De Paddel Report

Following almost two days of travel the NZ Paddle Ferns arrived in Ieper (Ypres) Belgium ready to take on the World in the De Paddel competition.  De Paddle is a competition attended by international and club teams alike, held across two days with eight polo pitches running at once.  The tournament was the first chance for the Paddle Ferns to come together as a team and face some of the top teams in the world.   The Netherlands, Italy, French U21’s and a Dutch club team were all in the teams pool.   Given the number of teams and pitches running, the turn around between games was pretty tight but four wins from four games saw the Paddle Ferns sitting comfortably at the top of their pool following the first day of play.

First up on Sunday, the Paddle Ferns had a top of the pool clash with Australia (they had topped their pool of France, Canada, NZ U21’s and Great Britain U21’s).  The winner would have smoother sailing to the final with less games to play, the loser having to work harder to get there with more games to play.  A slow start to the game saw the Paddle Ferns trail 1 – nil at half time.  Picking it up, the Paddle Ferns managed to pull the game back to 1 -1 at full time.  De Paddel is a unique competition that sees a penalty shootout decide the game (instead of the standard golden goal extra time).  Following the first round of five shots at goal the teams were tied at 2 a piece, with Olivia Spencer-Bower and Erin Bolton slotting their shots impressively.  The game then advanced to a golden goal shootout with the Paddle Ferns shooting first.  Despite an impressive game in goal by Kate Bolton, the Australians were successful in their final attempt and won the game with the last shot by their captain finding its way past her paddle.

With limited time to prepare before their next game against France, the Paddle Ferns were unable to pick their game up and suffered another disappointing loss.  This meant the team had one last lifeline to make it to the semi finals.  Playing the Italians in what was ultimately the bronze medal match (the winner advancing through to a semi final against Australia and the loser playing off for fourth and fifth), the Paddle Ferns fired on all cylinders and won comfortably. 

Unfortunately the Paddle Ferns went down in their semi final against the Australians, but third place in their first international tournament as a team and still suffering the effects of jetlag after arriving in Europe two days earlier is still an impressive result.

A week of training still based in Ieper ahead of a tournament in Ghent, Belgium is underway.  Following that tournament, the team will head to the Netherlands to continue their build up to World Championships in Poznan, Poland on 5-9 September.