A huge congratulations and well done to Ms Shepherd, Headteacher at Bloxwich Academy Primary for competing in this years Four National Ladies Masters Hockey tournament hosted in Nottingham.
The competition was between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales over the weekend of the Friday 17th – Sunday 19th June. Ms Shepherd has played hockey since the age of 11 and in that time has captained Walsall (for 11 years) and now plays in Telford on a regular basis.
This was the first year that she decided to try out for masters national hockey, as a Welsh friend of hers talked her into it. She was successfully selected to play for Wales in the masters hockey home nations 2022.
The first game was played against England on the Friday June 17th, in the scorching sun, which took its toll and the team took a loss! However, they persisted and on the Saturday came back to be leading against Ireland 2-1 with only minutes to go, but unfortunately a dubious penalty stroke was given against them and Ireland scored to finish the score at 2-2. This set them up nicely for the final game on Sunday 19th against Scotland. Neither team could break the deadlock and the match resulted in a draw Wales 0 – Scotland 0.
When asking Ms Shepherd about the experience she said “I have thoroughly enjoyed playing hockey at a national level and I was extremely very proud and honoured to represent my country. It just proves it does not matter how old you are that if you keep on trying and never giving up, hard work pays off!”
Well done again to Ms Shepherd, setting a great example to our pupils to never give up and always put in 110% effort.
