A stellar year for Hockey!

Hockey at King’s has reached new heights this season as teams from all age groups have thrived. Highlights include;

• U11 Girls Hockey squad triumphing at the annual Moreton Hall Tournament and making the North of England Finals.
• U11 Boys Hockey squad crowned AJIS Winners and North of England runners-up
• U12 Boys Hockey squad claimed the King’s Chester Tournament Title
• U13 Boys Hockey squad placed in the Top 10 schools nationally at the Nottingham National Hockey Finals
• U16 Girls Hockey squad crowned Cheshire Outdoor Champions
• 1st XI Girls Hockey squad crowned North West Champions and finished 3rd in the North of England Championships
• 1st XI won the Chester and District Outdoor Tournament
• U18 and U13 girls won their Chester & District Indoor titles

All this built on the National success of the Senior Boys in 2017 when they were crowned National Plate Winner at London’s Olympic Park. There were also a number of key individual successes as Joe Webb and Anna Mackay were both selected to represent the U16 Boys and Girls Welsh National Squads, whilst Aled Bennett captained the Welsh National squad at U18/U19 level.

Huge congratulations also go to Izzie Howell who was selected to represent the Senior Wales Hockey Squad at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. She was initially chosen to travel to Gran Canaria on a warm weather training camp with the squad before being officially selected to represent the team in Australia. Izzie featured in all 5 matches at the Games, including a historic win against India, the first time the Welsh Women’s Hockey team had beaten a top 10 ranked side in the past two decades.

As the whole school followed Izzie’s progress down in Australia with keen interest, her experience evoked particularly fond memories for Dr Ashcroft, the school’s Hockey coach, who himself represented Wales at both the 1998 Kuala Lumpur and 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games and won the UK Player of the Year award in 1999. Dr Ashcroft has been delighted with the development of Hockey at King’s and was proud to see Izzie compete down in Australia.

“Since I came to King’s from industry five years ago I have been so impressed with how the school squads have performed given we have smaller student numbers than most schools we compete against, making eight National Finals with the Boys in that time has been fantastic experience. Competing with football, netball and rowing does spread our sporting talent so to have made such a mark on a National stage is to everyone’s credit. Izzie making the Wales Senior squad for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games was an outstanding achievement for her, I know myself what great experience the Games provide and I am sure she will go on to win many more caps. Hopefully it will inspire other King’s players to follow in her footsteps.”