Brentwoodian 2019

17 Holland On 19th October 2018, we travelled to Holland, for a hockey trip. We arrived at the coach park for an early start, ready to set off. Of course, we were all very tired but the excitement kept us awake. After crossing over to France with the ferry and driving through France and Belgium to Holland, we finally made it to our first training session at HC Alphen. We managed to make the extensive coach journey more fun with card games! The training was so much fun and we learnt new tricks that we could take into our match the next day. After arriving at the hotel, we were all ready for some food and some rest. The next day started with another hockey training session at HC Alphen with two professional coaches. The session was great and we learnt skills such as how to do an aerial. After that, we had our first match of the tour against HC Alphen. Both teams worked very hard and it was a great "We were trained by the very best Dutch coaches, who taught us how to improve playing as a team." match, and the skills of the Dutch hockey players really showed. After a long day of hockey, we got the chance to do some bowling! We all showed off our competitive sides, especially Mrs Lazenby and Freya! It was then time to go back to the hotel for some sleep. Our third day in Holland began with the transfer to HC Strawberries! We had our second fixture there which was a tough fixture for both teams, but we all worked very hard in the match. Afterwards, we visited HC Bloemendaal so we could watch a match hockey match. It was incredible to see the skill and determination from the players. We then returned to our hotel and had some downtime at the neighbouring bird park! This was great, apart from the fact that Miss Hunter is scared of birds! We had a lovely buffet dinner at the hotel and then got into bed, ready for the busy day coming up. The last full day in Holland consisting of a visit to Rotterdam Zoo! We arrived there nice and early to pack in a morning of seeing as many animals as possible before heading over to HC Rotterdam for our last training session. This was very tiring but we learnt so many new skills and after our training, we had our last matches, which was also very tiring but great! The next day, we had a long journey back to England. Overall we all had an amazing experience in Holland, learning many new skills. We were trained by the very best Dutch coaches, who taught us how to improve playing as a team. In addition, we played lots of local hockey clubs and it was really fun to interact with the girls. Also, we got to visit lots of great places including Rotterdam Zoo, where we saw polar bears, tigers and red pandas! It was such a great time and our hockey really improved.