Swedish Youth Games U17 Round Up: Bruce Flockhart
Bruce Flockhart attended the recent Swedish Youth Games in Malmo – his first trip with players as the National Junior Squad (NJS) lead coach and a return to a venue where he played his first international event when he was 14!
We caught up with Bruce plus a few of the U17 Players and here’s what they had to say:
Bruce: “Travel to and from the event was generally trouble free although two players did have their bags delayed on arrival in Sweden”.
“We had 7 players 4 boys, 3 girls all members of the new NJS. The event had a good standard of entry and our players performed very well, all giving maximum effort in all their matches, we had quarter finals reached in two events and very close to reaching another two, even some of the first round losses where very close matches against quality opponents”.
Pranavi: “My first U17 international tournament was a great experience, I learnt a lot especially from the environment and how to deal with it, I got some really good matches and fully enjoyed my time there…I was also provided with a great amount of support from my coaches and some very valuable feedback, thankful for the opportunity”.
Shannon: “I would say from my weekend, I had some very good close games which was great experience for me as I’m not that used to playing at such a high level, I also learnt a lot of valuable things that I will look at taking into my foreseeable games in the future”.
Lewis: “I really enjoyed my weekend in Sweden with the team and I have learnt a lot from the experience I hope that we can do more things like this to gain even more experience.”
Ewan: “I had a great time in Sweden, experiencing new players and styles. The experience has allowed me to get a greater idea of the level in Europe. I’m looking forward to integrating this new knowledge and understanding of my own game into my training. I hope to travel to more tournaments like this as I feel it allows me to make big jumps in my game”.
Bruce Flockhart: “The trip overall was a very positive experience for everyone and hopefully we can build on this experience during training and target more great performances at the next international event”.