TEAM HL ARE ON THE BALL

Team HL donned their shin-pads and yellow shirts this week to take part in Telereal Trillium’s five-a-side football tournament. Captain Tom Morley reports…

We’re always up for a bit of healthy competition at Harris Lamb, so an invitation to take on a selection of teams from Telereal Trillium, one of our key corporate clients, and meet other property professionals while kicking a ball around was one we didn’t need to think too hard about accepting.

 A total of 16 teams – around half of those being internal TT teams – headed to Goals Perry Barr for the competition, and with tournament rules stipulating that each one had to have at least one female player, we presented a very different Team HL to that previously entered in such tournaments.

With newcomers Mason Bullock and Rob Haigh bringing new blood to the line-up and (considerably) lowering the average age of the team, we were pretty pleased with the performance we put in, with Olivia Morris’ determination and extremely fancy footwork being a massive asset to us.

 The tournament regulations stipulate that a female player must be on the pitch for a half of each match, but as we were a little light on numbers Olivia played every minute of every game – a cracking effort since she has never played football before and a lot of the male players are seasoned footballers.

 She even injured her knee after the second game but was determined to play on – something she may live to regret since we now consider her one of our must-have star players for future matches.

After a shaky first game losing 6-2, we hit the ground running drawing he next 2-2 and winning the final group match 4-1.  We came second in our group and were eventually knocked out of the contest in the quarter finals with a 3-2 defeat. – but we were narrowly beaten and could well have progressed.

It was a great effort by everyone. Marcus did a great job in goal and the whole team gelled very well, especially since it was the first time we’d played together – we’re definitely aiming for silverware in the forthcoming summer tournaments.

And what does Olivia have to say on her football debut?

“It was great to get involved in something a bit different and meet some new faces. It was good fun all round and I’m always keen for a bit of healthy competition, despite my lack of footballing ability and my main contribution being my pink socks!

“All credit goes to the lads for getting us through to the quarter finals – but as far as first time footballing experiences go, I consider that quite an achievement for myself.  I may not have scored any goals this time, but I’ll be sure to bring home that golden boot award next time!”