Over 100 kids attend junior tournament, followed by senior mixed hockey in the afternoon
This year, the annual East Lothian hockey tournament took place at the Aubigny Sports Centre, Haddington on Sunday 21 June. It was a massive event put on by East Lothian Hockey Development Officer, Fiona Harfield. The tournament is open to all junior clubs in the authority and celebrates hockey over the last 12 months. It is a culmination of all the festivals and fixtures that the junior clubs participate in throughout the year.
In the morning, ten U10 teams and seven U12 teams came together to play a morning of hockey on the astro pitch. There were over 120 children taking part, cheered on by a packed crowd of proud friends and families. Dunbar were defending champions in both age groups and set off at a roaring pace to try and win for the second consecutive year.
After all the games were played in the U10 section, (which consisted of two pools), there were two teams in each pool who had finished on equal points. After taking into consideration goal difference the final took place between Meadowmill 1 and defending champions Dunbar Strikers. It was a tense ten minutes of great hockey between both sides but the Strikers took advantage of attacking play and retained the title with a 2 – 0 win.
In a fiercely contested U12 tournament the Gullane Hawks came out on top after winning all of their games. It was a fantastic day with the sun shining and huge support from the crowds. Every player received a hockey key ring and the two winning teams took home a shield and a hockey ball for each of the players.
After the junior tournament in the morning and following on from the success of the mixed senior tournament last year at the East Lothian Community Sport Hub Games, nine teams came together in the afternoon to compete against each other. The teams came from North Berwick, Haddington, Gullane, Preston Lodge, Ross High, Dunbar and PAiS. Some of the teams were made up of adults who had never played for years but were keen to get back into the sport, which is what the tournament was all about. North Berwick’s Fidra Lions were defending champions and put in two teams. There were three pools and after the first round there were running penalties to decide placings for round two. This round was not without excitement either. Fidra Lions and PAiS drew on points so another set of running penalties took place between the two teams to decide the 2015 champions. Fidra Lions emerged eventual winners and retained the title they won last year.
To end the fun packed day and what is turning into a customary event at the tournament, Fiona Harfield was very proud to welcome five new players into the East Lothian performance programme, PAiS (Performance Athletes in School) for the next academic year. Each athlete was presented with a hockey stick or bag. Congratulations to Charlie Gates, Erin Hill, Freya Walker, Gregor Walkinshaw and Georgia Greenan.
