Day One - Under 17s show confidence against visiting UK school

Gibraltar’s Under 17 hockey national squad were to provide a display of confidence which was to receive praise from local hockey officials after a 4-0 victory against Gowerton School on Sunday.
The Under17’s, who this morning face Gowerton once again at 10am at Bayside Hockey main pitch, saw two goals disallowed in what could have been a much higher scoreline.
A nervy start in the first quarter saw Gibraltar matched by the visitors in the first quarter, although the local side slowly build up the momentum seeing a greater fluidity in their play.
Two goals in the second quarter was to settle their nerves as they penned the visitors into their half.
Growing in confidence the Gibraltar U17s saw some of the individual talents emerge across the field with quick breaks, and sweeping runs testing the visitors resilience at the back.
The Third Quarter was to see another goal disallowed. Gibraltar U17s showing that the early mistakes in their penalty corners were worked upon as they scored from a third consecutive penalty corner. This, however, disallowed for an infringement.
With the visitors tiring Gibraltar’s U17s were to score to further goals in the final quarter to make it 4-0. The visitors, unaccustomed to the warm weather, were to show some praiseworthy resilience which they are likely to work upon for their second encounter this Tuesday morning. Gowerton also having provided competition for netball youth teams. (See later editions for further details)
The latest display by the Gibraltar women’s Under 17 squad has been viewed with optimism as Gibraltar women’s hockey continues to grow and develop at a fast rate.
With the domestic league already seeing youth players moving into the senior teams in what is now a very competitive league, the development of the national teams continues to see positive paths into the future.
The continued focus of the Gibraltar Hockey Association in recent years towards focusing more attention into the development of its national squads, in particular its youth teams, having seen more opportunities for players emerging, with a new crop of talented players emerging across the different categories and being given a challenge away from the domestic leagues to test themselves in.