EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP, THE END X LUCAS SEVESTRE

On the way back to France after the end of the U21 tournament, I feel free to debrief with you our trip in Poland…

We’ve finished fifth, and that’s not a bad the result, because it was the purpose set up by the federation. But the goal’s team was the semi-final, even if the results of our preparation which last 5 months were not so good, we knew our strengths…

A team has been build during several months, and we were ready for his competition. On the paper we were the eightieth nation, but we wanted to make something great. Belgium was the first game we played, and the challenge wasn’t easy for us against the favorites of the competition. We lost 4-3, after leaded 3-2, ten minutes before the end. I allow myself to say we dominated the game, and a win for France would not have been undeserved… We missed opportunities, 2 of our 7 PC were scored, while Belgium scored 3 of their 4! We all know the huge impact of the Penalty Corner.

The second game of the pool was against England… One more time, we dominated 55min of the game, and England toke well the opportunity to beat us. We leaded 2-0 early in the game, and England reached us thanks to 2 Penalty strokes. We paid our lack of experienced of these tight games and lost 3-2. Disappointment and frustration was the main felling felt by the team! The semi-final was now out of view, and we could be angry against our self because we lost this match, and England didn’t win it (even if they made a great come back).

The new purpose was now to stay in the group A and get the fifth European place, by winning our last 3 games.

To start, we had to beat Spain. Under an awesome rain and on pitch which became a swimming pool, the match has been very closed, and the winning team was the one who will make less mistakes. Final result 0-0.

Our two next opponents were Russia and Poland. We made a draw 3-3 against Russia, which forced us to win Poland the day after, in front of their crowd, in their European Cup. Not an easy task!

We managed Poland pretty well with a victory 4-1. We scored the first goal at the 25^th second, but we missed a lot of opportunities and let Poland came back at 2-1 ten minutes before the end. Our old demons showed them-self but thanks to the experienced we got from the last games, we won. It has been a great feeling by all the team, and we celebrate the victory and this fifth place more than you can imagine! We all know this is not the best ranking that a team could have, but since the beginning we have been so unlucky, and lost our matches on small details that the satisfaction and the relief were big!

The U21 French team, all wished to do a better result, because we played well and the other teams have been very surprised by our level of play… Some said we would have deserved to reach the semi-final which was so closed. Of course there is disappointment, but we can be proud of our self.

“Small details, big differences”

Kahlu # 17

EUROPA U21 MENS CUP x ENGLAND VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS PT2

Following on from our previous EUROPA U21 MENS CUP x VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS PT1 entry, here we have video highlights of all the English Pool A games + english commentary courtesy of fieldhockey.tv

ENGLAND v SPAIN

ENGLAND v BELGIUM

ENGLAND v FRANCE

EUROPA U21 MENS CUP x VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS PT1

FOR VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS, SCROLL DOWN!

The Men’s U21 European Cup is currently underway in Siemianowice Slaskie, Poland. It is a week long competition where the best of Europe fight it out for the bi-annual title of Euro Champions.

There are a heap of talented young Gryphon guns representing all nations in this tournament, with many making waves and putting in staring performances.

Pool A consists of Belgium, England, Spain and France while the makeup of Pool B includes Netherlands, Germany, Russia and hosts Poland.

At the completion of the pool stage, here are the current standings

Ranking Pool A:

Ranking Pool B:

Thursday (today) is a rest day with the Semi’s to be played on Friday and the Finals on Saturday. Semi Final 1 has England up agains the Netherlands and Semi Final 2 see’s Belgium play Germany. This tournament is a major scouting ground for the senior national teams plus the big European clubs so expect the players to be putting it all on the line in these titanic European clashes.

We have sourced the available highlights from the round matches for your viewing pleasure below. Now sit back and relax as the best youth in Europe go head to head.

DAY 1 WRAP

GERMANY v RUSSIA

GERMANY v NETHERLANDS

SPAIN v ENGLAND

BELGIUM v SPAIN

BELGIUM V FRANCE

FRANCE v ENGLAND

HOLLAND v POLAND

EUROPEAN CUP U21, FIRST DAY X LUCAS SEVESTRE

Here we are. Arrived yesterday in Poland, we are now well set up in the “Arsenal Palace”, Hotel with Jacuzzi, pool, and other good services.

It’s very warm and sunny there so we’ll have to drink a lot of water!

The stadium, in which we played a 4 nations tournament, is ready to welcome all the teams and the crowd. There is about 2000 seats…

Before going to Poland, I played 8 official games against Ireland, Spain, India and Pakistan, with the French Senior Team. It was great to play because I had the opportunity to get my level back, get more experienced, after my knee injury! We played in Barcelona, Cookstown and Paris in 2 weeks.

My season has been quiet hard because of those two main injuries, but I’ve never given up my goal of this year, play the Euro Cup U21, and lead the team to the semi final!

I’ve won my bet, to be ready for the event… First game on Sunday against Belgium!

Let’s meet on and off the pitch!

I’ll let you know asap!

KAHLU #17

INTRODUCTION x JEAN JEAN

Hi,

My name is Sebastien, I’m 31 years old and I live in lyon (in the south of France). I have been playing for FCLHC since 2004, a well- known Hockey club in France. They have been French Champions 10 times.

I started playing Hockey when I was 5 years old. I played in Lyon until I was 20 and then for 4 years I was at the Racing Club de France in Paris when I played in 3 Cup of Cups.

I started my international career for the senior French team at 21 where I competed in the qualifications for the World Cup at Edinborough in 2001. I also went to the qualifications in Changzou in 2007. Unfortunately on both occasions we were unsuccessful in our quest.

I have taken part in two European Championships in Manchester and Amstelveen.

I have currently taken a break from my international career to focus on my professional career (I am a physiotherapist) and my familly (I have a little boy who is 16 months old…He came to support his dad in Amstelveen!)

I hope that my fitness and my professional timetable will allow me to play for the French team again and why not try for the Olympics in London!!

See you soon on the touch line or in Lyon!

BONJOUR x SCHEFFER

U21 EUROPA CUP, OR NOT ? X LUCAS SEVESTRE

This is a difficult period that I go through…

I learned 2 weeks ago that I had a rupture of the posterior cruciate ligament of the right knee.
This ligament is used to avoid the tibia to move back relative to the knee, and this ruptures are frequently found in road crash. Me, it was during a Hockey game with the U21, at the 4 Nations in Poland.

This is the second major injuries that I get this season after my broken hand, but it doesn’t decrease my wish to participate to the U21 Europe Cup which will take place In Poland at the end of June… I had the luck to consult 2 specialists of the knee whom told me that I could play in July, but it was compulsory to reinforce my knee and all the musclse around to increase the stability. Since 2 weeks, I’m doing electro-stimulation, and strength on my quadriceps, at Home, after work or at INSEP with my physio. So I haven’t play Hockey for two weeks. I’m doing everything possible to reach the best level that I can before the 23th July, to be ready and perform well with France U21 at the Euro Cup. To prepare this tournament, 9 games with France A against Ireland, Spain, Pakistan and India could help me. After this summer, I would not be able to play for at least 3 months  to heal my ligament, because I may avoid a surgery, preferring a natural recovery.

I’ll let you know asap when I’ll be able to play again…

All the best and take care.

Kahlu.

4 NATIONS POL X LUCAS SEVESTRE

Forwarding the Final of the French Championship, the 4 nations U21 in Poland was planned at Sienamowice, the town where the Euro CUp U21 will take place in July!

_{My Brother and I, trying to stop Germany}

It’s has been difficult to prepare well this tournament with the team because a lot of players were involved with their clubs for the Semi-final and the Final. So we couldn’t manage to train as well as we expected… Moreover, few players were not able to come because of injuries or exams! When you have a group made up of 19 players, if you have 4 players who couldn’t come, you can imagine that we were in trouble.  The coach decided to select 3 new players, to balance the absences. We were missing 2 very important defenders, whose one is our top pusher!

Coach Rowli managed to compensate all the absences and we were 18 at the airport, the 18^th May! The forecast journey was Paris-Frankfurt (GER) then Frankfurt-Katowice (POL), which guaranteed us a long and tiring trip! Arrived at 20h in Poland, we discovered with surprise that our stickbags didn’t follow us during the journey. The stress growth up because we were supposes to play the day after, at 5pm!
We all reached the hotel “Arsenal Palace”, high quality, but I was the only guy who hadn’t his travelbag and stickbag, whereas my team-mates had at least their travel bag… In the morning, we all discovered at the reception, a mountain of luggage… If you have seen that, you would have thought about Childs at Christmas!!  Hilarious

On Wednesday, we played against the hosting team, Poland. My first game with the team, and also my first as Captain.  Playing as a center midfielder, I have a lot of to do on the pitch. Always communicate with my  team-mates, think about the way we press/outlet, and sometimes discuss with the umpires was harder than I thought, but I liked it! This is much more tiring than just thinking about you-self and what is around you, this is a mental tiredness. To illustrate my words, I don’t have a lot of memories about the times I’ve just concentrated about me but I played well, the team to, even if we’ve made too many little mistakes. Poland leaded 3-1 at the half-time, but we manage to increase and we won 5-4, with my first goal and my performance awarded me as member of the players of the game by my coaches.

The new key sentences are “Small things can make a big differences” so “Concentration to the details”
In french it is “Les petites chose peuvent faire de grandes différences” and “Se concentrer sur les détails”

The second game was against Germany (last game, loss 8-2), this time we’ve lost 5-2… And unfortunately, I finished the game with one legs, because of two hits on the right knee. This injury, made me stay away from the pitch for the two last games. From my physio, this is not too serious; I must keep cool for one week. It allowed me to observe the way we were playing, and what were our mistakes on our press, our outlet… I get some interesting information! Against England, we’ve played very badly, and lost 5-1, then 6-4 against Poland… One more time, we finished fourth of the tournament! But there is a lot of positive things and one of the worst things we did, was not playing for each-other, not made good passes, not make a good lead to create space… We targeted few important issues, that we hope fix as soon as possible to get ready for the next U21 tournament, Celtic Cup at Belfast in Ireland, in July!  A lot of trainings are planned, and we need it to increase our level as a team!

The potential is there, I can feel it!

By the way, we are leaving in 10 days for Germany, at Monchengladbach, to play 3 games against U21 Germany with the France A team.

Readers, if you are interested, we’ll catch up in 10 days 

Kahlu!

WE ARE [NOT] THE CHAMPIONS X LUCAS SEVESTRE

After a difficult first part of the season, fifth at the winter break and non-qualification at the second EHL’s round, we won 8 of our 9 games. It shows that we have reacted quiet well face to the difficulty. This last week was harder than the other, because we played 2 games in a week-end, and thanks to our qualification for the play-off, ranked second, we’ve hosted the semi-final against Lille HC.

w ww.lsnphoto.com

The Semi-Final:

Theirs supporters came with numbers, and it assured a very good mood on and off the pitch. We clearly dominated 60 min of the game, and Lille woke up the in 10 last, but we didn’t leave them the pleasure to reach the Final, and we won 2-1.
With this success we’ve reach our sixth final in a row, with 4 consecutive victory.
In 6 years, it was the first time that Montrouge passed the semi-final. Both clubs were sure to play a European Cup next year, but only the Champion will get an EHL ticket, because of our bad ranking this year, there will be only one French Club in the Amazing Competition.
So as you may guess, this Final had a double goal, the French title and the EHL ticket, moreover, it has been the first of the French hockey history, that the Final would have been broadcast.

The Finale:
There was crowd, and the mood was very good.. About me, after 3 games where I didn’t play at my good level, I had the obligation to increase a lot. We scored quiet soon after the beginning of the match, but Montrouge came back thanks to a penalty stroke. The game was more a war between both 22m, there was not so many opportunities to score for both teams, so the game wasn’t so pleased to watch…
But the intensity, the physical, and the commitment were there. Montrouge definitely took the advantage with a second penalty stroke. We try hard to get into the circle and win a PC, or a goal shoot, but despite some success we didn’t managed to score another goal. The end of the game was given, so you can imagine the disappointment of the team.

It’s hard to learn to loose, all this years, because I’ve never known the defeated in Final since I play in the first time .
This is a new sheet, and some players may stop, others may leave, so changes are coming. We’re going to wrote a new story or keep up this one. We might have a young team next year, and when I think about it, I’m aware that we’ll may be more relax, less pressured will be on our shoulders then if we won the French title. We won’t have the pleasure to play a new EHL but we’ve gotten a European Cup B.
So this sounds like the end of the Club Season, I’ll watch with passion the last Round of EHL, where I’m going to support Hamburg from Poland.
Now I’m attending the 4 Nations Tournament of U21 which will take place in Sienimanowice, in Poland, where I expected the team will play better than <a href=”http://gryphon-life.com/?p=2393″ the last tournament we did . We are going to play Germany, England and Poland, and we have a team affected by injuries…
I’ll post a new one soon…

Regards readers!

Lucas

AUSSIE IN FRANCE x COACH x ROLLY

PS. Big ups to the Gryphon crew and DC and Rob Hammond for driving what I believe to be the best field hockey info website in the World. Keep up the good work lads!

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