By Ella C, Year 10

On 13th November the Year 10 hockey team embarked on their 3-day GDST hockey tour to Newcastle! It started with a 5:30am meet at Heathrow terminal 5, despite the early morning we were all excited for our first games that we were to play later on in the day. We boarded the plane at 7:20am and 40 minutes later we had landed in Newcastle.

From the airport we went straight to drop our bags at the hotel and then we got back on the metro to go to our first match of the day.

We played Newcastle first followed by Streatham & Clapham and Norwich High Schools. Every game played on the first day for every school in our group had a 0-0 result – this is how we knew the matches to come would be quite challenging as it was clear a lot of the teams were evenly matched. After a long day we went to Newcastle school for a warm cooked meal, to the delight of many lasagne and garlic bread was served! After our delicious meal we headed back to the hotel to check into our rooms and after a short amount of down time we headed out to Creams for a sweet treat (the trips to Creams were probably a highlight of the trip for the team). Finally, after a long and enjoyable day we headed back to the hotel to get some well-deserved rest.

The next morning was our rest morning when we had time to walk around the centre near the hotel. We started with an amazing buffet breakfast and then went straight out into the shops! After a nice trip into town, we collected all our hockey kit from the hotel and hopped onto the metro to the playing fields. The second day of matches was an exciting set of games, with wins over Blackheath and Newcastle, and a draw against Howells. We were extremely lucky to have our old games captain Anna Whelan to come and watch us play! After a great day of hockey we returned to Newcastle for pizza and an inspiring talk from England hockey player Holly Hunt, which we all enjoyed thoroughly! Finally, to finish the day and to celebrate finishing in top 4 after the first 2 days we headed back to Creams for the last time and went to bed to rest up ready for the Finals the next day.

Bright and early the next morning we enjoyed a good breakfast to fuel for a long day of matches, then we headed to the playing fields to warm up before our first game. After all the games we played, we were feeling confident in our performance and we were all proud of how we had worked as a team and trusted each other on the pitch. We faced Streatham & Clapham again, which ended in a draw, followed by Sutton, and after a few attempts at the goal it also ended as a draw. Our final game against Howells was one of our strongest performances, pulling a 2-0 victory to end the trip on.

We finished in 2nd place which we were all very proud of! We all worked hard in every match, and we definitely bonded as a team. To finish the trip, we returned into town to explore the Christmas markets this was definitely a highlight of our trip. We all had so much fun and enjoyed this trip thoroughly.