The club is still buzzing from the atmosphere everyone created with children and parents chatting about it at their training session last night too. We've received some lovely feedback throughout the week from clubs and parents. Here are just some of the snippets....

@garstanghockey thank you. We had a great time today. Here's to the next one. (Brookfields on Insta)

What a great event, brilliantly organised. Thank you to all.

@garstanghockey thanks for having us! It was a perfect day. (Leyland & Chorley on Twitter)

He had such a good time. Tom's Mum on our Facebook page

Great to see so many of our girls and boys representing their Hockey Clubs this morning.
Some excellent Hockey on display! (Kirkham Grammar on Twitter)

All the above testament to the huge amount of work our chairman, Charles, fellow junior league committee coordinators from Fylde and Preston and the umpire coordinators from the Lancashire Umpires Association have done in recent weeks to pull the event together - not forgetting our band of club volunteers on the day (Mags, Dave, Donna, Frank, Ian, Jude and Nikki) and those behind every team taking part.

After a dubious forecast during the week, the sun shone and we only felt a few spots as the day came to a close. Over 250 boys and girls in 33 teams, representing six local clubs - Brookfields, Fylde, Lancaster & Morecambe, Leyland & Chorley, Preston and ourselves with forty-nine children.

We entered teams in all the categories - Under 8s, U10s, U12s, U14s and U16s - which "is incredible and shows how far we have come over the last few years" commented Head Coach, Dave Gee. The teams played a 7 v 7 format with a few U8s playing 4 v 4.

Sunday enabled state school children who may not have access in school to hockey, to play fixtures against their peers, which is really important to aid their development and prepare them for club hockey where they can play competitive league hockey from the age of 13. It also enabled 10 junior umpires to be mentored by some of Lancashire's fantastically dedicated adult umpires and get some games under their belts.

The camaraderie between clubs was fantastic, all supporting each other and each others players, celebrating their efforts, the goals, saves and near misses - all just wanting the players to have a good playing experience. The sportsmanship was exceptional too. This is what it is all about.

A full set of photographs are available to all parents and the clubs on our public Facebook page.

We look forward to Round 2 at Preston this Sunday, where we will again have a number of teams taking part. Weather wise... same again please.