gryphon-life.com Gryphon Hockey's off-field, on-field, blog about anything at all. Usually field hockey.

Hello all, Well what an amazing few months it has been. Firstly we had the Champions Trophy on home soil in Nottingham, where we recorded our best ever finish with a bronze medal. A couple of weeks later we then travelled over to the hockey fanatic country of Argentina for the World Cup. After the heart ache of getting  so close ... Read More »

Everyone is now home and away from Rosario (unless you happen to live there), and preparing for what’s next. For those who didn’t make it to the biggest event on the Women’s Hockey Calendar in the biggest country for hockey fanatics, or even if you were, we’ve done up a video of the experience. It’s not just a photo montage but ... Read More »

My first world cup… It’s all over; we ended up progressing game by game and making top 8 by winning to India in our pool play 3-0. We played to our game plan and all our hard work paid off. We faced 3rd ranked China in our play off game for 7th and 8th. We didn’t take the game lightly. It was very ... Read More »

Okay okay… This writeup is a little late. Just a little.  To get it out of the way, it’s the first time I’ve ever been this late in the Final write-up.  With the tight schedules for everything in this event and calling of a certain post-event celebration, you get the idea. By now you know the result. You know the score. ... Read More »

The Bronze Medal match. At risk of repeating words I have used in previous write-ups, a great man once told me there are only two teams smiling on the day of the finals. The Gold medalists and the Bronze medalists. This great man was about to play in the Bronze medal match at Beijing. He took the Bronze that day. ... Read More »

Central placings are crucial to world rankings and champions trophy chances. This game for 5th and 6th holds a lot keys and for Australia a major step before the Commonwealth games in a few weeks time. The weather delayed this match and started at 9:30pm local time, two hours late. The pitch was very very wet and the ball noticeably would slow ... Read More »

Seventh and Eighth place are up for grabs. China the current Olympic silver medal holder and NZ have come for a tough group and look to be on the up.  A great setup for a great game. It took barely two minutes before Krystal Forgesson rammed home a brillant strike to score a goal from the top of the D. ... Read More »

The playoff for the 9th / 10th position of this World Cup (as in all playoffs) are not to be taken lightly. World rankings are at stake as well as Champions Trophy positions possibly. The crossover has brought together South Africa and India in a very humid and balmy air. You’d be excused for thinking we were in Singapore besides ... Read More »

Holland already booked their spot in the final. That was a nail-biter. This game not so. In typical local fashion the crowd was completely choc-a-bloc, full of energy and chants. The team themselves full of run. Argentina were completely in control of the attacking game creating shots on goal almost at will. Carla Rebechi celebrated her birthday on Tuesday, and ... Read More »

We are in Semi Finals right now.  It’s elimination for time to have a chance at the big title and only 4 teams are left to compete for it. Each of the semis, none of the teams have played each other yet in this event, so we are sure for some great games. Not to forget the sell out crowds. ... Read More »