For the first time in the history of the Adders Juniors the U12 Boys and Girls squads travelled to Solihull School to play in the county
tournaments this Sunday, 19th March.. Like the U10¹s this was the squads first taste of competitive matches as separate teams as all previous games had been mixed.
The boy¹s tournament was in the morning and everyone arrived on time for an intense warm up session. Again another first for the Adders we
had TWO GK. Warwick HC had no GK so a big shout out to Lucas Fileman who volunteered to play for them and stayed with them throughout the tournament, having to face his own team mates when we played against them.
Their first game against Sutton got off to a good start with an impressive goal from Joseph Driver, but Sutton then went on to score two so it was a 2:1 lose to the Adders.
The next games saw them face the tournament winners Khalsa Leamington which they lost 4:0. Goal Keeper Noah Parker was playing his second tournament and did exceptionally well dominating the goal and saving many shots.
Facing our own GK, Lucas, in the third game the boys won 6:0, with a hat trick from Jamie Roberts and a goal from Jacob Hiatt. Milo Deadman went on up front for the dying minutes of the game and bagged himself a goal, but the goal of the tournament came from skipper William Flavell-Dodson with a lift into the top corner of the net with a shot the men¹s first team coach Martin Webb would have been proud of!
Our final game saw us face Old Sils 1st team where we held them to a 0:0 draw with excellent defending from Brody Varden and Milo Deadman. Daniel Kokarevics made his debut for the Adders playing in different positions.
William and Brody showed great potential as future captains taking over the white board and sorting the team positions and roles within the games.
Overall the boys game fourth in their group missing out on a place in the semi-final. Half of the team will be back again next year as they will still be in this U12 age group.

Arriving after lunch the girls had a gruelling six games to play.
Unfortunately we didn¹t have a GK so it was never going to be an easy ride. We managed to beg, steal and borrow GKs for some of our games. A big shout out going to the seven year old GK from Solihull Blossomfield HC. Skipper Alice Barrs played central defence and was outstanding in all the matches even when we played without a GK. She was supported in defence by Charlotte Maynes, Kahlan Kobrin and Hazel Matthews, who worked tirelessly against constant pressure from the opposing teams. The team forwards Elsie Morris and Isabella Martin fought with great spirit to bag us a goal but it wasn¹t to be.Mid-fielders Isla Brown, Rosie Matthews and Neve Singh helped to provide a link
and worked very hard. When I sang S Club Sevens lyrics, "Don¹t Stop Never Give Up" to them that is exactly what all the girls did. They battled and fought hard in ever match and should be very proud of the grit and determination they all showed.

Both teams were awesome and did exceptionally well against some tough opposition from some large Warwickshire clubs. A good time was had by All.
Many thanks to all our parents, especially the mums on 'Mothering Sunday¹, for all their support and encouragement through out the day, and
Yvonne Davies and Dawn McMahon as coaches.

Jill B THOMAS
Atherstone Adders Hockey Club Junior Manager