Schools games report

Year 9 Boys selected for the County Squad

Congratulations to the four Year 9 boys who have been selected to play for the County Squad. They are: (from left to right) Nicholas Isiekwe, (Second Row) Prince Ndhlovu, (Outside winger) Eoin Larmer (Scrum-half/Wing) and Nicholas Keohane (Hooker/Flanker) seen here during an after school training session.

These Year 9 boys have beaten off stiff competition to be selected for the Herts County Rugby Squad. They will be training on Monday nights as part of the Herts Squad in Letchworth. Their first game will be against Essex at the end of February. They were selected for the County rugby trials because they’ve performed well for the school in rugby. Their first trial was in December where 140 boys were narrowed down to 60. County managers watched our team play as part of the process which turned up with an elite squad of 30 players. Prince said that he enjoyed the trials which involved an hour of drills, handling skills and playing against other people. He puts his success down to being fast and being good at scoring tries. Mr. P Newbery, their coach is full of praise for the boys: “They have determination, strength, a good technical ability, they listen well and they have a real willingness to improve.”

We wish the boys well in their forthcoming matches.

Hertfordshire School Games 2011

Great excitement buzzed around the Hertfordshire Sports Village on Friday as almost 1200 competitors competed in the very first Hertfordshire School Games. Pupils from over a hundred schools from all twelve Hertfordshire School Sports Partnership areas were joined by a number of inspirational guests.

The Games proved a great success and an ideal start to the new and exciting programme which provides the opportunity to encourage young people to play more competitive sport in school. Extra excitement was added by the presence of Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport who welcomed everyone to the Games during the opening ceremony.

Mark Richardson and Darren Campbell, both Olympic medal winning athletes, as well as Ade Adepitan and Helen Freeman, Paralympic wheelchair basketball players also took part and gave inspirational sound-bites before mixing with the athletes. The Minister whipped up a maelstrom of enthusiasm from the crowd as he endorsed the whole School Games initiative and encouraged the competitors.

The opening ceremony created by Inspirational Arts and coordinated by the Herts Arts Development Group featured almost a hundred Hertfordshire talented school children. A lively programme of singing, cheerleading, gymnastics and drumming created an explosion of colour and sound that built up to an exciting countdown that heralded the start of the competition. The goodwill, enthusiasm and competitiveness of the whole event were palpable with all events from disability swimming to U15 volleyball keenly contested throughout the day.

Year 9 Football Report of the Game between Nicholas Breakspear and John Warner School

We kicked off with the hill going in our favour. Both sides had a few chances but none of them were converted, with both keepers in top form. Finally the deadlock was broken with a deflected cross from Alex found its way into the bottom corner. Two minutes later Jonny linked up well with Alex to finish with a first time volley into the bottom corner, out of the reach of any defender on the line.

Part of the Year 9 Football squad.

When the second half kicked off John Warner School now had the advantage of kicking down the hill. But a goal-keeping error by their side saw Jonny get his second, latching onto the end of a cross to finish in an empty net. Poor defending from a free kick saw our lead reduced to two. Then a challenge from our team gave the opposing side a penalty kick which was tucked away sweetly into the bottom corner. Five minutes before the end Sean scored his first goal for the school with a good finish, completing a sweeping move through their defence. With this victory complete the Year 9 football team are still unbeaten since the start of the season.

Nicholas Breakspear 4 John Warner 2

by Jason Wall: Year 9. (pictured)