During the Easter break Holcombe Hockey Club in Rochester were hosting the EuroHockey Club Trophy. We had been planning for this event since last year and as a Club.  Teams came from Scotland, Ireland, Belgium, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and England.  I was the Team Liaison Officer for the Belarus team, Victoria HC Smolevichi. My first duty was to meet the team at their hotel on arrival from the airport and ensure that they were all settled in before taking them to Holcombe Park for a training session. On the 18^th April, the tournament started in earnest. With the chance of relegation to the EuroHockey Club Challenge 1 league for the team finishing last, there was all to play for. With many of the previous tournaments having more volunteers, officials and organisers we were thankful that the weather was going to be lovely and warm and hoped that this would bring in the crowds. The first match of the tournament pitted Victoria HC Smolevichi against the Waterloo Ducks from Belgium. As the players warmed up we could hear the sound of beating drums getting closer, it was a large group of spectators who were coming to watch the hockey. There was a collective sigh of relief from the management team as at least we had spectators.  Little did we know that following on from this match we would have around 500 spectators every day! There was a festival style atmosphere throughout the tournament with music being played from each of the competing countries, dancing in the stands and lots of cheering taking place; not to mention the copious amount of ice cream eaten. As a volunteer, it gave me a greater understanding as to the planning of such a large event and has resulted in me looking at more opportunities where I can volunteer in sports.  Who knows maybe I’ll end up volunteering in the Commonwealth or Olympic Games. Mrs Hobbs

During the period of 17^th-22^nd April, I was asked by Mrs Hobbs, to translate for the EuroHockey Tournament at Holcombe Club in Rochester. During that time, I mainly assisted Mrs Hobbs with the delivery of information for the Belarus Victoria HC Smolevichi team’s transport, game times, field trips and other tasks as a Russian-English translator. The experience was truly exciting, it gave me a good understanding of some of the rules of hockey, as well as an update for both my Russian and English word banks. If were asked to do this again, I would agree without hesitation, the team reminded me of my roots and inspired me to potentially pursue the area of a translator.  Martin Timofejevs Year 13