LAUNCESTON College’s Under 13s boys hockey team made the long trip up to Beeston Hockey Club in Nottingham for the national hockey finals on Friday, May 11 and reached the final.

The squad, which left on Thursday night and travelled up on a minibus, consisted of Oliver Rundle, Hamish Hudson, Ryan Downing, Ben Harrison, Caleb Brewer, Joe Stewart, James Adams, Riley Prynne and Keith Maynard.

The top ten teams from across the county were placed into two pools of five with the Cornish team up against Felsted Preparatory School (Essex), Kingston Grammar School (London), Altrincham Grammar School (near Manchester) and Warwick Preparatory School. Launceston were the only state school to qualify!

The first match against Kingston started well with great team cohesion enabling an early goal to be scored by James after a superb cross from Hamish.

Ollie managed to score a brilliant goal before the break and cemented the win by scoring from a short corner in the second-half as Launceston eased to a 3-0 victory.

A positive first result gave confidence to the team during their clash with against a tough Felsted Prep team.

Consequently, Ollie swiftly put one in the back of the net within the first 30 seconds of the whistle.

However, Felsted were quick to react as they scored twice but Ollie picked up the momentum scoring another goal to equalise at half-time.

The second-half required some great goal keeping skills from Ryan and good defending from Ben and Caleb keeping Felsted at bay.

Ollie ensured the most dramatic of victories by converting a short corner right near the end meaning Launceston secured another victory, this time by three goals to two.

The third match against Altrincham Grammar was another nailbiting affair with the northern school taking a two-goal lead but Hamish managed to reduce their lead by half-time.

The team fought hard with great play from Ollie and Hamish enabling Hamish to score twice more to seal his treble and a second consecutive 3-2 victory, which meant they moved to the top of the table and guaranteed themselves a place in the final.

An exhausted team had to play their last pool match against Warwick Prep before meeting St Georges from Surrey in the showpiece final.

However the intensity of playing the first three matches and the players giving it their all took its toll and Launceston suffered their first defeat of the tournament losing 4-0.

Incredibly, an unexpected and proud Launceston College team walked onto the pitch led by a focused captain Ollie Rundle for the last time to take on the other pool winners.

Launceston fought diligently but were beaten by a strong St Georges team 5-0.

There were emotional players, teachers (Lindsay Trudgeon and Tom Lyle) and dedicated parents who came to support as the enormity of such an achievement sank in and the team were led by Ollie to be presented with their medals as a reminder of the blood, sweat and tears which has led to them to become county and regional champions and the second best team in the country!

Coach, Lindsay Trudgeon, said: “A huge thank you goes out to England Hockey, Beeston Hockey Club for hosting such an amazing event and the parents for supporting such an amazing team.”

The nine-man squad was made up of two representative players, five of who play for Launceston Youth Hockey Club and have done so since the age of five and two — James Adams and Keith Maynard who don’t even play hockey for a club.

Just to qualify, Launceston had to win over a dozen games.

They won every game at the Cornwall Cup at Truro without conceding a goal before going to the regional finals at Millfield School in the spring, where the competing teams were placed in four groups of five with the top two advancing into the last eight.

There they came second in their group before knocking out Dumpton School in the quarter-finals on penalties, Millfield in the last four and then Monkton Preparatory School from Bath to take the title.

Both games were won 1-0 thanks to goals from Hamish.

Reflecting on their achievements, skipper Ollie Rundle, who plays for the regional side West Panthers alongside Hamish Hudson, admitted that they never thought they would make it so far.

He said: “The aim was to get to the regionals but we just kept going and we did so well.”

Mrs Trudgeon echoed Ollie’s comments.

She said: “It’s absolutely incredible what they’ve done. A lot of the other schools hadn’t even heard of Launceston College before and were very shocked to hear we’re a state school and we’d won a place at the tournament.

“Our team cohesion there was really good and they were so focused when they went out onto the pitch. The motivation levels were high and they rose to the occasion.

“Against Altrincham when they were 2-0 down, they fought really hard and remained focused to come back and win.

“They also do a lot of sport together as a group and if you combine these together you can achieve anything.

“However we must reiterate it’s been a community thing. Everyone has been impressed by the work of the coaches and staff to get that far. It’s a credit to the college and the community club (Launceston Youth Hockey Club).”

Principal Bryan Maywood echoed Mrs Trudgeon’s statements.

Mr Maywood said: “I’m hugely proud as to what they have achieved. I don’t think they understand what they’ve done.

“I’d like them to understand that they’re leaders in the school and that they can do this in their studies.”

Mr Maywood also emphasised their achievements considering who they were up against.

He added: “It shows that just because we’re a state school it doesn’t mean you can’t do it.

“These achievements rank alongside things such as our pupils performing for the Royal Shakespeare Company and doing Ten Tors and four students who have gone to Oxford University.

“I think it’s remarkable and shows what can be done. There’s no limit to what you can achieve in both sport and your studies.

“They’re a really good example for the college and the community.”

Next year they move from seven-aside up to 11-a-side and Mrs Trudgeon hopes to attract even more players.

She said: “At the college we have performance academies for youth sport where they sign up, train and play matches.

“However these are termly. With the hockey we started after Christmas and did it till Easter. A lot of the private schools play all year around.

“But we’ll do as well as we can next season and see what happens.”