Last week ended in celebration as our U11 hockey team came a superb second in their IAPS Hockey qualifier and earned their place in the national finals. The celebrations continued after the weekend as the U13 hockey team followed in their footsteps to secure their place in the national finals with a well-deserved fourth place.
Our U11 hockey team played some superb hockey, beating Kimbolton in their semi-final and narrowly losing out to Bilton Grange in the final. Their superb performance saw them comfortably through to the national finals, which will take place at Rugby School on 2 March 2022.
Our U13 boys also played some superb hockey. They faced Bilton Grange in the quarter-final, a team they had lost to just two weeks before. However, the tables were turned this time as the boys pulled out all the stops to take the victory. They then faced Ardingly College in the semi-final but could not quite replicate the success of the previous match. Nevertheless, their efforts secured them a place at the national finals at Haileybury School on 4 March 2022.
Director of Hockey, Sam Mee, commented, “I am so very proud of all the boys. It is an incredible achievement to qualify for a national final. Indeed, Bedford will be one of the very few teams with teams in both U11 and U13 finals: a feat achieved by the boys in the last IAPS tournament, which took place before the pandemic. The boys were a real credit to the school throughout the qualifiers. I am delighted to say many of the coaches and spectators from other schools were highly complimentary about how brilliantly they played and their wonderful sportsmanship and teamwork. Well done, boys!”