6 May 2020
Mrs Caroline Treacy, Director of Sport
At a time when we would be playing cricket and tennis and competing at athletics meets it has become a very different term for PE and sport. Along with everyone else, the department has moved to the remote world (or #VirtualValley) and we’re missing our usual interactions with the girls.
We have been creating PE videos and posting Daily Challenges on Twitter and Instagram to keep our students active during these uncertain times and to encourage them to try different skills. Whilst I’m still trying to teach myself to juggle, courtesy of Mrs Lock’s demonstration, it has been great to see girls share their efforts. I’ve been particularly impressed with Year 7’s Lea who took Miss May’s ‘teabag throw’ one step further to make a pot of tea! We’d love to see more of the girls’ attempts at our challenges. These can be posted on the Extra-curricular Sport channel of the Student Common Room. If any of the students would like to set us a challenge, we are all up for it!
Our extra-curricular provision has also had to change for the summer term. To date we’ve offered two activities for the girls to take part in. The first was the Leaderboard Challenge where girls have chosen a distance of 1km, 3km or 5km to be completed on foot, bike or any other means they have. Each week they can submit their best time and see who reaches the top of the leaderboard. Alongside this the girls can track their progress throughout this half of term.
Our second activity has been the Pass It On Challenge. The department led the way, with a take on using different sports equipment and sporting movements to pass on a toilet roll, while Sport Ribbon Jade, with help from her family, chose to pass on a scrunched up piece of paper. So far the U15 netballers and the U14A hockey squad have taken on the challenge and we look forward to many more entries.
Our sport scholars are having the opportunity to enjoy a series of talks from sports people, hosted by Downe House School. This includes Dr Eleanor Gaastra, lacrosse captain for Wales, who looked at the challenges and rewards of balancing sport, academic studies and life in a talk entitled ‘Striking the Balance’.
This week we have launched the ‘50km in May Challenge’ to raise funds for St Catherine’s Hospice, Crawley. After a member of the department set herself and her daughter the challenge of running 50km in the month of May, she suggested we include the whole Woldingham Community and raise funds for a very worthy cause at the same time, so we’ve done just that. Details have been sent to all girls, and staff. Please visit our JustGiving page for more information should you wish to support us in this challenge.
More challenges coming soon…