Winning is now in the blood for Tchoukball Club

By Oliver Laurenson-Gore

The University Tchoukball Club on Sunday 25^th January participated in their first National League Tournament which included Broadlands Blazers, Portsmouth Tchoukball Club as well as the University Teams of Southampton and Bournemouth.

There were two groups consisting of four teams in each. The UoP Tchoukball Club first found themselves up against the Pompey Men. The most exciting element for the team was the fact that this was the first time that the team had faced Dave Going (The University Coach) and Alex French (PTC Coach) together as this was Dave’s first game after his injury.  With Dave in defence both Chris Westwood and Jamie Warner knew it was going to be difficult but twice Dave actually got beaten by them from their shooting. The positives the University Team can take from the first match were the style of play is improving, but there are some technical abilities to be developed. Another positive was spirit the match was played, with the Pompey Men encouraging the University side throughout. The end result was 54-23 to the Pompey Men.

The University side were then up against Bournemouth University. This was probably the most exciting game at the tournament as both teams were only established in October and so both wanted to show each other whose boss.

The game started off in the first third very strongly for Portsmouth taking the advantage early on with some good play by Jamie Warner shooting at the Bournemouth defensive line at the right angles so they were not able to catch the ball. What Portsmouth was taking advantage of was the new tactics which the Portsmouth Tchoukball Club have taught them during the last two weeks of training to speed up the game play. At the end of the 1^st Period the score was level at 18-18. At this point of the match the feelings of the team were high and they believed they had a chance of winning.

From this team talk at the end of the 1^st Period the Portsmouth Team battled on with possession being controlled and also fantastic pick-ups by Andrew Roach in defence to make sure that no shots were missed for Portsmouth. This was true with Jenny Jokkourt playing in centre pivot and controlling the game so that Bournemouth was totally confused with University Team’s Tactics. By the end of the 2^nd Period of the game the win looked likely with Portsmouth in the led by only a few points at 33-27 and therefore this match was by no means over.

  Before Christmas the University Team played Bournemouth and had narrowly lost in the last period of the game so this was an opportunity not to be wasted. With all members pulling together and maintaining focus lead continued and eventually achieving the result that the team had hoped for in four months and that was our first win. This was a moment that would start the history of winning in the Tchoukball Club. The final score was 51-45 to Portsmouth.

The next two games which were played straight after the game were matches against Sudbury and Pompey Ladies. The efforts and energy had been exhausted by this point however in the Pompey Ladies match the University were leading both the first and second period but by then the team lacked energy to move around the D to defend the shots from the Ladies. This however is promising and shows the team has got to learn to remain focused throughout the entire match. The University Team at the end of the Tournament came in a respectable 6^th Place ahead of Southampton and Bournemouth Universities. The next focus for the University Tchoukball Club is training for the Varsity Tournament in February against Southampton.