A strong KGS contingent of staff and pupils won a splendid haul of silver medals at the National Indoor Hockey Finals in Nottingham on January 30th, though there was disappointment that all involved had done so well to get so far only to fall at the final hurdle.

From the staff, Matt Daly was playing for Surbiton HC, who lost their final to East Grinstead 5-9, while Slough Ladies, with Miss Bell playing and Mr Williamson coaching, came closest to gold on the day losing only in the agony of penalty flicks to Leicester. The KGS students were represented by the U18 girls, who lost gallantly 4-8 to a very strong Repton side.  

Team member Flo Hester writies: 'The Nottingham Trent FM arena was buzzing with pumping music and a cheering crowd .We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy match as Repton had a full international starting line-up and first sub. Despite our best efforts we didn’t start well and quickly found ourselves 2-0 down. However, we were determined to come back and find our form, and thanks to Molly’s first goal we pulled it back to 2-1 at half time and were very much in the match.   

'For the first few minutes of the second half we played our best hockey and dominated play, searching for an equalizer. Unfortunately, Repton scored against the run of play, meaning they were 3 – 1 up. However, we were not finished yet and promptly scored again to bring the score back to 3-2. But that was as good as it got, with Repton scoring 2 goals in quick succession, and going on to win the match 8-4. The match saw some great goals from Katie Shanahan and Molly Hanson-Akins and some fine keeping by Izzy Rice. Team bench were delighted to make a short contribution at the end. '  

It may seem disappointing to miss out on the titles, but it was a tremendous feat to have so many of the KGS community contesting national finals, especially considering the difficulties of indoor preparation for KGS teams, and they and we can be very proud of their achievements.