It is every student’s dream to be able to beat their teachers at sport, to be able to decimate their dreams and realise their old age. However, on Monday the 21st of March it was the Staff that had the spring in their step after the annual Staff versus First XI Girls Hockey.
The opening 10 minutes were frantic and the girls were denied numerous shooting opportunities by the ever present Mrs Locker. It wasn’t until midway through the first half that the nil-all deadlock was broken with Mr Allen latching onto a Mr Husband cross and flicking the ball into the bottom corner. The persistence of Anna and Sharron in the middle and Leah’s grit up front pushed the staff who managed to hold their 1-0 lead going into half time. The girls came out strong in the second half before a barnstorming Mr Coates fired a pass up the left wing and with a pin point cross hitting its mark, Mr Allen again scored a simple goal. At 2-0 the girls looked as though they’d mount a comeback with shots from both Ali and Zoe stopped by the staff goalie Dr ‘Robocop’ Richardson.
It wasn’t until crowd-favourite Mr Blackwell drove a shot into the bottom corner in his 41st and last staff hockey match that the girls began to realise their chances of winning were slipping out of their grasp. It was at this point that Asia and Pippa took it upon themselves to injure as many staff as possible, Niamh also tried this tactic but had to settle with hitting herself on the nose with the ball instead of Mr Edge. The icing was on the cake and the 4-0 final score reached when Justin hammered a Mr Allen pass into the back of the net.
The game was played in a great, albeit aggressive, spirit and though the girls possessed more skill and finesse it was the staff teams determination and physicality the got them home to the tune 4-0. A huge thanks goes to ex-first team captain Dani Halley for giving up her time to umpire the match and to all the parents, students and staff that supported the afternoon.
