It wasn’t meant to happen quite so early in the season, but with the L2s struggling for numbers, we took the plunge and put no fewer than four members of the girls’ development squad into the team to play the season’s opener, against reigning Midland 1 champions Madras.
Fair to say that the coaches were somewhat concerned about whether the girls would cope, particularly since three of the four were the wrong side of 14 years old and Madras are a tough team to play against.
We needn’t have worried though, as they adapted remarkably quickly and for the last 20 minutes we were starting to play some fast counterattacking hockey, with the girls adhering to the structure as if they’d been doing it for years. The result didn’t go our way, but the omens are good.
This season’s story is going to be about how we get all the talent we have at our disposal out onto the pitch on a regular basis. #problemsofsuccess