Busy week on the sports pitches

U8 Boys’ Rugby vs The Downs 

On Tuesday afternoon, the U8 boys’ rugby side travelled to The Downs, Malvern for their second rugby fixture of the term, following the success of last week’s festival. The boys were excited to put into practice all of their hard work from games sessions over the last week. They worked extremely hard, demonstrating a fantastic defensive line in particular, and it was great to see so many tag-tackles being made. The first half was dominated by several last-ditch tackles by Bruce W, Cassian W and Gabriel C. In the second half, the boys worked really well as a team and were focussed on making more regular passes into space and away from the tackle area. Thomas H, Isaac H and Rupert T set the tone, with super passing and build-up play. We were a constant threat to the opponents’ try line and showed excellent speed and evasiveness when running with the ball. Joshie R was especially effective with the ball in hand and was able to score several impressive tries.

U9 Boys at the RGS The Grange Rugby Festival

Our Under 9 boys returned to RGS The Grange for Part Two of their festival. It was lovely to see the boys putting into practice many of the ideas that they had been working on in training. The team has many strong individual runners but it was good to see the beginnings of them looking to bring teammates into the game by offloading or working the ball into space. Whilst Charles H and Jack J were a major driving force in attack, it was good to see the whole team sharing the defensive load, with Johannes K and Nicholas H-T making some stand-out tackles.

U10 Boys’ Rugby v King’s St Alban’s.

Any fixture against King’s St Alban’s is always keenly anticipated, as the boys play against opposition who, in years to come, will be their teammates. This fixture didn’t disappoint, with some great attacking play and fierce defence from both sides. King’s Hawford showed the attacking prowess that has been a trademark of their first few games and also started to operate the press defence that Mr Stigant had been asking them to execute. Some well-organised rugby with strong individual performances led to a memorable display. James B was, once again, a demon at the breakdown and wingers Arthur A and Jude R saw a lot of the ball, making some elusive runs. This was a good afternoon’s rugby for all concerned.

U10 Boys’ Rugby vs King’s St Alban’s

On Wednesday, the U10 boys pitted themselves against their peers at King’s St Alban’s in two outstanding, competitive rugby matches. Mr Hodgkins’s team worked hard in the first half, but found themselves up against a strong group of KSA boys. Despite this, they really stepped up and dug deep to claw themselves back into the game just before half-time. Elliot C, Alex A and Nayel MS put their bodies on the line with several impressive tackles that sparked the King’s Hawford revival. In the second half, the boys came out firing and worked extremely hard to put the half-time feedback into action, thus improving their rucking at the breakdown. This was especially evident in the performances of Finn MP and Charles N, and it was also great to see the boys starting to use space more effectively in attack: this led to important late tries for Noah L and George C, ably supported by Josiah KE and Robin C, who dug deep despite picking up a knock during the warm up.

U11 Girls IAPS Hockey

It was an early start on a misty Wednesday morning for the IAPS Hockey Team, as they travelled to Fairfield Prep in Loughborough for the annual IAPS tournament.

A newly-formed team took on a difficult group of large schools from all over the country, and gained valuable tournament experience which will stand them in good stead for the future. The girls went on to win the group, finishing first out of the four schools and qualifying for the Cup competition. They won a tough quarter-final against The Croft School with a slick passing game and were delighted to get to the semi-finals of the competition. There they met a particularly skilful and well-drilled Warwick side and, despite a resilient and gritty performance from the girls, they couldn’t quite seal the win, but acknowledged that we lost to the eventual winners of the Tournament. The way the girls gelled as a team and the hard work and determination of every single one of them on the pitch was most impressive. We are very much looking forward to the rest of the season, as they grow in confidence and build on their skills. The future is certainly bright for these young ladies.

U11 IAPS Hockey Pupil Report by Harriet B and Holly J

Every player played amazingly well in the tournament, and everyone improved throughout the day. Our energy never dropped at any point in all the games. Darcy B played especially well in goal, saving some brilliant shots on target from the opposition. Hattie scored a great goal in the first game, launching herself into the shot and finding herself flat on the floor in the process! We ended up winning our group, winning two games and drawing the other, which put us into the Cup.

In the first Cup game we made a good comeback and ended up winning against The Croft, putting us into the semi-final. Warwick was a very tough match, which we unfortunately lost; however, we kept the energy up going into play against Repton. We were unlucky to lose that game, but it was very competitive and involved some very good game play.

Overall, we came fourth out of 16 teams in the tournament, which is an amazing achievement.

There were some real positives that came out the tournament and the thing we did particularly well was using the width of the pitch, including the wings. If the players were all marked, we passed the ball well into space for people to run onto. Also, when the opposition had a hit out or a free hit, we surrounded them with an excellent defensive press, which is something we have been working on. This IAPS tournament was very early in the season and we hadn’t had much opportunity to play competitively as a team before this, but we played brilliantly, and every single player made a difference to the game. Well done girls!

U11 Girls Hockey RGS The Grange Tournament.

On Wednesday, the remaining U11 girls (and Jess K and Pip K from the U10s) travelled to RGS The Grange to take part in a tournament. There were ten teams, split into two groups, and the girls faced the home team, The Elms, Malvern St James, and Bluecoat in the group stages. The competition was fierce, with many schools using it as a warm-up tournament for IAPS competition. Throughout all four matches, the girls worked tirelessly as a team to try to send the ball down the field, and there was some great defensive play on show. A special mention must go to Sienna G, who showed passion and provided many good tackles to regain possession of the ball. Annabel J worked hard in defence, again retaining possession and sending the ball out of our D, and Pip K rose to the challenge of playing a year up and tracked down opposition players well. For her first time as goalkeeper, Ava W saved some brilliant, fast shots sent towards her, and should be commended for her efforts. Miss Lake’s Player of the Match went to Sienna G.

U8 Hockey vs King’s St Alban’s.

A windy but sunny day, Tuesday was the first opportunity for our new Year Three group of girls to represent King’s Hawford in hockey against our fellow Foundation school, King’s St Albans.

This was seen as more of a friendly event, where they could be coached through the matches against another school, which is a completely different experience from just playing against their friends in lessons. It was extremely well received by the players, and the smiles on their faces as well as their competitive spirit was evident. Indeed, this was so much so that we repeated the matches for a second time.

Well done to all who played: you should be very proud of yourselves, not just for your play but for your sporting attitude and behaviour! There were lots of examples of some good passages of play and working together as an effective team.  A special mention goes to all the Year Threes, as they are demonstrating some real promise; keep up the hard work, girls!

Mrs Beech picked Sophia R, Connie, Alanna A and Sylvie as her Players of the Match.

Joint King’s St Alban’s and King’s Hawford U11 Hockey tournament at Bromsgrove. 

The girls had a wonderful morning up at Bromsgrove in their annual U11 hockey tournament. This year we joined forces with our friends at King’s St Alban’s, and this was very successful, as the girls soon learned how everyone else played and used all their skills to their mutual advantage.  

There was some excellent play by all girls, including Harriet scoring two super goals in two minutes, Ellie’s second-ever hockey match, Darcey’s fantastic efforts in saving goals, Holly’s strength in handling in defence, Jeta and Lottie’s relentless determination, Laura’s stamina in defence and bringing the ball out of the defending D, and Hattie’s great play in midfield. Helena made a superb turn in the D, going for the shot and scoring, which was excellent! Another of the goals was set up by the team, with Millie on the end and scoring the goal. Well done to all the girls involved; Harriet, Hattie, Helena, Ellie, Darcey, Lottie, Millie, Laura, Holly and Jeta, you were superb with your teamwork, determination and never-ending effort. They won two, drew one and lost two, which culminated in a bronze medal: a great morning! 

Winterfold Cross Country.

On Thursday afternoon, a team of Year Five and Six pupils competed in the Winterfold cross-country competition. It was fantastic to see the children running with outstanding levels of energy, enthusiasm and determination; all of the children did themselves proud, with the U11 girls team performing especially well, finishing third overall. It was a brilliant day for the King’s Foundation, with some super performance from King’s St Alban’s and King’s Hawford, as well as victories for the King’s Worcester U13 boys’ and girls’ teams.