A week of top-level hockey for our 1st XI in Christchurch during tournament week.

The 1st XI travelled to Christchurch for tournament week, for a modified tournament.  The team were due to play in the top-tier Federation Cup tournament in Napier, so appreciated the efforts of New Zealand Hockey to arrange the top 12 South Island teams to play.

Monday saw the team overcome what can only be described as a slow start, to beat Lincoln High School.  An inspirational quarter time pep-talk from coach, Lily Le Brun, saw the team turn around their deficit for a comfortable win.

Playing the top Christchurch schools was never going to be easy, with our team being envious of the top-level games the Christchurch schools get to play every week against each other.  The team lost to a very slick Christchurch Girls, but played one of their best games agains St Andrews College, just not quite being able to put away chances to score going down 2-0.

Having beaten Craighead at our recent Winter Quad, they came out firing and desperate for the win.  Credit to this Craighead team as their work rate was superior, beating Columba on the penultimate day of the tournament.

Day five saw Columba playing Burnside High School, a school with over 2,500 students. This was an extremely competitive game, with both schools playing great hockey.  Columba were down 2-1 in the last quarter, throwing everything at Burnside, but they held out for the win.

The team says farewell to five Year 13 students this year.  Captain Nikita Peterson-Solomon, Culture Captain Ashleigh MacDonald, Angelique Peyroux, Cierra Reid and Madison Flaws.  We hope you continue with your hockey passion in future years.

Thank you also to Lily Le Brun, who has put a lot of time and effort into the team this year.  We really appreciate her taking time off work to travel to tournament, as well as the countless hours throughout the season.

2021 will see Columba return to Napier for the Federation Cup...exciting times ahead for Columba hockey!