PORTUGAL TRIP - ladies development and under 11s

4 members of Ely were part of the England Development Squad trip to Portugal over half term. Ryan Norton was in the Boys under 11s squad and Hattie Ford, Nikki Hart and Emily Barrow in the Girls under 14s squad.
 
The hosts were Academico da Feira, south of Porto and the first evening was spent playing some of their players. The boys played a match against some of the clubs beginners and the girls played an under 13s boys team. The boys gained much confidence and managed to score 22 goals although the girls were well beaten.
 
Day 2 involved a trip to the Gulpilhares club. The boys played the u 11s team and soon raced into an early 4 goal lead. The hosts started to find some goals but  it was the England team who had the better of the final quarter, eventually winning 11 – 5 with Ryan scoring. The girls were given a difficult task against an under 16s ladies team inc. a couple of senior players. The size and speed of the opposition was always a factor and the girls lost 7 – 2 with Emily scoring a late goal.
 
Evening 3 was spent at the impressive venue of the Sanjoanense club. The hall was vast and included the equivalent of four 44m x 20m rinks also used for football, basketball and handball . The boys played an under 11s team and the girls an under 13s boys team. Both train 3 nights a week and are currently amongst the best in the country. Both England teams played well but defeats by 21 – 6( Ryan one goal) and 13 – 1  were nevertheless good performances.
 
The final evening back in Feira saw the boys play the main u 11s team. Again they got off to a good start and were leading by a comfortable margin. However the home team responded well pulling the scores back to 6 - 6 . The England team had the better of the final few minutes to win 9 – 6 with Ryan scoring one.
 
The girls again had a difficult task against a boys under 13s team. However in the most exciting match of the trip there was never more than one goal between the teams. With the local boys not wanting to be beaten, late pressure gave them 2 goals for a 7 – 6 win, Hattie scored one of the girls goals.