Day 1 – After an early flight the boys arrived in good spirits, the weather a mild 8 degrees. With not much time to waste we checked in and made our way to the pitch, a rather scenic route I must say, walking past the Nou Camp for a bit of sporting motivation.
The first game started well in a very even contest with Canford, out of nowhere we got hit with what one student described as a ‘mini heat wave’ which seems to stop us in our tracks. 1-0 at half time to Canford. We regrouped playing some great hockey going toe to toe, unfortunately Canford got a second goal late in the game making it 2-0.
Lessons to be learned but a good performance and unlucky not to score, a harsh loss.
Onto Bloemendaal HC, arguable the best hockey club in the world. An amazing opportunity to go out and give it our best shot against, highly likely, some future Olympians.
1-0 at half time, after dominating most of the play, we came in at half time very content with our performance.
In all fairness the goal was probably one of the best goals I’ve ever seen, a first time half volley backhand over his head. The class from Bloemendaal showed in a 5 minute blitz scoring 3 in the middle of the second half.
A 4-0 loss but a performance to be proud of having outplayed them for large parts.
Day 2 – And what a day it was, Calday won their first game at the tournament in many many a year. Beating local side Pedrables HC, 1-0 with a goal from David Bromilow. Then playing a very good Catalan side, losing 3-0. The Catalan side went on to finish 2nd overall losing in the final to RC Polo.
In the evening we attended the Los Reyes Dinner Ball, co captains Sean McGrath and Oliver MacNicol Graham, got up to collect our award and gave the acceptance speech (In Spanish).
