Calum is playing in defence for Scotland Aspiring Boys in the European U-18 Boys Championships in Granada, Spain. Yes, playing hockey in Spain in July !

Morven Begg and her Scotland squad were there last summer but their tournament is in Glasgow this summer with more on that in our next article. Gordonians H.C. is very proud of both Calum and Morven for all they are achieving at international level.

It's been a challenging year of training for Calum with weekend sessions ( never in Aberdeen of course) and monthly Monday evenings down in Uddingston or Edinburgh. None of that possible without transport provided by his parents. Added to all that his squad have had to deal with new coaches just a month before the tournament.

Wendy and Nicol are there supporting Calum and Scotland so we are grateful to Wendy for this report:

It’s been a tough gig in beautiful hot Granada. Great experience for Calum.

First match against the classy Belgium team on Friday finished 0-10.

Saturday evening was a disappointing 1-7 against the Irish. Didn’t go our way at times.
However the exciting part was Calum scored his first international goal. He is the injector at penalty corners and scored from the rebound off the keeper's pads. Scotland won the running penalties against the Irish.

Although the scores don’t suggest this they have been competitive and had several goal opportunities. The opposition just make the most of every opportunity.

Last night (Sunday) against the Dutch our boys managed to keep their goal intact for the first quarter but The Netherlands took control with four goals in the second quarter. They didn't get a fifth until the final quarter so it finished a respectable 0-5 against one of the favourites to win the tournament. It was shown on You Tube so can be viewed here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA6BJr9k8wI&pp=ygUOQW5kYWx1Y2lhbiBjdXA%3D

Today (Monday) Scotland play Ireland again and then they have a fifth match to decide final placings.

Photo: Calum Bradford in Granada with Scotland