RGS Newcastle Hockey team makes school history with national final victory
RGS Newcastle Hockey girls have been crowned England Hockey Girls' Schools Championships Tier 2 competition winners, for the first time in the school's history.
The Royal Grammar School, Newcastle’s Senior Girls Hockey team has been crowned national champions – earning a place in the school’s history books.
It is the first time a team from the school has won the England Hockey Girls Schools Championships Tier 2 competition, and only the second time a team has made it to the final.
Facing a strong Sevenoaks' side, RGS earned a convincing 5-1 victory, with four of their goals coming in the first half.
Speaking about the win, Captain Libby Chrisp said: "The whole team is extremely excited that we can now call ourselves national champions, I don’t think it has quite sunk in for any of us!
"At the start of the season, we did talk about nationals, but I don’t think we quite believed that we would end the season holding the trophy!
"For those of us that are leaving this year, I could not think of a better way to end of the season and to end our time playing RGS hockey."
The team played six rounds to reach the final, which took place at the Olympic Venue, Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre – the home of Great Britain and England’s women’s and men’s teams.
They eased through the first four rounds with back-to-back wins against Ripon Grammar School (Round 1: 9-1), St Peters, York (Round 2: 6-0), Ampleforth College (Round 3: 8-0) and Wakefield Girls High School (Round 4: 6-1) with the quarter final seeing the girls coming back from 2-0 down at half time, to beat Denstone College 3-2 before a solid semi-final performance against Princethorpe College earned them a 4-2 victory.
Libby continued: "Playing at Lee Valley was an experience that we will never forget, and it was very nice to have so much support from the side-line, the atmosphere was amazing.
"Everything came together in the final and we played the best hockey that we have ever played.
"We are all filled with emotions as such an amazing season comes to an end but there was definitely no better way to finish, and I can’t wait to see what this team will be doing next year!"
"Winning this final is the culmination of eight years of hard work," said John Wood, Head of Hockey at the RGS.
"It is a thoroughly well-deserved victory for this great group of young players who were faultless on the day and who showed incredible maturity in the face of what can be a daunting experience.
"I am immensely proud of everything the girls have achieved, especially given what has been happening over the last two years."