The Pipers Corner Senior lacrosse team went on tour to Edinburgh in January 2008. Despite the disappointment of not winning the tournament the girls played well as a team and gained new found confidence in their skills. Here the Captain and Vice-Captain tell us what it was like to go on tour.

The Pipers Corner Senior team lacrosse tour, took us to the great city of Edinburgh on the 18-20 January 2008. Lead by three PE staff who eagerly gave up their weekends to accompany us, Mrs McGonigle, Miss Morgan and our much loved Coach Stone.

On Friday the 18 we all flew to Scotland. Once settled in we made our way over to Loretto School for our friendly match under the lights. This was our first match since November and the team were eager to play. Pipers went out very strong and surprised the bigger Loretto first team. After a time out Loretto came back fighting hard and ended up winning the game. This however did not stop Pipers from playing hard and working as a team to still put points on the board.

On Saturday the 19 we took part in a tournament playing five matches. We played against schools of similar ability to us, which called for a good chance to win some games, so the team went out feeling hopeful and determined to put good reason behind coming to Scotland. Unfortunately we lost the first match to Queen Margaret's 3-1, but by our next match we were determined to fight back and we beat North London College 3-0.

In a very close game with Loretto however we lost 3-2. We picked it up the next game and finished the tournament winning out last two matches, 2-0 against St. Leonards, and 4-1 against Sedbergh. Winning those last two matches left us in high spirits at the end of the tournament. We finished with a score of 10 points putting us in 3rd position in our league. Unfortunately only the top two teams got to move on.

As much as it would have been great to move on the team played the best that they have all year and seemed to have really clicked. The communication amongst the team was amazing as well as their ability to see each other and the right passes to make.

The whole team played with huge effort and some girls were given awards for there great efforts.

• "The Unsung Hero Award" was given to Elle Rose who worked great with her team mates on and off the field and showed a new awareness of the pitch.
• Camilla Bingham was named "Player's Player of the Tournament" for her efforts helping to run the defence. She also did a great job running the ball up to attack and never gave up on ground balls.
• "Coaches' Player of the Tournament" was awarded to Bryony Seekins who never showed how tired she was, constantly running the ball up and down the field. Bryony did a great job motivating the team to continue playing hard and did everything that was asked of her.
• Vicky Williams-Gray was given the award "Attacker of the Tournament", for her constant efforts to take on defenders and find the back of the goal time and time again. She did a good job working to get back on defence and get up onto attack.
• Finally the "Defender of the Tournament" award was given to Becca Richards for her ability to be taken out of the midfield and put into defence where she played brilliantly helping Bingham and others to cause many turnovers and stop many goals.

The trip was a good way to help the team bond and get to know each other on a higher level. The girls seemed to have a good time with each other and now know each other better on and off the field, which is always necessary when trying to build a strong team. After the tournament was over and our awards were passed out we each said what we enjoyed most about the tournament.

Some girls said that their favourite moment was "the feeling at the end of the tournament. Knowing that even though we didn't win we played as hard as we could."

Others said "Knowing that we are all much closer than we were when we came here." Shortly after discussing this we went out for a team dinner where the girls seemed to enjoy each other company and their food a lot.

Although we did not win the tournament the Pipers girls went home with a newfound belief in themselves and each other. They now know that they have the ability to go out there and play their hearts out.

Rebecca Richards (Captain) & Vicky Williams Gray (Vice Captain)