Dawlish News

Last weekend saw 40 junior Octopush players from Dawlish, aged 9 – 18, make the long trek to Leeds to contest the British Underwater Hockey Age Group Championships, they had a small army of parental support to facilitate.  The competition raged for nine gruelling hours on the Saturday as the round-robin stages became play-offs and, at last, finals.  Some of the matches against the very best of Britain’s junior teams were tense and attritional; some matches were a cake-walk whilst others went to sudden-death golden goals.  By mid afternoon one title was in the bag as the TSW Dawlish Under 14 team scooped the first of the four gold medals up for grabs; three to go.  It wasn’t until the last half hour of the day’s play that the juniors exited the water exhausted but ecstatic.  Last year TSW Dawlish had won three of the four available gold medal opportunities, with only the youngest under 12 team finishing lower in the bronze medal position.  It seemed implausible, almost cocky, to aspire to wipe the board in 2014, and win all four age groups.  But this is a “can do” club; they did desire the ultimate victory in every age group, and match by match, round by round they ground out the results.  By 8.15 they had achieved what was deemed all-but impossible; four competitions, four gold medals for the Teignbridge kids.  All opposition from Plymouth to Orkney had been brutally put to the sword.

Dominance was no more emphatic and satisfying than in the under 12 tournament, where last year “only” a bronze medal was secured.  The class of 2014 won by a series of cricket scores, not conceding a goal until the Grand Final against Plymouth.  Humiliated in the round-robin stage, Plymouth managed a well taken goal in the final, but TSW Dawlish came out 6-1 winners.  The under 12 development squad was the country’s best second string team, even beating the fancied Batley “A” team, finishing in 6th place over all.

The under 14 team had a sterner test, conceding goals occasionally but winning all-but one match in the round-robin stages.  They were held to the tensest of 0-0 draws by a fired-up Plymouth team, desperate to avenge a golden-goal TSW final win last year.  It was eventually however Batley whom TSW Dawlish faced in the final; it was competitive, but yielded the first gold medal of the day for the Teignbridge youngsters who ran out 4-1 winners.

The under 16 team for TSW juniors featured three established junior international players and two new additional junior “caps”, selected to represent Great Britain next month in Wales.  They were the fancied team.  In a bid to wrest dominance away from TSW Dawlish, all the top sides in the North of England had combined into one team at both under 16 and under 18 levels.  Further, TSW Dawlish, with their acknowledged strength, had been invited to contest the under 18 title in addition to their own.  This meant a lot of Octopush, including matches against their own under 18 team mates from Dawlish, similarly star-studded with junior internationals.  Bizarrely, as the darkness started to descend over Leeds, TSW Dawlish clinched the under 16 tournament against the combined might of the North, before defeating The North of England under 18 team who had eliminated the Dawlish TSW under 18’s in a sudden death golden-goal thriller.  That done, all four gold medals went to TSW Dawlish Juniors.

To win all four titles is as remarkable as it is unprecedented.  With the supremacy so obvious in the younger age groups in particular, who would bet against them repeating the feat next season?

Team lists:  TSW Dawlish under 12’s: Tom Nuttall, Joe Broom, Lewis Bartlett, Guy Ashworth, Aiden Leigh-Brown, Toby Curle, Caleb Pullan.

TSW Dawlish under 12 development squad: Caitlin Johnstone, Daisy Wright, Morley Atkins, Josh Cooper, Sebastain Curle, Joel Davis, Rachel Davis, George Correy.

TSW Dawlish under 14’s: Kieran Tucker, Louis Pyper, Lucas Bagnald, Oliver Curle, Elliot Wilkinson, Alice Nuttall, Gemma Morgan, Laurence Ashworth, Oliver Johnstone, Hannah Colley.

TSW Dawlish under 16’s: Ellie Shelley, Louisa Colley, Sam Peat, Tom Burgess, Harry Elsmore, Elliot Atkins, Rupert Ironside-Smith, Alyssa Oates, Chloe Stoneman, Oliver Price, Catherine Gilhespy.

TSW Dawlish under 18’s: Aaron Lindsay, Charlie Atkins, Isaac Horne, Tom Richards, Isaac Martin, Joel Kelly, Paris Crawley, Suzy Beddow, Des Evans.

U12 Gold Medal winners by pool in Leeds

Well done to all those who took part and congratulations to the ones who won.

A massive Congratulations!  from one who wouldn't know where to start in Octopush. So glad that the Town Council gave a grant to help you travel, earlier in the year.  Obviously put to great effect. Marvellous.