Whitgift School, from the 13-15th of January, played host to the U16 and U18 boys Schools 6s Championships. The South Croydon based school welcomed schools from all corners of the country, whom had been successful in previous rounds of qualifying, to compete for the title of national champions in the Indoor Hockey tournament. Whitgift wished to repeat their successes in the U16 competition, having won the national title the previous year, while achieving the same difficult feat in the U18 competition also, following from both the teams entering the tournament as the 1st ranked team in the South region.
The competition decides a winner through placing the top ten teams in the country into two pools of five teams. These sides all play each other in a round robin format and points are awarded in the same fashion as in a football league (a win awarding three points, draw awarding one point and a loss awarding none). The top two teams of each group (decided by number of points and then goal difference) then enter into a round of two semi-finals (first-placed team in Pool A playing the second-placed team in Pool B and vice versa) where the victors of the respective matches then play a final, deciding who is crowned national champions. The pools were as follows;
U16 – POOL A: King Edward VI Southampton, Ipswich, Repton, Dean Close, Altrincham Grammar.
U16 – POOL B: Whitgift, Bishops Stortford, Trent, Millfield, QEGS Wakefield.
U18 – POOL C: Whitgift, Oakham, Dean Close, Ipswich, Egglescliffe.
U18 – POOL D: Kingston Grammar, Repton, Queens Taunton, The Perse, Kings Chester.
The U16 final saw a heavily-contested fixture between Repton and, the home team, Whitgift. Both teams had topped their group and it seemed as if Whitgift had finally met their match, having been seemingly unchallenged until this point, as it was honours even at half-time with the score at 1-1. Nerves played an undoubted part in this important second half and this revelation brought about more goals in the final, action-packed, 12 minutes of the U16 Boys indoor hockey season. Pressure seemed to rule Whitgift's decision making as they substituted their goalkeeper for an outfield 'hanging-back,' a high-risk high-reward tactic, in a last-ditch attempt to claw back the goal deficit as Repton lead 3-2 with just minutes to go. This only led to a last second consummation of the result as the victory was extended to 4-2 with the last touch of the game.
The U18 defeat proved only to be even more heartbreaking for Whitgift. The final, again, involved both of the group-topping teams and proved to be a tight affair. Smart, defensive-centralised tactical playing style implemented by Kingston ensured that they had not been beaten at the close of play like they had been in the Regional qualifications. This meant that penalty-shoot-out-esque penalty flicks needed to be taken to decide a winner. Kingston eventually won this contest 2-0 meaning they were crowned national champions.
The heartbreaking fashion of this double loss for Whitgift will undoubtedly motivate hard work for the Outdoor National competition later this year and for next year's Super 6s Competition.
