Over half-term our Lower School boys travelled to the Netherlands for a Hockey Tour.
Day One and Two – Written by Devya P (U3rds)
Saturday 19th October
It was an incredibly early start for us; we had to arrive to school by 4 o’clock in the morning!
Our coach journey to Dover started. We threw all our luggage onto the bus and away we went. Most of us were sleeping on the coach, trying to enjoy what was a peaceful and quiet coach, to begin with, but all too soon, a few boys found energy and their voices, and the sports chanting began.
We boarded the ferry and had a delicious English breakfast and had fun in the arcade. It was very spacious, and it was very visible when we were going to reach Calais. About an hour after we left Dover, we saw the beautiful shining sand shore of Calais and prepared to embark on the final leg of the journey. After another 5-hour coach journey, we reached the hockey stadium, where we would be watching our first 11-a-side professional game. It was a match between Den Bosch (the team we supported) and Kampong (last years Dutch champions). After a gruelling 15 minutes, Kampong scored a penalty flick, but due to Den Bosch’s repeated hard work and effort, they posed many threats onto Kampong and scored managed to score two goals in quick succession. Unfortunately, in the last quarter Kampong managed to get past the Den Bosch defenders and score a goal. The match ended at a 2-2 stalemate but at the end of the match we got to take the signatures of the hockey players present and had a lot of fun. Afterwards, we learnt about a thing called fines. It was a record of every funny thing that has happened on the trip. One person made a silly comment, asking the teacher if the cliffs of Dover were the ‘White cliffs of Dover’. The fines helped remind us of the amusing things that happened to us throughout the day.
Sunday 20th October
After the long day beforehand, we were all exhausted and slept well on the first day. A scrumptious breakfast got us going and the teachers had a surprise in store for us. We went to the beach!
We paddled around in the sea, played beach rugby, football, and cricket, we made sand angels and threw frisbees around everywhere. After having the time of our lives at the beach, we headed to a hockey pitch for training, where we were split into two teams. Unfortunately, halfway through our training, the sprinklers turned on and we were all drenched! Despite that, we continued our training and learned valuable lessons on how to play on a giant 11-a-side pitch. We then headed to our first match of the tour against a resident Dutch team.
The ‘A’ and ‘B’ team played simultaneously. The ‘B’ team played valiantly and tried their best to combat the onslaught of the other team’s attack but they got the upper hand very quickly. The inspirational words of our coaches (Mr Richardson and Dr Hesketh) at half time kept us going. After a lot of hard work, we won a foot at the edge of the ‘D’ and Anay superbly smashed it into the bottom corner of the goal. Despite our hard work, we lost the game 8-1 but we were not disheartened because we were happy with the effort we put in. The ‘A’ team also did well at the back, with Sammy launching it up to the opposition goal and Zach G superbly saved many goals, including a penalty flick. Although the ‘A’ team did not get a goal to show their efforts, they did limit the opposition to only a score of 4-0. After a long and exciting day, we played football with our new Dutch friends and enjoyed the remainder of the night kicking the ball on the Astro.
Day Three and Four – Written by Moksh S (U3rds)
Monday 21st October
We started Day Three bright and early for an exciting canal cruise, admiring the beautiful view of the architecture around us! Soon after we made our way towards the Anne Frank House/Museum for a historic morning. I found myself learning many facts about Anne Frank’s living style, diary, friends, and family which was truly fascinating. We then made our way to Overbos Hockey Club for our second fixtures against a local Dutch side. The B team played first and put in a terrific performance against a strong opposition. Whilst they played we had our meal, chatting with our opposition, before heading out to support the B team. With 15 minutes remaining, Mr Haynes took us aside to get us ready for the upcoming, exciting match. The atmosphere was amazing with all our supporters, led by Ciaran, cheering for us. In the end, although we lost 2-0 it was a great experience playing against a seriously strong team, and everyone worked really hard, and we all had fun.
Tuesday 22nd October
Tuesday began making our way to the waterpark with rapid and fun slides and other fun activities. We had lots of fun as we would have races and go down so many different slides. We then had lunch and headed to the theme park with even more rides that would make us go up and down and scream with laughter. Thereafter, we left and got focused for another match, this time against Kieviten Hockey Club.
The A team match commenced and we played very well and managed to get a 1-0 lead, but they also scored later making it 1-1. The match was heated and then went to shuffles. This was extremely tense and unfortunately, we lost, but we learnt a lot from that game and the team stayed positive. Meanwhile the B team played a challenging match against Kieviten’s U14C team. Heading into the final quarter we were 5-0 down. Encouraging words from Mr Richardson fired up the team, who put in their best performance to finish on a high. The final quarter ended 0-0 and the team were really proud to end the hockey element of tour on a high. Both sides then made our way for supper at the club. I got surprised with a cake for my birthday! I was really happy, and we all ended up having cake and laughing together, thanks to all the teachers.
Day Five and Six – Written by Dhruv A (U3rds)
Wednesday 23rd October
Day Five was going to be a very busy day and as we woke up, we were all ready for the day ahead. We had mentally and physically recovered from the fixtures on Day Four. The plan for the day was to have a fun training session in the morning, where we split into three teams and did skill games. After we played matches against each other. As soon as the training session was finished, we had a great lunch hosted by the club we’d trained at. Then we got on a coach and went to the beach, where some people built a massive sandcastle and some of us played football with Mr Haynes. The next part of the day had to be the highlight, as we went to the Trampoline Park. It was the oldest one in Europe, set in an old church and was extremely fun. Personally, I loved sitting in the ball pit. After the tiring Trampoline Park, we headed back to the hotel to have dinner and pack for the journey back tomorrow. The evening finished with some tour awards and we gave thanks to the teachers and bus driver.
Thursday 24th October
Day Six was a very early wake up – we had to be down at 6:45 in the morning! We had breakfast and we loaded the coach. Everyone was so sad as we had to end our tour journey and make our way back to England.
The pupils would like to say a big thank you to Mr Middleton, Dr Hesketh, Mr De Weymarn, Mr Haynes, Mr Richardson and Mr Todd for organising and running such a fun tour!
