cracking goals and put the other teams under constant pressure.
Although we lost the three games, there was a significant improvement in their performance. I personally think that Mia’s outstanding performance in goal laid the foundations for the team’s cracking display on Saturday.
Big thanks to Rieff for time keeping and being a constant source of entertainment. Paul for ref’ing (great job), and Andrew for managing and coaching the team.
WELL DONE EVERYONE
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