After a successful 2008 season and winning the World Championships, the women’s squad have been training hard all winter eager to kick start the 2009 season. The first international tournament we competed at this year was the 38th Deutschland cup in Essen, Germany. Renowned as one of the biggest and most strongly contested tournaments of the year, The Deutschland Cup is also susceptible to frequent thunderstorms and torrential rain, but a miracle occurred and it was a tropical weekend, bar the windy afternoons! All of the top European nations were in attendance, so it made for a good few days of competition. Our first round group included Hungary, Denmark, Italy and The Netherlands.

The first day of competition and the first time the team had competed together since the Worlds final saw us beat Hungary 11-0 and Denmark 10-0 Saturday morning. Though we weren’t tested too much, it was a good positive start to the tournament and a chance for some/most of the players to loosen up their old joints ready for the tough games ahead. The third game of the day against Italy was more challenging, but we came out on top with a win of 5-2. A successful first day, with us leading the group.

We were up early Sunday morning for an on-water stretch/warm-up to prepare us for our final group game against the Dutch. Aiming to play a chasing game we weren’t going to hold back. A strong Dutch side proved to be difficult with them quickly chasing down our mistakes and scoring twice, taking the lead. We fought back to 2-2 and luckily we knew this would be enough to win the group on goal difference, but this was a big wake up call… it wasn’t going to be easy!

Our second group meant we would play the Italians again and the French with the top two teams crossing over with the opposite group for the Semi-Finals. After not a very convincing win against the Italians previously, we went out chasing hard, but a few mistakes and lapse of concentration meant we went 2-0 down early on. We sharpened up our game and put the pressure on with 5 out for the remainder of the game and brought it back to 6-3 and another win. Our final game of the day saw us face the French. Always a tough side to play against so we knew we needed to start off hard and pushed from 2 n 2 to 5 out throughout. A great effort with only 6 players, but all our winter training had paid off. A fast, dynamic game and great team effort with a fantastic win of 6-3 meant we were through to the semis on Monday morning.

Monday morning and up at the crack of dawn to ref woke us all up for our Semi-Final against the Dutch. All guns blazin’ we started with a full-on chasing game again. Things did not quite go to plan again and they picked up on too many of our mistakes, meaning we were 2-0 down again at half time. Sticking to the plan we went 5 out straight from the whistle of the second half. With some minor miracle we scraped through with a win of 5-4, which meant we would face the Germans in the Final.

The German team being pretty much the same as last season meant it was a good battle for the top spot. A slow start but the first goal coming from us settled us into the game. The Germans never fail to keep the game alive, so a few minutes later they equalised. With only 20 seconds or so until half time and we scored our second goal, but with only 5 seconds to go on the restart, the Germans managed to sneak another goal into the net so it was all even at half time 2-2. After winning the sprint for the second half, and playing with the wind, we took control and scored, but the Germans equalised soon after and despite pushing 5-out for the win, the score at normal full time was 3-3. 5 minutes extra time each way was to be the decider. This time losing the sprint, we settled into 2 n 2 and the Germans held the ball for more than 3 minutes. Eventually we regained possession after a blocked shot and held the ball until we were sure of a one shot, one goal win. We worked an overload from a corner and scored with only a few seconds left. Almost a repeat of the 2008 final! Although not the best performance of the tournament, it was a good win and a step in the right direction towards the ultimate goal of World Games success.

The B team also put in a superb performance over the weekend, with very close games against the Dutch and Germans in the group stages. They really put their mark down in their last game against Italy, dominating the play throughout to gain an excellent 5th place finish.

The U21 women were also competing for the first time after the squad was re-introduced at the start of the year. The team showed real determination and enthusiasm over the weekend and developed well with every game. They worked extremely hard and were unlucky to lose out to the German U21s in the semi-final on a penalty shoot out, but showed they are a team to be reckoned with, winning their 3rd place game in style. Definitely a team with real potential that will hopefully continue in going forward to the Europeans later in the year.

Results from Essen

Senior Women
1st Great Britain A
2nd Germany
3rd Netherlands
4th France
5th Great Britain B
6th Italy
7th Spain
8th Hungary
9th Denmark

U21/Class 1 Women
1st KRM Essen
2nd Germany U21
3rd Great Britain U21
4th Switzerland U21
5th Poland U21
6th SG ACC Hambg./ Kiel
7th KGW Essen
8th SG de Wittsee/ Liblar
9th Niederr./ Berlin
10th Netherlands U21

World Games Team
The team for the World Games was announced following the Essen tournament (see below). The team will be continuing to train together over the coming months attending Liverpool International and the Flanders Cup (Mechelen, Belgium) in late June, as part of the final preparations before flying out Taiwan for the World Games on the 11th July.

At quadrennial intervals, in the years following the Games of the Olympiad, the world’s best athletes in these sports unite in their common search for excellence during The World Games. As the pinnacle in the competition calendar and as a highly visible stage for top athletes to perform on, The World Games generate worldwide exposure for the participating sports and athletes alike.

World Games Team

#1 Kirsty Sutcliffe
#2 Pru Blyth
#3 Ginny Coyles
#4 Pip Grayson
#5 Ellie Bridgstock
#6 Kathryn Grieves
#8 Zoe Anthony

Coaches: Paul Brain, Elan Winter