The Year 6 Hockey squad at Fairfield played in the highly anticipated IAPS regional Hockey Qualifier on Friday 15 October. It was fantastic to be able to play in an IAPS competition, the first one since February 2020, and the girls were over the moon to be heading out for a day of hockey.

The conditions were ideal and after a thorough warmup the girls were all set to play their first match. They faced St Peters School, York, who they had not played for a number of years so they were relatively unknown to the team. The girls made the perfect start by scoring early on in the first half and adding another goal before half time. They soon settled into their rhythm adding a third goal before the final whistle. This was a great start to the tournament and any nerves the girls, and coaches may have had, were soon settled.

In the second match the team faced The Elms who they had played twice already this season once back in September and then at a tournament. The girls enjoyed so much of the possession but The Elms were playing very defensively and were hoping to catch the players out on the counter attack. The girls stayed patient and piled the pressure on and their goal keeper made some tremendous saves. The 1-0 score line made for a very tense few minutes particularly when they were awarded a penalty corner in the last 30 seconds of the match.

The last group stage match was against RGS The Grange Worcester, who have a long-standing reputation for producing high quality hockey players. The girls knew they had already qualified for the Cup competition but with renewed determination they went into the final game knowing a win would take them through as winners and hopefully an easier draw in the next round. The girls produced some superb hockey in this match attacking with speed and outwitting their opponents with some lovely skills. They sailed through to the quarter finals after lunch.

After re-fuelling the coaches could not keep the players off the Astro turf. The girls were ready to start the next round and raring to go. St Mary’s Hall were drawn and the team started well and soon took charge of the game. The players produced some of their best hockey in this match but again came up against a formidable goal keeper. It was a comfortable victory in the end and the team awaited their fate for the semi-finals.

As Mr. Young predicted the team standing between us and a place in the final were Repton Prep. These two sets of girls know each other so well and have played numerous times throughout the season with the results being fairly equal. It was a tense encounter with both sides enjoying chances, hitting the post and both defences working so hard to keep a clean sheet. At the final whistle the teams couldn’t be separated and it came down to penalty flicks. Mrs Webster has never experienced tension like it but the girls’ showed nerves of steel. Going first Repton took the lead, the rest as they say was a bit of a blur, there were tears of relief from the girls who scored and screams of joy when Amelia saved the flick and prevented Repton from scoring. Fairfield had won the game and were through to the National Finals! Wow. What a tremendous feeling and achievement!

One of the officials then reminded Fairfield that they had a final to play against Ratcliffe. This was another close encounter with both teams having the opportunity to take the lead. It was an end-to-end game played at such a pace, a great effort from both sets of girls to still play with the intensity they did after a whole day of hockey. At the final whistle it was 0-0 and the game went into extra time and golden goal. This continued in the same manner with both teams enjoying chances and then with just over a minute to go, one of the Ratcliffe players produced a super piece of skill and scored a great individual goal to win the match, the only goal Fairfield had conceded all day. What a super effort by the girls with every one of them contributing to the success of the team. The support of parents, grandparents and aunties was fabulous, they kept the teams spirits high and cheered every save, tackle and goal; thank you!