EURO STARS

The Isle of Man Special Olympics group sent a floor hockey team to Innsbruck, Austria last weekend to gain some valuable experience in the European Championships. It was quite evident after the first few games on the morning of the first day that the Isle of Man had moved forward a considerable amount since competing in the Olympic World games of 2005, they hammered a representative Austrian team Salzburg 19 goals to 5 and then after 15 minutes rest beat Gibraltar 9 goals to 3. Gibraltar had beaten the Isle of Man 12 goals to 4 back in 2005. Team Captain Lawrence Dyer from Ramsey scored an incredible 14 goals during these two games. It was also evident to the Austrian organisers that they needed to field the full Austrian team so after lunch in the Olympian world Stadium they did and were still beaten 12 goals to 2. After 15 mins rest the Gibraltar team tried again this time with far more success with 3 minutes to go Gibraltar had a two goal advantage but Chelsea Scott scored and seconds later Andrew Richardson equalised, with the clock running down John Stephens picked up the puck in his own area dribbled through the forest of Gibraltan players to score a brilliant individual goal to win the game. The Next day started the same way only this time the Gibraltar coach was to pull off a stroke of tactical genius and teach the Manx and its coaches a very good tactical lesson, all the teams were now very tired and the Manx teams all out attacking style was taking its toll on its players and again in the very last match of the competition we had to play the Gibraltar team but in the first quarter the Manx team were 2 goals down and then lost midfield player Andrew Richardson to injury. Daniel Kelly scored to make it 2 goals to 1 down then Gibraltar scored 2 more pulled the whole team back round the goal area making it impossible for the Manx team to score. With the Isle of Man team trying everything they knew to break this defence wall down they left gaps at the back and every chance Gibraltar had they broke away and scored with Gibraltar coach constantly shouting out orders from the sidelines. The final score was 8 – 1 to Gibraltar but the Isle of Man team had already won the Tournament winning 5 out of the 6 games. Chelsea Scott was picked out by the Manx Coaches as the player of the tournament running herself into the ground for the Manx teams cause and will no doubt have very sore wrists for quite a few days to come. The Manx team wore a blue football strip donated by the Mitre Hotel in Kirk Michael on day one, and a strip donated by the Isle of Man Football Association on day two, our thanks to them and the many local residents that donated funds in support of the team it was all greatly appreciated as the experience gained will help the team considerably in next years Winter Olympics in America.