Plymouth Primary  Mixed Hockey Festival 2015

The 14th primary schools mixed hockey festival involving 53 teams from 39 different schools over 2 days held at the University of St Mark & St John proved a major hit. Event organiser Matt Bodily who oversees the development of the game through Hockey Dynamics and the Plymouth Schools HA programme was delighted with the standard and spirit of all the players and young officials. Over 200 fixtures were played leading the finals of the OPM Cup, Mixed Hockey Shield and PGSOB Plate.

In the PGSOB Plate Coads Green defeated Montpelier to reach the final where they faced Mary Deans who defeated Horrabridge B in the last 4. In the final the lively reds from Coads Green were too hot to handle securing the Plate with Horrabridge B finishing 3rd.

In the shield competition Pomphlett B Primary defeated Oakwood Primary in the semi to face Elburton who defeated Plymouth College Prep B. In the final a determined Elburton side scored the decisive goal to win the Shield with Oakwood finishing 3rd.

In the Cup, two thrilling semi-finals saw Hyde Park A face Horrabridge A with the Dartmoor side too hot to handle racing into a 3-0 lead with Hyde Park scoring a late consolation goal.  In the second semi-final which was a repeat of the final 2 years ago Mount Kelly faced Keyham Barton RC with the city side storming into a 3-0 lead with Mount Kelly unable to respond. In the final Keyham Barton raced into a 2-0 lead scoring one of the goals of the tournament before a determined Horrabridge pulled a goal back to make it 2-1 to set up a tense final 2 minutes with Keyham holding on to win the Cup for the first time.  Mount Kelly secured 3rd place defeating Hyde Park A on penalties after a goalless draw.

This year’s boy and girl players of the tournament went to Jack Meertens from Keyham Barton for his fine attacking performances for the cup winners and Georgia Dixon from Hyde Park A whose tackling and composure under pressure shone on the girls side throughout the tournament.

In the skills challenge competition Menheniot pipped Hyde Park A by 4 points to 1st and second place respectively. Marjon student Matt Butt and City College student Rory Coles worked with all the players over the 2 days to take part in the 5 different skills challenges. The fair play team of the tournament were new entrants Eggbuckland Vale who made their first appearance in the competition.

The event was officiated by a committed team of young leaders from schools across the city and beyond including DHS Boys, DHS Girls, Lipson CC, Plymstock School, Ivybridge CC, Tavistock CC, Torbridge High, Callington, Heles School, Notre Dame, City College and St Bonifaces. Winner of the Julia Gill Umpire award was Ben Longworth from Lipson Community College.

The event would not have been possible without the generous support of Redrok, Plymouth College, University of St Mark & St John, Gryphon Hockey, England Hockey, Personalised Motifs  and Devon Umpires Association.

Event founder Jamie Oxley who started the event back in 2002 said “the event remains the biggest and arguably the best of its kind for primary schools in the country.  The hope is if we can develop a second pitch at the University of St Mark & St John with the support of Plymouth City Council, Sport England, England Hockey and Marjon we can take the event and the game in the city to the next level”.

For more information on the event and where you can play junior hockey in the city visit www.hockeydynamics.co.uk