Girls' sport round-up

Emma Chambers, Head of Girls' Sport, gives us the girls' sport news from the first half of the term.

The start of the new academic year has brought the netball season for U8s-U10s and hockey for U11s-U13s. Running alongside these have been swimming and cross country for the U9s upwards.

The mental focus of this half term has been the process of matches not just the outcome. Rather than ‘What was the score?’, we are encouraging pupils to think about ‘How did you play?’ or ‘What did you learn?’.

I think this is very important as the reason we have matches is because it is a good learning experience for the pupils. You can learn from both defeat and victory. You can play poorly and win or play well and lose, so the result should not be the deciding factor to how we performed.

Hockey

Seniors
Between the four teams they have had 17 matches, eight tournaments and their inter-patrol competition.

  • 1st Owls
  • 2nd Panthers
  • 3rd Otters
  • 4th Tigers

The senior coaches have said that pupils have shown great effort. They have been passing accuracy, and their use of the width of the pitch has been improving.

The U13A IAPS team came 3rd at their regional qualifier but unfortunately it was only the top two who got through to Nationals.

U11s
Between the three teams, the U11s have played 20 matches and three tournaments. The U11s have made some really good progress both as individual players, as teams and a whole squad. All of the coaches have been impressed with their determination the improvement in focus. We have found that their positioning and quick re-sets are also starting to come together.

The U11A team won the Westbourne House tournament and the Bs also did very well finishing 4th out of six schools and were the only B team in it. The IAPS wasn’t to be this year, but it was a good experience for them as they will understand more of what to expect next year.

Netball

U10s
The two teams have played a total of eight matches and two tournament entries.  They have also had inter-patrol netball with the U11s.

  • 1st Owls
  • 2nd Panthers
  • 3rd Tigers
  • 4th Otters

They have been working on their foundation netball skills and have shown steady improvements. We are focusing on coming in front of your defender and passing into the space.

U9s
The U9s have three teams, have played 16 matches between them and have entered seven teams in tournaments/festivals. The U9As won the Dorset House Tournament. The U9s have played with strength and determination. Passing and footwork have focused on and these are now improving. It was lovely to see them playing with the Year 3s in their inter-patrol matches and sharing their experience.

  • 1st Otters
  • 2nd Tigers
  • 3rd Panthers
  • 4th Owls

U8s
The U8s have had their first term of matches and have progressed well. They impressed me from the start with their knowledge and basic skills and we have been gradually building on this. They have all played lots of different positions so they know the job of each one. Shooting is good and dodging is improving. Next half term we will re-cap footwork and look at passing and man marking. They have played in lots of triangulars and so they have played in seven matches and one festival. They have also had their inter-patrol netball with the Year 4s (results above).

Swimming

We have had two swimming galas for both boys and girls. The first was against Highfield (U9, U10, U11, U13) which we narrowly lost by 6 points. As their pool is not quite 25m we were unable to time and see if we had any new PBs. It was great to see all of the year groups compete together in the canon relays at the end. This was Year 4s first inter-school gala and they did very well.

The second gala was against Cranleigh (U9, U10, U12, U13) which was a tough fixture but everyone swam very well. There were 19 new Personal Best times!

Cross Country

The U10 and U11 Boys and Girls took part in the Seaford College cross country. Everyone ran their best against lots of opposition on a hilly course. Some races had more than 80 participants in!

The U11 Girls also took part in the Prior’s Field cross country, which was a new course for them. It was through uneven ground but a shorter distance than they are used to. As it was two laps of the same course, the girls were able to use this to help them tactically and plan their race, and it was a good opportunity for them to work on their pacing.