Over halfway through the summer ‘break’ and we’ve still been enjoying time on the pitches! For eight weeks through to the end of June many of our youth players took part in the third edition of the Tropical Tangerines, our summer youth league, which this year had an Olympic theme.

Eight teams of U10s and U12s, who had all been given country names, played mixed 5-a side games. Apart from playing hockey, each team had to 'perform' an Olympic activity with their team, ranging from rowing to horse riding. There were some very creative interpretations of the different sports! This was judged by the umpires and gave teams additional points. On the last evening, there was a medal ceremony with anthems for each country and ice creams for all of the teams.

The U14s and U16s played mixed 7-a side matches in six country teams. There was some excellent hockey, and it was great to see boys and girls, different ages and abilities playing and hanging out together.

In total, we played 204 matches in which 516 goals were scored. We had seven very deserving Olympians of the week, who took the Paris mascot home for a week.

Thank you to everyone involved, from admin and comms, to umpires, first aiders and youth helpers. The biggest thank you goes to Anne and Ed, who have organised the Tropical Tangerines for the past three years, and have decided to give themselves a more restful time next year! They brought huge enthusiasm and amazing organisation skills, and without them it simply wouldn’t have happened.

Not long til the real Olympics now!!