The Flagpole

Our U13 Girls’ Hockey Team were celebrating last weekend following a fine win at the invitational Bedford Modern School Hockey Tournament on Saturday 23 September.

There were eight teams competing in total and our U13A side were undefeated throughout the tournament. They won on shuffles in the final against Winchester House, with Jasmin Rose saving all three to clinch their victory!

There was also success for our U12A team who made their debut as an U13B side and beat a Stamford B team to secure an excellent win a year young, taking 7th place overall.  

Every single girl was brilliant and there was lots of great parental support too.

Chris McCullough

Our Primary School programme of activities kicked off early this year with the 14th Junior Schools Sports Festival taking place in only the third week of term. Spread over two nights, local schools were invited to participate in hockey and football tournaments on the College’s excellent all weather pitch facilities. In total over 80 children took part representing five different local primary schools and it was lovely to see so many parents turning up to support.

The junior hockey tournament took place on Monday 18 September and playing were teams from Crackley Hall, The Croft, Our Lady’s and The Revel. For the girls who had played hockey before, this tournament was an exciting occasion to put their skills into practise in a competitive environment, whilst those who were new to the game were treated to a hockey skills masterclass by some of Princethorpe’s top hockey coaches and first team hockey players.

The tournament was hard fought, with the newly learnt skills helping to build the flow of play. All the teams took turns playing each other and the games were close. Final standings at the end of the tournament were 1st The Revel, 2nd Crackley Hall, 3rd The Croft and 4th Our Lady’s.

Mrs Brookes, Princethorpe’s Head of Girls’ Games enjoyed seeing the talent on display, “It was lovely to see the girls having so much fun; it is great to see so many junior girls playing this fantastic sport.”

The junior football tournament took place later the same week on Friday 22 September. Five local primary schools took part; The Revel, The Crescent, Crackley Hall, The Croft and Our Lady’s. Taking a similar format to the girls’ hockey tournament the boys played a round robin of games on two pitches. The coaches gave good side line support shouting advice to their players who enthusiastically committed to games of nine minutes each way. Matches were fast paced and the teams focused. The ball was moved skilfully up and down the pitch and there were some excellent shots at goal.

The final results were declared as 1st The Revel, 2nd The Croft, 3rd Crescent, 4th Our Lady’s and 5th Crackley Hall.

Princethorpe College’s Primary School Liaison Teacher, Mr Cyp Vella, said “All the children deserve huge congratulations for their energy and enthusiasm – there was a lot of talent on display and it was wonderful to see the children competing so proudly for their schools.”

Our thanks go to all of the staff and pupils involved in the organising and running of the two tournaments in our fantastic festival of sport.

Huge congratulations to Princethorpe College Year 11 pupil, Will Basford, who represented Europe in the inaugural International Federation of Pickleball’s Bainbridge Cup, which took place in Madrid from 15-17 September. Like the Ryder Cup for golf, the Bainbridge Cup pits the best of Europe against the best of the United States in the growing sport of Pickleball.

Pickleball is a racquet sport that combines elements of badminton, tennis, and table tennis and is currently one of the fastest growing racquet sports in the world. Devised in the sixties in the United States part of its appeal is that it is easy to play and a sport for everyone.

Fifteen-year-old Will says, “I like that you need a mix of skills to play Pickleball, it is very easy to learn, fast-paced and great fun.”

Whilst in Madrid Will also took part in the Spanish Open playing in the Men’s U30 Doubles with his partner Ben Stuchbury, who attends Lawrence Sheriff School. The boys played brilliantly and were delighted to finish in an amazing second place, taking home the silver medal.

Will continues, “I was so proud to represent my country and Europe. Taking part in an international competition was very special. The atmosphere was electric and we were very happy to come second and win the silver medal. We have made lots of friends from around the world and are hoping to make it to further tournaments later in the year.”

A keen sportsman, Will has made great progress as he has only been playing Pickleball for a year. He began playing in Banbury but now plays twice a week in a new club in Rugby. He has previously only played in one tournament in the UK so his success is to be especially commended.

Well done Will, we are very proud of you.

If you would like to find out more about Pickleball visit http://pickleball.org.uk.

Pickleball can be played weekly on a Monday 7.00pm-9.00pm at the Queen's Jubilee Centre in Rugby.  Contact samgbasford@gmail.com for more information.