Marnie and team are national hockey champs

SPORTY RGS sixth former Marnie Scatchard is an England hockey champion after helping her Thirsk team triumph in national finals.

The 16-year-old scored the first goal for Thirsk U16s in the thrilling final of the England Hockey Cup, where they went on to beat Kent's Knole Park 3-2 to proudly bring home the silver.

Marnie, from Hutton Conyers, who also runs and plays tennis, joined Thirsk as an U10s player and her team has won the Northern Junior competitions in every age category, going on to compete in national finals as U12s and U14s.

Despite their season being disrupted due to the pandemic, the team beat off fierce competition from huge established clubs, including Repton and Bournmouth, to take the title, a first for a northern team.

Coach James Pollock said: “A little market town team from North Yorkshire were crowned national champions, number one in the country. This has never been achieved before by a northern team so it really is a huge achievement for the girls and the club.

"The team, for the most part, has been together since U10s, Marnie included, so they have had a long successful journey together, with Marnie being a fundamental part of it all. 

“This achievement was made even more incredible as due to Covid, the team had not been able to train together as a squad for the whole season. Their team spirit and northern grit made them champions!”

Following a knock-out competition, which began at the end of May and continued over the summer, the girls reached the national final at the Nottingham Hockey Centre. Match report from Thirsk Hockey Club website:

Magnificent results got us to the National Final where we would meet HC Knole Park (based in Kent) who had been smashing all before them on the other side of the draw.
Pushback for the final was 11am with 35 minutes each way; HC Knole Park were a very well organised team and put Thirsk under a lot of pressure in the first 15 minutes but Thirsk soaked it up without worry, and then from a well drilled short corner, Thirsk took the lead through an overhead hit by Marnie. Second half started and HCKP scored two in quick succession in open play and the pressure was now on. These Thirsk girls never give up and have such great team spirit, so very quickly earned themselves another short corner, Minnie dribbling through a number of players and then flicking over the goalie, 2-2. Now the girls were determined and even though the umpires were doing their best to make it hard for us, we managed to win a short corner with only 9 players on the pitch. Julia again dribbled through and flicked it into the back of the next, 3-2! With just under 7 minutes to go, HCKP threw everything at Thirsk but they couldn’t break through. Time was up and that was that, a little market town team from North Yorkshire were crowned National Champions, number one in the country. This has never been achieved before by a Northern team so it really is a huge achievement for the girls and the club.

This achievement was made even more incredible as due to covid, the team had not been able to train together as a squad for the whole season. Their team spirit and northern grit made them champions!