Yeah I admit it. I know nothing about lacrosse and I've built an entire story around that. Oh well I'm sure other people have worse excuses. And, as I said, there will be non-games content.
As it happened Mrs Barrett was already planning a trip to the local shopping centre. She needed to go to the supermarket and had one or two other bits to pick up. She said the girls could pick up these oddments and also visit the sports shop. Peter said he would stay at home - he had no interest in discussing hockey sticks when he could be spending some quality time with his X-Box.
The girls left their mother in the car park and walked briskly towards the sports shop. "So what do you think about this hockey business then?" Pippa asked her sister.
"Dunno really" replied Sam morosely "I mean it would be nice to play more matches for the school, but I like lacrosse. I don't know if I'll like hockey, let alone whether I will be good enough to get into the team. And that's the other thing, most people at Malory Towers have never played hockey, the teams won't be any good at all. Losing all the time won't be much fun or do the school's reputation any good".
"Don't be so pessimistic" said Pippa bracingly. "I bet lots of people played hockey when they were at their junior schools and some of them probably play in the holidays too. We all have games lessons every day so we should improve pretty quickly. Besides maybe some different people will get a chance in teams now, it always seems to be the same people all the way up the school".
"How would you know?" asked Sam irritably "you're only a third year yourself".
"Well the people who were in the junior team last year are in the intermediate teams now" argued Pippa. "And if you look at the team lists in the school magazine for the past few years it's pretty clear. I'm not saying I'd never get into a school lacrosse team but I think I've a far better chance of being picked for hockey. Provided I happen to be good at it anyway".
In the shop they picked up unfamiliar hockey sticks and balls. They were inclined to wave the sticks around rather aimlessly until one of the staff took them in hand. She showed them how to tell what length of stick you needed, how to hold the stick properly, and even gave them a few pointers on hockey skills. Sam was quite relieved to have met an expert who could give them a valuable head start in the new sport. The woman explained that she belonged to the local hockey club. The club had a junior section and they would both be most welcome to join, even if they could only come in the holidays. The club would be holding a two day skills camp to fill in the few days between New Years and the start of the new term, perhaps they might like to come to that?
By the time they left the shop clutching their new equipment and the contact details for the hockey club they felt positively cheerful and optimistic. Until they realised that they had forgotten all the errands they were supposed to be running for their mother and that they were due to meet her in five minutes. Pippa, as befitted the eldest, took charge. She ripped the list of jobs in half and handed the bottom half to her sister. "Meet you at the car" she called, taking off for the book shop at full speed. Glancing at her own list, Sam took off in the opposite direction. She was still five minutes late in arriving at the car but fortunately her mother was later still and so she escaped detection.
The Barrett's garden was rather small but was blessed with a lawn that was both flat and reasonably spacious. As such it was ideal for trying out a new sport in private. Fortunately Mr and Mrs Barrett were not the sort of parents to make much fuss about a broken window or two, which was just as well given the tendencies of wayward lacrosse and cricket balls. After helping their mother put the shopping away the two girls changed into tracksuits and trainers and headed into the garden with hockey sticks and balls in hand. Ten minutes later, after rescuing her ball from under the rose bush for the fifth time, Sam was heard to say that hockey was a terrible sport and that whoever came up with it should have been shot. Pippa didn't answer, she was too busy trying to fish her ball out of the pond.
After lunch Sam decided that she would go online and find out what her friends thought about the change in sport. Perhaps her grandmother would have seen the news too? Sure enough a popular social networking site was busy with Malory Towers girls, both past and present, airing their opinions. There were plenty of people who had no interest in games and couldn't see what difference it made whether Malory Towers played hockey or lacrosse. Most of them had already given up on the debate and moved onto some other interest. The traditionalists were quite horrified and argued that it would be a mistake to throw away years of lacrosse playing excellence just for the sake of conforming to modern trends. But many people were delighted by the thought of Malory Towers being able to become more competitive at sport. Sam saw a post by her mother's old friend Sally saying that the change was a great move. But Darrell herself was silent on the issue.
Sam was quite curious as to what her Grandmother thought about hockey but she didn't find out until Christmas day itself. On that day the Barretts and many other family members descended on her Grandmother's house. Darrell always insisted on hosting every family member who wanted to come for Christmas and she and her husband always put on the most spectacular Christmas lunch. There was smoked salmon or a goats cheese tart to start with, followed by roast goose, roast pork and all the trimmings. For pudding there was trifle, profiteroles or Christmas pudding. Or, if you were Peter, all three.
After lunch most of the family settled down in front of the TV except for some of the boys who retreated upstairs to play computer games. Sam however found herself feeling restless and rather full and so decided to go for a walk. To her pleasure her Grandmother chose to accompany her although nobody else wanted to come. They set off briskly towards the local park, delighting in crisp December air and nodding polite greetings to those they passed. Sam was dying to ask her Grandmother, always a great advocate for Malory Towers tradition and yet a very forward looking person, about the hockey issue but she couldn't think how best to raise the issue. So she was quite happy when Darrell raised it, albeit in a rather round-about way.
"I bet you're looking forward to getting back to games this term aren't you?" she asked.
"Oh yes" said Sam, who had broken her wrist the previous term and so missed many games lessons. "My wrist is back to normal now Gran, so I hope I can go straight back into games and get my place on the lacrosse team back".
"I'm glad to hear you say that Sam, I was so hoping you'd keep up with your lacrosse. Such a strong family tradition playing Lacrosse for the school and it would be a shame if neither you nor Pippa managed it".
Sam nodded, she knew that not only had her Grandmother played for the Malory Towers first team but so too had Sam's mother and both of her mother's sisters. Sam's cousin Lucy, the only one of Darrell's grand-daughters still at Malory Towers besides herself and Pippa, was the current captain of the first team and many of Darrell's older grand-daughters had played for at least the junior teams. They walked on, Sam lost in thought. She was slowly getting better at hockey but had already been inclined to put more emphasis on lacrosse and her Grandmother's words had only cemented that decision. Sam Barrett was a lacrosse girl and she would spend the rest of the holidays practising that sport, if Pippa wanted to go off to the hockey club she was quite welcome to it! Meanwhile Darrell strode blithely onwards, quite unaware of the effect of her words.