A 60 strong Team BC squad from six sports travelled to Plymouth and Exeter for the first week of the AoC Regional championships, with the hope that by the end of the day, will have qualified for the National Championships in Newcastle early next year.

With Sports Netball, Women’s Hockey, Men’s Football, Rugby Sevens, Basketball and Squash teams all represented, it was a full throttle day for all squads.

Elite Hockey

It was a learning experience for the Women’s hockey side as they played in a strong field. They succumbed to the top team in the group, Richard Huish, who went on to qualify for nationals. Keeper Emily Blake pulled off some fine saves to deny the opposition time after time, following some intensive training earlier in the week. Defensively the side had a lot of pressure to soak up as Amy Chainey-Lane made numerous clearances off the line and Lucy Derrick in the centre-defence made it difficult for their opponents.

Captain Kat Male was pivotal in the centre of midfield, as she provided the link between defence and attack, with Shannon Johnson alongside her putting in gutsy performance. Team BC’s never say die attitude contributed to the sterling defence put up against a barrage of attack. On the front line Hannah Toal gave her best performance of the season, chasing down opponents and unsettling defenders with some aggressive tackling.

As the underdogs of the competition Team BC went into the day knowing they would face a very tough task, they battled hard in each of their games against Richard Huish, Truro and Exeter. Head Coach Sheila Burridge said,

“The girls just keep on improving. Their enthusiasm and team spirit more than makes up for lack of hockey experience. I'm so proud of them.”

Elite Football

In Football, Team BC Elite reached the quarter finals and started well, winning their first two games, beating Somerset College 1 – 0 and City of Plymouth 3 – 0. After qualifying for the knock-out stages, the decider in the final group game saw Team BC face a very strong Exeter team and ran out as 4 – 1 losers. Team BC finished second place in their group, only 1 point behind Exeter. In the quarter finals the squad were up against SGS (South Gloucestershire and Stroud). They started the game slowly and found themselves 2 – 0 down after just five minutes. The team battled hard and never gave up, scoring just after halftime to make it 2 – 1. However two minutes later conceded again and SGS held on for the win.

Jamie Laird (Head Coach) said,

“Everyone played extremely well today and were brave to get on the ball in such tight areas of the pitch. They can all be proud of their efforts and the only two games we lost were to both finalists; SGS and Exeter.”

Squash

Nathan Woodhead, the sole Team BC representative in the Squash competition, finished third. After playing three games in the pools without losing a single game or point, he subsequently won the pool decider to easily reach the Semi-final. In his first competition in three years and only picking his racquet back up in the last month, he took the match to a final game decider in an epic encounter, narrowly missing out on the final.

Rugby

In the Rugby Sevens held at Plymouth Albion, Team BC reached the semi-finals, beating Richard Huish and St Brendan’s along the way. Despite losing to eventual champions Exeter in the final pool game, Team BC played Truro in the semi. The team gave a great battling performance and surprised a few teams along the way. There were strong performances by Callum Gillard delivered a great leadership performance, and, Luca Ercolani and George Whitburn who gave the opposition something to think about with their explosive power and pace. Head Coach Roy Davies said,

“Everyone did extremely well, we played with real confidence against well-established sides, now we have to take that into the 15-a-side game.”

Netball

It would be a similar fate for Team BC Elite Netball as they reached the quarter final stage. Another great start saw the ladies win convincingly over Weston College 28 – 4, which was an opportunity for the whole squad to get a good amount of game time. The opposition grew greater as the tournament went on, as they faced a tough Exeter side who play in a league above, followed by another tough test against PETROC who Team BC narrowly lost to only a few weeks ago, Team BC lost both fixtures.

The side progressed to the quarters finishing third in the group and put up a brave fight against Richard Huish, narrowly missing out 18 – 14.

Basketball

Team BC Basketball finished third in the regional round-robin competition held at Exeter College. A stuttering start against St Brendan’s sixth form, culminated in a 13 – 10 win as the team’s high pressing paid dividends. In the second game BC played local opposition Richard Huish in a well contested tie, but after an intense final few minutes Huish ran out winners 14 – 10.

A draw with Truro and Penwith in their third match before facing South Devon in the fourth. Captain Rob Macintyre put on a scoring display that was watched in awe by all the teams competing on the day, scoring 12 points within the first five minutes of the game to guide Team BC to a 26 – 14 win.

Going into the final game vs Exeter, who had all but won the tournament by this point, Team BC started strongly putting Exeter under some intense pressure, however the home side would run out victors, making the most of every opportunity. Team BC showed lots of determination and will take many positives from the tournament.