Forty-two excited pupils, and dedicated staff embarked on a mixed hockey tour to Eindhoven during enrichment week, to experience some action-packed sport and activities in the Netherlands.

Our first full day on Tuesday saw the our first two training sessions with HC Oranje-Rood. The group were introduced to their coaches, who have a wealth of knowledge as first team players and the Director of Youth Hockey for the club. The pupils were challenged in all areas hockey from attacking strategies – including lifting the ball, to defensive play. This put the pupils in a good position for their first fixture against HC Horst. Team 2 set the tone with a 4-2 win, despite going a goal down early in the game, which demonstrated an impressive come back. Teams 3 and 4 were up next and aimed to put into practice what they had learnt from the mornings hockey sessions. Unfortunately, team 4 couldn’t secure the win but made vast improvements from the first to the final whistle. Team 3 exploited the width on the pitch to their advantage, thus creating numerous chances at goal leading to a 3-1 victory. The final game of the evening saw team 1 play in an action packed end to end thriller, resulting in a 1-1 draw.

The following day started with another training session at Oranje-Rood to continue to build upon the hockey skills of the students. The afternoon saw the group travel into Amsterdam, firstly for the spectacular 5D flying experience of ‘This is Holland’. This was an excellent experience soaring over the Dutch must see locations, which captured all your senses. Sadly, due to the storms overnight we were unable to set sail on the pancake canal cruise. However, we were still able to indulge in the pancakes on the boat, and who would of known you could have had such choice for pancake toppings.

Our penultimate day saw the group travel to Duinrell Amusement Park and Tiki pool for a thrill-seeking day of roller coasters and water slide fun, something the staff were sure to join in with as well. The evening saw our final fixtures of the week against HC Helmond and HC Geldrop. Tea m two were dominant in both their fixtures, with our goal keeper not touching the ball once, with team being victorious in both fixtures. Team three and four both had great fun, making new friends and competitive races to finish the fixtures, was a great sight to see. Team one had two tough fixtures against well drilled opposition but this didn’t dampen their spirits to finish on a high.

Before heading home on our final day, we had one last training session with Oranje-Rood, with the students lifting skills being put to the test.

Thank you to the staff and students for a great week.