GB Women’s Journey To GOLD...

The 2008 World Championships were held in Edmonton, Canada from 24th- 27th July. With 57 teams from 23 nations competing this was the biggest Worlds to date. Athletes competed in their respective category of Senior Mens, Senior Womens and Under 21 Men's classes. After a successful season, the GB women’s team had high hopes for the championships and were aiming for GOLD.
The teams left for Canada on Saturday 19th July. After an 8 and a half hour flight, with Top Trumps and eye spy being the prime entertainment, we finally landed in Calgary. Picking up two hire cars for each team, the women’s team were chauffeured by the two more ‘experienced’ members of the team.

After a 300km drive to Edmonton, we arrived at the University of Alberta where most of the competing nations were staying. This was to be our home for the next 10 nights.

Day 2 gave us a chance to see the venue for the first time and undergo the usual accreditation, with all players receiving their passes ready for the Championships. Unfortunately we couldn’t train at the venue for a few more days, so we had a scenic journey to the training venue at Rundle Park, a little way out of the city. Most of the teams who had arrived early were training here, so with a bit of juggling, we managed to get on one of the pitches for a few hours to get wet and remember how to paddle again!

Day 3 started with another training session at Rundle Park; however, being a designated ‘easy day’, the team was pretty eager to get off to let the real fun begin! Edmonton is home to the largest shopping mall in the world, so the afternoon was filled by a team bonding session at the West Edmonton Mall Water Park! Quite a few other nations had the same idea, so the competition started early, with a few battles on the rings in the wave machine against the French. After a thorough health and safety check by Ginny, we also tested out all 22 slides, with Kathryn showing the most interesting or maybe embarrassing gymnastic moves! We tried to keep some dignity in front of our fellow competitors and left feeling well ‘bonded’ and itching to get the real competition underway!

Day 4 was the first real day at the official venue of Hawrelak Park. With a few DIY repairs on boats everyone eventually passed scrutineering. There was then chance for us to train on the championship pitches and get used to the venue a little better. Although the 4 pitch set-up was on a small lake in the park, there were issues with water quality, which meant that each pitch was actually lined with plastic sheeting and the water within the pitch area chlorinated. This set-up seemed to make the pitches seem a little sluggish, so was good to get on the water to get used to it. With training out of the way for another day, our energy reserves needed refilling, so we headed for Death By Chocolate, the ultimate desert destination… and obviously the food of champions!

In the evening, the Championship organisers held a ‘meet n greet’ for all the competitors at the venue. Most of the teams attended and it was a nice way to get teams together ‘sociably’ before the competitive instinct too over!

By Day 5 we were all getting a little restless and wanting to get the games underway, so the tempo of training was increased somewhat with a full on 4v4 games session. In the evening we attended the Opening Ceremony. It was an enjoyable Ceremony with aborigine guests The Yellow Ribbon dancers. At last, the championships had officially started… and after a motivating team chat, we were all ready for the next four days of what we hoped would be world-class polo!

Competition day 1
The women’s competition was made up of 4 stages – 2 group rounds followed by semis and final. Round 1 started with 4 seeded groups of 4/5 teams with the top 2 progressing to round 2. Having two games a day we faced Chinese Taipei first. They are the host nation for the World Games in 2009, and having automatic qualification for the Games, they were out to show what development they had made as a team. Having played an attacking, ‘goal-hungry’ style of polo all season, we weren’t going to change our approach now. Despite scoring 12 goals in the game, Chinese Tipae replied with 6 goals of their own. It was a very frustrating and niggley game, with the new rule interpretations certainly being enforced to the letter of the law! A disappointing result and first game, but a win is the result GB wanted. The second game against the French was the first test of the Championships. Strong contenders to take the Championship title and always a very difficult team for GB to play. Despite some great work from GB it was another tight match with a number of missed opportunities, which resulted in 1-1 draw.

Competition day 2
Continuing the first group stage, our first game of the day was against Sweden. After drawing with the French, to come top of our group we needed to beat the French on goal difference, which meant we needed 11 goals against Sweden. After a great work rate from everyone and much of the game played at 5-out, we managed to clock up a final score of 12-0, with some excellent goals racked up by Zoe Anthony.
This put us in first place in our group, meaning we would go into a second round group with Italy, Australia and number 1 seeds Germany, giving us no easy rides to get through to the top 2 for a semi-final place. The first game was against Australia, who were relatively unknowns to us, being 2 years since we last met. However, they are always strong competitors and today was no change, with another very hard fought match. We again played a chasing game, and in an effort to gain possession, we left a few gaps in the zone which the Australians took advantage of. Nevertheless, the work rate from everyone was still there and we managed to seal another win by 5-3.

Competition day 3
Our last two games in the second group stage were against Italy and Germany. Our first game against Italy, who always seem to play their best against us, was a little closer than what we would of liked but another win of 5-3 was another step up the ladder. The final group game against Germany was again another real test for us. After our previous victory in Mechelen of 7-2, we knew the Germans would come out fighting strong. With neither teams performing at their best the game ended in a draw of 3-3. With a higher goal difference than Germany going into this game, we knew that to win the group we only needed a draw to come out on top. Although no semi-final is easy, being top of the group meant we managed to avoid the French team who were responsible for knocking us out of the Europeans semi-finals last year (2007). However, we were up against a very strong New Zealand contingent and number 2 seeds.

Competition day 4 - Semi finals and finals day!
Finals day and the day we had been training so long and hard for. Having only played New Zealand once this season we went out hard but as always so did the Kiwis. The game was hard fought by both sides. We stuck with the chasing 2 and 2 tactic that we had used for most of the tournament, and for the most part kept the New Zealand attack at bay, but a small miss-understanding in our defence gave New Zealand first blood. This gave us the kick to push harder and with some great defending and some great goals (and celebrations from Kristy Sutcliffe), we pushed out to a 3-2 lead at half time. The second half was equally hard fought, and although not the most clinical of play, the fantastic effort from everyone meant we managed to hold onto our lead to win the semi-final 3-2. We were through to our third final of the season. With only some of the team smiling, we still had one more team to beat before we would see a smile cracked from everyone! In the other semi Germany battled it out with the French, with the Germans once again coming out on top by winning 4-2. Another GB vs Germany Worlds Final...

With Germany being the reigning World and European champions, we thought it was time for us to take back the title!
With the U21 Mens final going into extra time, we had to wait a little longer which really got our nerves and bladders going! The game started with a close sprint but Germany gained first possession. After a few strong shots from both sides and some excellent saves by Ellie Bridgstock, we gained possession giving us chance to really work the German zone. After a few minutes of setting up our attack Pru Blyth scored from inside the zone – we were off the mark! We continued our more attacking style of defence and managed to keep the Germans out of range for much of the first 6 minutes, but then we leaked a sloppy goal putting the score at 1-1, which remained until the end of the first half.

We were back to square one at the start of the second half, but started off positively with a good win on the sprint by Ginny. After 40 seconds, Pru Blyth scored her second goal from inside the zone again, pretty much a copy of move on the first goal. Holding a 2 and 2 defence we held off the German attack and broke on a fast break from a foul on Zoe Anthony. With one pass up the pitch, a long shot form Pru Blyth brought the score to 3-1. After some slack defending the Germans came straight back at us and scored from inside our zone bringing the score back to 3-2. With a one goal advantage we knew we needed to keep possession and force the Germans to chase the game. With 3 minutes to go in the second half the Germans pushed to 5 out. They played hard and made it difficult for us to get free or break towards the goal, but we managed to keep possession. Obstruction was called giving Ginny a free throw up under the goal to Pip Grayson whose shot rebounded off the bar. Luckily the ball fell to the right side of Pru Blyth who managed to steal her fourth goal of the game, a great performance from a first time Worlds finalist! With the score at 4-2, the Germans came back strong and broke through our zone, but the rocket of a shot was saved by Ellie who then cleared the ball out of danger. The Germans continued with their 5 out and with 1 minute 20 to go they scored from half way. Playing with true grit, desire and passion GB held the ball for the last remaining minute and the game was won 4-3. An excellent and well deserved team effort resulting in the ultimate goal of 2008 World Champions!!

A big thank you to everyone who supported the squads in the lead up to the championships and for all our supporters who came out to cheer us on in Canada!

Great Britain Women’s Team 2008
1.Kirsty Sutcliffe (Meridian)
2.Pru Blyth (FOA)
3.Ginny Coyles (c) (FOA)
4.Pip Grayson (St Albans)
5.Ellie Bridgestock (FOA)
6.Kathryn Grieves (FOA)
7.Ceri Winter (St Albans)
8.Zöe Anthony (Aberfan)
Coaches: Paul Brain / Elan Winter / Alan Venables