Westleigh juniors ended the season in style by hosting their own hockey tournament for the third time this year. Dave worked tirelessly organising the event and had pulled out all the stops putting food on and inviting teams from outside of the County such as Warwick, Atherstone West Bridgford and Beeston along with the regular opponents Ashby, Charnwood and Leicester.

Under 8s
U8s had 20 players available which was fantastic considering we were missing a number of players, and they all took part in a 14 team competition. It was great to see so many teams in action at Westleigh’s home ground. This tournament was a bit special as there were medals and a trophy at stake, so it was no surprise that some of the teams were taking it very seriously. Westleigh fielded a strong team of four year 3 boys, who eventually won the tournament but along the way they were helpful to the opposition sometimes playing with only two players, and other times letting the opposition play five or six players against them. The other three Westleigh teams were well balanced with experienced and young players combining well including welcoming the new players from the Hockey Heroes programme. This was also the first hockey tournament for some of the newer players, and they all coped very well and did the Club proud. It wasn’t just good hockey that was on show, there was some great examples of good sportsmanship and friendship on show with players looking after each other and encouraging each other and there was always an enthusiastic “three cheers” at the end of each game no matter the result. Special mention to the winning team from Westleigh who had never been able to play together before in an effort to make previous tournaments more balanced for the other teams. They scored over thirty goals in six games and conceded only two goals. They played against a strong West Bridgford side in the final who had comfortably beaten everybody in their pool, but Westleigh stuck to their game plan and ended up winning comfortably.

U10s
Westleigh were able to field two very strong mixed under 10 teams who played in a fun round robin tournament against 9 other teams, mostly all boys teams. Beeston entered two teams who proved to be tough opposition but all the games were competitive with Westleigh even managing to draw 0-0 with Beeston, an amazing result considering the difference between the two clubs. The younger Westleigh team included some year 3 boys who had also already played in the U8s, and these players, although tired, did very well. The result of the day came in the last game when Westleigh were able to beat an experienced Ashby side 4-1 with some strong finishing on show including two tomahawks. Westleigh narrowly missed out on coming second by goal difference and the two Beeston teams ended up winning. It was great to play against such good opponents and also make new friends with clubs like Warwick and Atherstone.

U12s
Again Westleigh were able to field two sides, showing the good numbers the junior section can rely on. Some players who had played in the U10s were also playing up showing no signs of being tired despite the heat. The matches were very evenly contested, with both Westleigh teams scoring some great goals and the goalies coming out aggressively and making saves in both teams. One of the Westleigh teams could have made it to the podium but unfortunately when the two Westleigh teams played each other the result did not go their way. Good job Westleigh don’t engage in match fixing or it could have been another outcome. The Westleigh v Westleigh match at the end was actually the one of the best games of the day with some super individual goals being struck and some good battles on both wings.