#MeetTheTeam: Youth Girls

This year, we are starting a #MeetTheTeam series. Every month we’ll introduce you to a couple of our teams that take the turf every 2021 Winter weekend to battle it out for the win. This month’s team is the… AISC Youth Girls.

Author: Vijay Dahya

There is one youth girls team this year that play in the Championship grade on Sunday’s.  Having a quad of 16 girls has been very handy when selecting starting line ups and subbing during the game.  Most of the girls play school hockey and some occasionally fill in for our Women’s D3 team. 

A number of the girls have been playing together for many years.  This has certainly helped with the way the girls gel on and off the field.

The first part of the competition has gone very well.  Played 7 games (1 friendly).  We finished top of the table, on equal points with Howick Pak Dowdle, but goal margin of one extra than them.  Results are:

• Won 6

• Lost 0

• Drawn 1

• Goals for 32

• Goals against 2

Girls have certainly progressed well, playing a good style of passing hockey.  There is always room for improvement, no matter what level of hockey you play.  While the coaches are proud of the results achieved in the first part of the competition, it’s the style and the way you play the game that is most important.  Girls have shown in spells that they can play as a team, string a number of passes together and then score.

Our toughest game was against Howick Pak Dowdle.  Before we played them, we were both first equal on the table with points, but they had one extra goal.  So, they were placed above us.  We needed to win that game by a 2 goal margin to come top of the table.  Girls did well to score 2 goals, but Howick managed to do the same.  So, final result was a 2-2 draw.  This was an interesting result for both teams – first draw for each team, and first game to have goals scored against each other.

Our team:

Chaniqa Pancha
Plays right half and left half.  Smiling assassin while making tackles.

Dhanika Patel
Plays inside left or inside right.  She is the ‘thief’ of the team.  Good at stealing the ball from the opposition and strongly carries the ball.

Jayna Patel
One of the younger team members.  Versatile player, being able to play a number of positions – left wing, right wing, inside left, inside right.  Helps with PC’s by pulling the ball out sometimes.

Jenisha Patel (C)
Captain of the team.  Good work rate.  Plays centre half.  Has finished school, but due to her age and team preference, she is still eligible and wants to play youth hockey.

Kareena Jeram
Plays left half and right half.  Super sub.  Comes on to make crucial tackles.

Kysha Patel
One of the younger team members.  Beats the player and always looks to pass the ball.

Maya-Laxmi Patel
Plays mostly left half.  Good with tackling, when in front of the attacker and when chasing.

Natasha Bhana Pringle
One of the younger team members.  Plays in the forwards, with good speed and skill.  Is one of our highest goal scorers.

Nilam Patel
Plays centre forward.  Has the ability to score goals from unorthodox situations. Is our other highest goal scorer.

Sharnia Dahya
Plays left wing, right wing and sometimes inside right.  Carries the ball down the line and passes when required. Pulls the ball out for our PC’s.

Sonal Mistry
Plays fullback.  Solid in defence, and the hardest hitter of the ball.  First striker of the ball for our PC’s.

Terensha Claire Fernandes
New to our Club, having joining us last year.  Plays fullback.  Has developed her defence and ability to clear the ball out of the circle.

Tisha Patel
Our goalie.  A position not many players like.  She has grabbed it with two firm hands and continues to make strides with her saves.

Urvi Patel
Plays fullback.  Our best communicator on the field.  Always talking and always being positive.  Solid in defence.

Varnika Kanji
Plays left wing mostly.  Has a can do attitude and keeps trying to gain the ball from the opposition. Attacks with the ball.

Yashani Bhana
Plays inside right.  Good dribbling and carrying skill.  Gets out of trouble with the ball and sets others up.  Makes the calls for our attacking PC’s.

We would like to thank all of the parents for allowing your girls to play for the Club and supporting them on game day. 

Coaches:
Vijay Dahya
Praful Mistry
Priya Kanji

 For more info on draws and results, click here.