Our student football teams, both girls and boys, often take part in inter-school competitions and local school tournaments, but this was a special and much bigger event compared to the usual. 

So how did it go?

The tournament was hosted by Hendon Football Club at their fabulous stadium and training ground, and sponsored by the Met Police, raising awareness of their 'Violence Against Women' campaign.

Coach Mr A Conway giving last minute words of
encouragement and tactical advice.

Mrs Morcombe instructing our girls about 'the wall'.

Twelve teams were taking part, from the North West London area, including Sacred Heart, Preston Manor, Copthall, Ark Academy, Whitefriars, Totteridge and East  Barnet. Plus two teams each from Kingsbury High and Harris Lowe, a specialist sports academy! 

Despite being an U14 tournament, it was mentioned by some that several girls on other teams did appear ' a bit older'.  But we were not put-off! The bigger they are - the harder they fall.

Each 7-a-side team was drawn to play in five first round matches, their overall points deciding their place in the next part of the tournament.

Of our five games, we won 2, drew 2 and lost just 1. Each game was hard fought with never more than a single goal separating the victors from the defeated. 

These results meant we just squeezed into the top group and into the play-offs. As is often the way in football, in the end it all came down to penalties...

Top right hand corner? She shoots... she scores!

These we won, placing us in a very respectful 5th place at the end of the tournament.

Our squad consisted of;

Emima P, Rimas AL-G, Julia P, Regginae-Minaj B, Daria G, Safaa B, Alyazia D, Halle S, Haifa S, Yasmine H, Abigail F, Natasha A, Jessica K, Aimee W & Nevaeh M.

Accompanying our squad was their Coach Mr A Conway (possibly about to burst with pride), and Assistant Vice-Principal (and ex-Head of PE), Mrs L Morcombe. She certainly knows a thing or two about football.
Both were extremely proud of our girls, how they played, their 'sportsmanship', what they achieved and how very well they represented Canons High.

But it was more than just football... 

Also present at the tournament were female representatives from the British Army, the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy, the Met Police, the London Fire Brigade and the Asian Womens Resource Centre.
They'd each set up a stall, promoting careers and opportunities within their service, and especially for women.

Very Special Visitor

Also attending, offering advice and more than happy to be snapped with our young players was Rachel Yankey OBE.

 Rachel Yankey with some of our happy squad.

Rachel was a professional footballer from 1996 to 2016, playing most notably for Arsenal Ladies with whom she scored a massive 51 goals.
She also represented England Internationally as a 'Lioness' on 129 occasions, breaking the record held at the time by footballing legend Peter Shilton for the most England cap!

'Lioness'

After retiring from playing, she managed the London Bees, our very own local women's football club, based just over the road from Canons High at Barnet FCs 'The Hive' stadium.

Humble Beginnings
However, and of particular interest to our young players, is the fact that Rachel started off her whole football career playing for her local youth team, Mill Hill United, just up the road from us here in Edgware, at the age of 10! 

(She actually cut her hair short and pretended to be a boy because at that time, there wasn't a proper girls' team!)

Very special thank-yous

to Hendon FC for their hospitality, the Met Police for sponsoring the event, to all the great services who attended to support the campaign and to our competitors, without whom we wouldn't have had such a great 'first' tournament.