Sports Review: Picking up the pace!

U11 Abberley Cross Country

On Thursday we took a team of 8 pupils to the Abberley Cross Country. There was definitely an air of excitement and nerves in the bus on the way over.

We got there in time to walk the course. A difficult course, hilly and over a number of different surfaces.We counted over 11 different schools at the event, which meant around 100 pupils on the starting line, as the boys and girls run together. It is very difficult to gauge how the runners are doing during the event as you can only see them in short bursts at certain points on the course. However, you can only imagine how excited I was as I saw 3 of our girls come in so close to the front of the field of runners. Ace finished 3rd, Helena 5th and Karla 8th!

All the runners did very well in what turned out to be a very strong field of athletes. Our U13 girls team finished 2nd and had 3 girls from King’s St Alban’s in. Our girls finished 3rd overall!

U11A Rugby Festival at Millfield

In preparation for their transition to King’s School, Worcester, some boys from King’s St Alban’s and King’s Hawford joined together  for a rugby festival at Millfield Prep School. Despite only have had one previous session together, which was led by Mr Mason and Mr Williams, the boys quickly found their rhythm, playing some outstanding attacking rugby. The work undertaken by Mr Mason on rucking was evident as the boys maintained possession through multiple phases, which allowed them to score some excellent tries. Defensively, the boys worked hard on their defensive structures, and they realised the importance of putting pressure on the opposition as the afternoon wore on. It was fantastic to see the comradery grow over the course of the day, both on and off the field, and I am sure the bus journey home will be one the boys will talk about for years to come. Both Mr Cook and Mr Russell thoroughly enjoyed working with the boys and they were almost as pleased as the boys on their return.

U11 Hockey Tournament at RGS

This was a great opportunity for the girls to play on the water-based astro at Perdiswell. The nine girls all had plenty of hockey throughout the afternoon, playing five games in total. The competition was strong, but they worked hard throughout the afternoon to produce some pleasing hockey. It was a great opportunity to practise our short-corner routines, ready for the IAPS Tournament next week. On Monday, Mrs Miller-Symonds had run a session on sending the ball wide and they tried hard to get this working in the tournament. Well done to Georgia, who made some excellent saves throughout the afternoon. Also, well done to Ella and Eshal, who ran hard in the middle to keep the ball moving.

U11A Rugby v King’s Hawford

What a week this has been for these boys! With the trip to Millfield and Warwick last week as a joint team, the KSA boys arrived at King’s Hawford, now having to play against them! As a whole there was some fabulous rugby from both teams and they will make a brilliant team next year! Peter U was once again superb with his strength, pace and determination, leading to him scoring three tries! Harry B also added to the scoring with his intelligent play at hitting a gap in the Hawford defence at speed. Eddie and William made some very good runs with the ball in hand and made good decisions on whether to take the ball to ground or to offload to a team mate. This group of boys are showing brilliant progress and have certain things to work on in games lesson and clubs next week.

U10A Rugby v King’s Hawford

What a fantastic game of rugby this was for the U10 boys’ team who played against King’s Hawford this week. In a very close game, with both teams really going for it, King’s St Alban’s put on another excellent display of rugby to edge past King’s Hawford and win the game.  The boys’ tackling and rucking skills are really developing well, which prevented Hawford, on several attacks, getting near to the King’s St Alban’s try line. Theo yet again displayed brilliant defensive play and Monty, Rook and Reuben all ran exceptionally well with the ball. The whole team performed at a high level, keeping a tight defensive line and supporting each other well when in possession of the ball. Joel and William had some great runs, and a Jack and Otto played well for their first game in the A team. Well done boys!

U10B Rugby v King’s Hawford

The U10 B Team enjoyed a tough match against a strong King’s Hawford side. A well-worked attack from the King’s Hawford side saw the boys conceding a score early on. Josh led the defence, making some crucial tackles that allowed us to regain a foothold in the match through Aaron, who showed his pace and footwork, scoring two fantastic tries. Jacob made some fantastic runs, breaking contact and reaching the try-line only agonisingly to lose control of the ball! Overall this was a solid performance from the boys, and a definite improvement in attack and defence was made over the duration of the match. Well done boys!

U9 A and B Hockey festival at Winterfold

All the girls had a lovely afternoon playing a lot of hockey on Tuesday. They played against Abberley, RGS The Grange and Winterfold. They certainly improved their spacing and shots on goal as the afternoon progressed. There were many high scoring games with some wins and losses and every girl was smiling at the end. Well done all!

U9 & U8 Hockey with King’s Hawford 

U9 Rugby Festival at Abblerley

The boys showed the excellent progress that they have made since the beginning of term during the festival at Abberley Hall on Tuesday. With Ben J leading the way, our defence showed good improvement; on the whole, the team kept a good shape and lots of strong tackles were made. In attack, Tommy D led the way with some strong running and this was backed up by the rest of the team. At times we also managed to get a good off-loading game going, and we scored some good team tries. Overall, we played three very competitive matches against King’s Hawford, Winterfold and the Grange and performed better than we had in the corresponding fixtures three weeks ago. The boys all left with smiles on their faces and can be proud of their efforts.