10 South Wales teams entered the U-15 Club Championships, two of the teams being 2nd teams whose results did not count as only one team per club could actually compete for a place in the Semi-Finals. The 10 teams competed in two pools of 5 at Swansea.

Fortunately the weather was kind to us and apart from one heavy shower the sun tried to shine.

This year we asked each team to provide an U21 aged umpire, in an effort to get young people interested in umpiring, and this proved successful as every team complied. These young umpires were given help and guidance throughout the day by Karen Evans with help from Carol Lewis during the morning. My grateful thanks to Karen and Carol, I am sure the umpires benefited greatly from their expert help. For some it really was a baptism of fire especially with so many parents watching but they all stood up to the pressure well and I really hope their clubs will encourage them to continue with their umpiring and that the umpires themselves will now feel confident and keen to progress with their umpiring.

As always the standard of hockey varied but all teams gave a good account of themselves and it was obvious that they had been well coached.

Pool A involved teams from Whitchurch Sts 1st and 2nds, Abergavenny, Brecon and Gwent 1sts. It became obvious before the match between Whitchurch Sts 1sts and Gwent 1sts that the outcome of this match would decide the winners of the Pool. In a match of high standard both teams competed well. Whitchurch Sts took the lead halfway through the first half but Gwent put pressure on them in the second half and managed to equalise. The final score being 1 – 1, this left both teams on equal points at the end of their matches but Gwent had eased out Whitchurch Sts for top spot on goal difference by 1 goal.

Pool B involved teams from Swansea City, Penarth, Carmarthen, Llanelli and Gwent 2nds and was not a close finish as might have been expected. Unfortunately Llanelli only arrived with 9 players which meant that really only Swansea City, Penarth and Carmarthen were in with a chance of the top spot. Swansea City started their campaign well with a 5 – 0 win over Carmarthen and when they beat Penarth 4 – 0 the pool was decided. Having said that Swansea City played very well and would have proved a very good match against either Gwent 1st or Whitchurch 1st so were worthy winners of their pool.

Gwent and Swansea City now go on to compete against the top two teams from North Wales, Colwyn Bay and Wrexham, who shared the top place in the Pool that was held in North Wales. This will be a Round Robin tournament and will be held at Newtown date to be confirmed

It was nice to see so many parents/ grandparents supporting the girls which lent a good atmosphere to the proceedings. .

Thanks to all the girls who competed so well, we hope you all enjoyed your day and on your behalf may we thank you to your coaches who did such a great job preparing you for the day and lastly thanks also to three stalwart staff in the Café who kept us all supplied with hot/cold drinks and snacks.