The past three weeks have been an extremely busy time for the King’s Bruton Indoor Hockey teams with the annual trip to the Nayan Indoor Hockey Cup to Sweden and the various county and regional tournaments taking place in quick succession.

The week prior to departing for Sweden saw the U16 girls retain their county indoor title with victories against Taunton and Wellington School and a thrilling 4-4 draw with Millfield which saw King’s win on goal difference.

Sweden was a great success for the King’s Bruton sides with the U16 boys and girls, as well as the U18 boys’ and girls’ teams all in action. Playing against teams from Sweden, Germany and Denmark, the U16 girls’ retained their title once again, the U18 girls’ were victorious in the U19 category and the U18 boys lost an exciting final to Holstein from Germany to finish runners up.

This trip proved to be fantastic preparation yet again as on their return the U18 boys defended their Somerset county title, defeating a talented Queen’s Taunton side 2-1 in the final. Equally, the U18 girls played superbly well to also qualify for the Regional Finals by finishing runners up after some excellent performances which included a 1-1 draw with Millfield and 1-0 victory over Queen’s Taunton. With the Regional Finals played over one weekend, it was one of great success as the U16 girls won the regional Indoor title for the third year running and the U18 boys finished runners up to ensure that both teams qualified for the National Schools’ Indoor Finals in January. The U16 girls defeated Taunton School, Dean Close, Exeter and Sherborne Girls before beating Cheltenham Ladies College 4-0 in the semi-final and Millfield 4-3 in what was a sensational final. Equally, the U18 boys won their group by beating Marlborough College and Prior Park and drawing with Millfield and Dean Close before outplaying Exeter to win 2-0 in the semi-final. Unfortunately, a closely contested final in which King’s created far more goal scoring opportunities, saw Millfield win on penalty strokes. However, with National Finals’ qualification secured for both teams, this was a tremendous achievement.

These results cap a fantastic term of hockey for the King’s Bruton teams which has seen three teams qualify for National Finals in the New Year with the U16 girls winning both the indoor and outdoor regional competitions and the U18 boys finishing runners up in the indoor Regional finals. This is testament to the huge amount of effort and dedication the players at King’s Bruton have shown and their success is thoroughly deserved and I am very proud of each and every one of them.