Two minibuses simultaneously left Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth in the early hours of Friday, August 5th and made their way to London. On board were the under 16 Ross Hockey Club team and their destination was the Olympic Hockey Stadium at Lee Valley.

With all the talk of opening ceremonies, flag-bearers and celebrity cauldron-lighters, before the start of the biggest sporting celebration ever staged in the southern hemisphere erupted onto our screens, a slightly smaller tournament was held, pushed back ten hours earlier, at the Olympic Park in London. An invitational under-16 hockey tournament between three teams - two from London and one from Ross-on-Wye.

At two in the afternoon there were no fireworks, no gigantic klaxons sounding, no ear splitting vuvuvelas, no glorious oratory, no passinho dancing from the favelas and no giant roller-skating yellow butterflies. Quiet history was made, nonetheless.

Although a few in the crowd weren’t entirely sure how to react, there was a good-sized cheer and a decent amount of smiling from families and friends who made the trip, as out stepped captain, Amie Jenkins, followed by the rest of the Ross Team.

The PA then crackled into life with the announcer calling out each individual player’s name, followed by the now ubiquitous roar of approval for each from the crowd.

What followed was simply sublime hockey. Welsh international, Rory Calderwood, was beaming ear to ear when he heard the opposition were also fielding some internationals. He then rounded off a superb display with a fantastic goal from a short corner routine that even had the opposition coach clapping in appreciation.

Freddie and Archie Oubridge-Brock masterly controlled the midfield, distributing the ball down the flanks, tackling like terriers and when required striding into the opposition penalty area. They were ably supported by Greg Powell, Joseph Henry and Mathew Brown.

Up front Carys Williams led the attack superbly with the assistance of Freddie Talbot, weaving their magic and causing consternation in the opposition penalty area. Meanwhile, Ella Burton and Amelia Adamson, pitched in down the flanks, causing chaos in the minds of the defenders.

At the opposite end; the Ross defence was in contrast a sea of calm. Luke Watts patrolled in front of Elysia Williams-Tettey, Beth Randall and Laura Benjamin. That is not to say Elliot Smith in goal wasn’t at times called into making some superb saves, especially in the final quarter against East London, however he was able to keep his early morning promise to keep a clean sheet by the days end.

Unlike the spectacle taking place in Rio, the Ross team didn’t need to wait on tenterhooks for the results of any B-samples before the results could be confirmed - that is unless Gummy Bears are now deemed to give a competitive edge and have made it on to the proscribed list.Against Walthamstow, Freddie Talbot was voted South Herefordshire Motorcaravans man of the match, whilst Elliot Smith was given this lofty accolade against East London.