The 1st XI girls’ hockey team hosted Hamilton Girls’ High School, Sacred Heart Girls’ College, Otumoetai College and St Kentigern College for a two-day tournament in the first week of the July holiday break.

The going was always going to be tough with four quality tier one teams at the tournament. Day One saw the girls have a good start, holding Otumoetai to 3-0. The afternoon game was a bit more difficult, against a really strong St Kent’s side. The girls went down 8-0.

On Day Two, the girls had a few reinforcements which helped the tired legs from the day before. The girls put in a strong performance, holding Sacred Heart to 3-0. Jess Scatchard and Amy Barry both played very well, gluing the St Paul’s defence together. The afternoon game saw the girls go down 5-0 to Hamilton Girls’, which in the balance of things was not a bad result against one of the power-house teams in the Midlands regions.

Overall, the girls made really good progress over the two days. For the girls, the games provided a hard but good introduction to hockey and fitness level required at tier one level.

It was also great to see the new hockey and soccer pavilion being used by multiple teams and spectators at the same time. All other schools were very envious of the facilities we have onsite.