November 29th, second game day of the championship at Bout-du-Monde. We could sleep in a bit as there was no early train to catch, so everybody arrived fresh and wide awake ready to play the Black Boys and Grasshopper Zürich.

Before the other teams arrived we had time to practice our penalty corner, with clear instruction of our new coach Xavier we practiced the new set-up. The corners were well structured and everybody knew what to do in case of a penalty corner. This could mean only one thing, we were ready for the derby against the Black Boys HC.

The whistle blew and the game started, despite all our preparations we seemed a bit lost on the field. We were not able to build up an attack and were left defending. Nevertheless, we tried remembering all the tactics Xavier discussed with us prior to the game. With a penalty shot against us and our goalkeeper been send of with a green card we could not withhold the Black Girls from scoring. Leading to a final score of 0-5.

After evaluating the first game we knew we had to win the game against the Grasshopper Zürich. To wake up after another three hours of waiting we decided to go for a walk outside to catch some fresh air. We were ready to win this game, not only was this the first day of Mechi’s indoor career but also her last day before she would leave us to go traveling. Making us even more eager to win. It was a good start of the game for Servette, we created a lot of opportunities and were finally able to show our penalty corner. It was perfectly carried out and Mechi scored the 1-0. We continued building up attacks but unfortunately without finding the goal again. In the second half-time Grasshoppers came more in their game and despite the great performance of Bénédicte as our goalkeeper, we ended the day with a 1-3 score.

Even though we did not win, we can still be proud of the process we went through this day. Comparing the first and the second game, we showed great improvement. If we retain and build on this process I am sure it will have its reflection on the coming games as we are more motivated than ever to win next week. Remaining for this week’s schedule: train hard play hard.

Leonie Kuiper