16 March 2023
Mrs Caroline Treacy, Director of Sport
Students have enjoyed plenty of netball action recently, including at a tournament run by Lower Sixth students, taken on a boys’ team at hockey and achieved individual sporting successes outside of school.
Netball
Our U13 netball teams have thrived since their tour to Ascot. Our A and B teams (main photo) both won their respective competitions in the recent district tournament, which is an amazing achievement. Captain’s Georgia R and Maisie W explain more below:
Georgia U13A Captain: We were all very excited to take part in the tournament. On arrival everyone was slightly nervous, but we were confident we were going to push through. Winning our first match 10-2 against Reigate really boosted our confidence. Although some of the team got a little bumped about, they got straight back up and helped us win 9-5 against Royal Alexandra & Albert (RAAS). We really wanted to win our final game against De Stafford. Although we had a tough start, we took the match 7-5, which meant we had won the tournament! Afterwards, we were presented with medals and went home extremely pleased and proud of ourselves and each other.
Maisie U13B Captain: We went into the tournament hoping to come out winners. We started off strongly, winning 5-2 against RAAS. Next, we played very well against Reigate, taking the game 7-5 and then beat Warlingham 5-1. We were quite nervous about our next match against Oxted because a win would take us through to the semi-finals. Luckily, we did win, 4-2. Our semi-final was against Beacon School and we won 6-1. In the final, we were up against RAAS once more. It was a close match, which we took 4-3 to win the tournament. Everyone in the team played really well.
The tournament was run very successfully by three Woldingham Lower Sixth students as part of their higher sports leadership award programme. Ella K, Amy B and Belle K were all excellent on the evening, running the score table, presenting medals and giving a short speech about the competition.
Our 1st VII team (pictured below) took part in the Invitational Versatility Tournament for the first time. This is netball with a difference, where players rotate positions each time their team scores a goal. It was a great learning experience for our students to understand the pressures placed on each of the different positions on court. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience and finished in fourth place. Sasha H, Year 11, who usually plays as goal keeper, picked up player of the tournament for Woldingham after showing off her hitherto secret shooting skills and agility through the court.
Hockey
The 1st XI (pictured below) finished their season with a match against Royal Russell’s 1st XI boys’ team. Woldingham matched their male counterparts on skill, but the boys took the win after making the most of some quick breaks.
Individual achievements
The last few weeks have seen a number of Woldingham students achieve individual sporting success outside the valley (see photos in gallery below).
Lara S, Year 9, has once again excelled in the pool, winning a number of medals and qualifying for the Irish Open. This is a huge achievement, well done Lara.
Maddie L, Upper Sixth, swam at the Wycombe Open meet last weekend, achieving personal bests in both the 100m and 400m freestyle races.
Isla M, Year 7, performed brilliantly in the British Schools Modern Biathlon Championships in Redditch, placing 16th regionally and 65th nationally.
Our hockey players were out in force for their counties last weekend. Immy D, Lower Sixth, captained Surrey, playing alongside Cara W, Lower Sixth. The team beat Kent and Cara scored in the game against Oxford. Alice K, Year 11, scored a hattrick for London South against Sussex and was awarded player of the match. She then went on to score in the final minutes of London South's derby against London North, securing a win for her team. (All three county players are pictured in the 1st XI team photo below.)
