Private School News

TRENT COLLEGE WIN FIRST GIRLS’ NATIONAL HOCKEY TITLE

Trent College in Long Eaton are celebrating after their Girls’ Hockey Team were crowned Under 16 Champions at the National Schools Finals, held in Staffordshire. This achievement was a milestone in itself for Girls’ Hockey at the School, being the first time Trent had a team in the National Finals, and what a debut it turned out to be.
The tournament proved to be a very tough competition; Trent took ten out of a possible twelve points from their group stages; beating Ipswich and Wakefield by a single goal to none, beating Millais 7-1 and drawing two a piece with a tough Millfield side.
They met St George’s College in the final 1-0, with Harriet Livesey scoring the winning goal. Kim Leiper led the way for Trent throughout the tournament, scoring four of the seven goals against Millais.
Peter Shuttleworth, their coach, was delighted as Holly Rainford stepped up to lift the salver: ‘This will hopefully be the first of many years we will be here with the girls’ teams to challenge for the national title. This triumph was not a complete surprise as it had been obvious for a number of years that we had a talented and committed group of players, and indeed the whole squad deserve a mention. The potential was there, but they have had to work very hard to achieve their success. They had a setback at the Midlands Championships when they were beaten by a robust Oundle team, but in hindsight, perhaps this helped to keep the girls focussed and to take nothing for granted.’
This is not the only achievement for this year group; Trent’s U16 boys continued their fine hockey season at Cannock Hockey Club by winning the Midlands Schools title. This was the 7th time in eight years that Trent has won this title, an impressive achievement considering the strength of the competition in the region. This success means that the team now goes forward to play in the National U16 Tournament, due to be played on 19th/20th April.