EGHC Juniors Tour in Jersey

If you were at Gatwick airport at 9:05am on Friday 24^th of March, you would have seen a boys and a girls team of young hockey players (supported by parents and coaches) flying off to the Island of Jersey for a weekend long hockey tournament. Ahead of them, matches against teams from Jersey Hockey, Guernsey Hockey, St Michael's School and Gibraltar. 

The kids were buzzing to set off on such an amazing adventure and after checking in at The Merton Hotel, having a quick dip in the pools at its aquadome and a quick lunch, they headed off to the pitch for the first of the weekends matches.

The girls team had a competitive 7-a-side match against St Michael's School, which was neck and neck throughout, with EG coming out on top with a 2-0 win. The EG boys then setup for an extremely competitive match against the Gibraltar U17 girls team and despite a fairly high scoring win of 8-0, had to battle against a fantastic team of girls who played at very high intensity with a very attractive style of hockey.

After observing the Gibraltar boys team taken on Jersey's boys team, the EG contingent headed back to the hotel. A lovely team supper was followed by an interactivity quiz (in which the EG parents competitive spirit came out, beating all the kids) and then dancing in to the late evening at a very exciting silent disco shared with the Gibraltar and Jersey players who came to the hotel for an evening of fun.

Saturday was the main tournament, with both teams set to face their equivalent teams from Jersey and Guernsey. The girls had two competitive games against both Island sides but unfortunately couldn't quite find the right attacking presence and lost both games. The boys played some of their best hockey ever against Guernsey, working as a team in and out of possession and finishing 9-0 victors.

The match of the weekend followed for the boys who came up against an incredibly well organised and disciplined Jersey boys team. The match that followed was one of the most exciting I've seen at U14 level, with EG lads playing their socks off, to be put under pressure throughout the game by Jersey who took their opportunities and were 3-1 up with 15 minutes to play. The last 15 minutes had the large crowd absolutely buzzing as EG tried to battle back. They score one to bring the score back to 3-2 and despite working so hard, they couldn't overcome the amazing effort from Jersey off the ball and the game finished with a well-deserved victory for the hosts.

Incredible hospitality in Jersey's amazing clubhouse on Saturday evening saw great food, awards and karaoke round off an incredible day.

On Sunday morning EG were up early to travel to Valley Adventure centre, organised for us by Jersey Hockey, where the kids dropped from the sky in a terrifying looking swing and shot down a huge zip wire.

The adventure centre woke the kids up for the afternoons hockey which saw a rematch for both teams against Jersey. Exhausted, the girls couldn't get the victory against Jersey they wanted, but the boys were super focused to finish what they couldn't quite in Saturday's match and they won 4-0 in their last game. Boys & Girls combined for a mixed match which EG won and then all headed back to the airport, for a tired but incredibly happy flight home.

A MASSIVE thank you to our hosts Jersey who laid on a weekend experience which our kids will remember for their whole lives. To Guernsey, Gibraltar and St Michaels for really great hockey matches. And a special thank you to EG parents who stepped up to help organise everything and travelled to Jersey to give support to everything.

All of the kids were absolutely amazing and held our phenomenal clubs honour high. A big shout to Luca E who spent his birthday on hockey tour with his team, what a guy!