Well done U14s, sorry U17s!

A bit of a mixed day today.

The U14s had an excellent afternoon. First they did brilliantly warming up while we waited for their teamates to arrive from all parts of the compass. I was impressed by the really professional and mature way in which they got themselves organised while I chased around getting what was a very complex day going.

It was also great to see how well everyone got on. The eventual "Letchworth" team included girls from five different clubs (Letchworth, Ely, Wymondham, Market Harborough, and Kettering) thrown together - in some cases - barely five minutes before the start. But you would never have thought this from the way everyone played and worked together. You actually made a really good team and it would have been impossible for anyone watching to be able to say who was from which club.

As for the game itself, dodgy referee aside, it was a pretty physical - but quite exciting - match. Thomas Becket perhaps betrayed a lack of match practice - certainly discipline at penalties and set-pieces in general cost them badly - but there was only one score in it for most of the game - in fact if they had not missed a conversion at half-time we'd have gone in at 21-all.

Having the slope helped in the second half, but even despite that with six minutes left there was only seven points between the sides before a final try (again Becket caught napping at a penalty) resulted in a 38-26 win for the "home" side - one highlight being Hayley kicking five conversions from seven despite the strong wind!

The U17s did not have as successful a day, mainly because we could only get six girls from two clubs as "opposition" which was not enough for a game, but too many to be able to run any meaningful training either. Should we have maybe cancelled when Kettering and then Peterborough pulled out? Well, maybe - but then that might have affected the U14s as Market Harborough would maybe not have come at all, perhaps.

Also by giving girls from smaller, newer, clubs like Harborough and Ely any sort of game we at least keep them going - keep them interested. Only two years ago we had barely six or seven U17s (in fact we started that first season with precisely one!) and - if the rules had been as strictly applied then as they are now - we too would have been taking a handful of girls to away games. In a couple of years time Ely and Harborough could have developed bigger, stronger teams able to provide us (and others) with good, competitive games. By giving the sort of support that you did this afternoon you keep their enthusiams going and help them reach the same levels we have.

After all, if Kettering or Peterborough (or Hertford or one or two others I contacted) had only been able to send us four of five more girls between them we could easily have had an afternoon as successful as the U14s had. They couldn't in the end, but that happens sometimes.

Finally the scout tag did not, unfortunately, give us any possible new girls - in fact there was only one girl scout present and I know she is pretty committed to other sports. Other than that disappointment it actually worked quite well as an idea. Are any of you in the Guides - do you think they'd be interested in anything similar?