Mini Bees Sting Opposition in Summer Tournaments
After another unbeelievable season Beeston Juniors have continiued their success into the Summer Mini Hockey Tournaments .
The popular Hinckley Mixed Tournament returned after a gap of 4 years and luckily we had kept the trophies last won in 2008! Always a favourite with our players and parents Hinckley, traditionally held on the first Sunday in May, did not disappoint providing sunshine, cakes and laughter as well as the hockey. Beeston entered a team at each age group U11, U13 and U15 and returned with all three trophies. However Ashby gave the U15s a fright in their matches taking the lead each time but the Bees began to swarm and came out winners 5-3 in the group and 3-1 in the final.
Last weekend was very busy for the Bees with the pitch opening at Highfields and the Burton Minis on Saturday followed by our own Beeston Minis on Sunday.
At Burton the day started at 8.30am for the U10s. Both Beeston boys and girls teams beat everyone in their round robin tournaments to win the U10 girls and U10 boys trophies. However the U12s found the opposition a bit tougher as the U12 girls lost their opening match 0-1 to Lichfield. Luckily this was a group match and so they still qualified for the semi finals. A Rebekah King goal saw them through to the final when they met Lichfield again. This time the Bees won 1-0 with a goal from Rosie Muxlow. The U12 boys won all their matches until the final when they drew with Burton the hosts. A tense penalty shoot out followed with Burton taking an early lead but saves by Martin Davies and a penalty scored by Henry Edwards put the teams level at 1-1 after 3 penalties and into sudden death!!! After several misses by penalty takers and saves by both keepers the deadlock was broken when Michael Harris scored his penalty for the Bees and the trophy was won! The U14 teams arrived mid afternoon to the news that Beeston had won 4 out of 4 trophies so far...no pressure then. Although Boots took an early lead against the boys u14s Sam Apoola struck back scoring twice to give them victory. The boys also beat the other teams in their round robin competition to take the U14 boys trophy for the Bees. Meanwhile the U14 girls were sensational winning all 5 of their 10 minute matches scoring 27 goals and conceding none to make it a clean sweep for Beeston at Burton.
Early the next day a trusty band of volunteer club members and umpires arrived to prepare for our own tournament. Like the County Minis this was a complete club effort with Beeston entering a total of 8 teams, 2 in each age group, and providing umpires, tournament organisers, gate monitors and coaches. In the morning the U14 boys played in a very competitive 7 team round robim event with three teams still in contention before the final round of matches. In the end Peterborough came out on top with Beeston Swarm runners up and Belper 3rd. Meanwhile on the newly opened sand dressed pitch the U12 girls were superb winning all their matches in the group to reach the semi finals. Then Lichfield once again provided tough opposition with the match ending 0-0 but the Bees won the penalty shoot out 1-0 and went on to beat Wakefield 2-0 in the final to retain the trophy. The younger BeestonBees teams finished 6th and 7th in the Boys U14s and Girls U12 tournaments respectively. In the afternoon the U12 boys won their group scoring 10 goals and conceding none and beat Peterborough 5-0 to reach the final. They played some wonderful passing hockey and went on to win the final against Leicester 4-0 to retain the trophy. The less experienced BeestonBees team was placed 7th. The U14 girls maintained their great form over the weekend with the BeestonSwarm team retaining the trophy winning all their matches and the BeestonBees team finisihing 3rd.
Altogether over 100 Beeston youngsters played in these summer tournaments winning 12 out of 13 trophies!! A great end to the playing season for the juniors.