RICHMOND schoolgirl Bea Bell has been selected to play for the the under 16’s England girls training squad.

Bell was successfully identified after she captained North of England at the recent Futures Cup. Bea joined Thirsk Hockey Club when she was 10 years old and under their watchful eye is now playing for the Thirsk Ladies 1st XI . The team celebrated promotion last season and are now looking forward to playing in the North Hockey Women’s League division 2 south east.

Ladies Seconds

FIRST game of the season away to Wakefield Wanderers.

Bit of a slow start from the ladies, probably to be expected, both sides creating chances but unable to find the back of the goal, so remained nil nil at half-time. Second half started evenly but Wanderers made the break through with a good strike from just inside the D. Thirsk started to crank the pressure up and eventually equalised through a great team goal finished by Millie. Both sides had more chances but couldn’t convert, So the match ended all square. Player of the Match - Millie Smith. Next up is away to York City 4th team.

Under 10 Boys

Thirsk U10 boys got their season of to a flying start with the A team returning division 1 after a fantastic rise through the divisions last season. As with the beginning of every season there were plenty of unknowns about the opposition and our own team but the emphasis from the start was to play hockey with a smile on your face and work hard.

The opposition in the first round were York, Doncaster, Sheffield Hallam, Wakefield & Harrogate and despite a few of our players being unable to make the first round of the competition the performance and results achieved by the team (two of whom had never played a hockey match before) was impressive. Our forwards (Cameron, Alf & Kaitlin) had a fantastic morning managing the work the ball across the pitch to move defences about as well as scoring five goals and many more near misses during the five matches and we couldn’t have asked them to work any harder for each other.

In defence/midfield Sam, Alistair and William had something of a baptism of fire with two of them having never played in a hockey match and were now facing well drilled/experienced forwards. We ask the team to think of themselves as teams within teams with the defence/midfield working together with their goal keeper talking to each other and encouraging each other and they did exactly that. Oliver had a great day in goal proving to be the unbeatable last line of defence against a very impressive York attack who fired shot after shot at goal and he stopped them all. Sam, Alistair and William had a great morning in defence showing real skill in their tacking, great passing and a dogged determination to chase everything.

Considering this was the team’s first outing to play 5, win 3, draw 1 and lose 1 match was a great result, we stay in division 1 and will only get better. Many thanks to Bev and all the parents for their support in making the day possible - looking forward to the next round!