This week's Sports Report features the latest round of netball fixtures where our girls' A and C teams took on Sir William Borlase's Grammar School and Reading Blue Coat respectively. Meanwhile, our rowers raced in London at the Quintin Head, and a group of runners represented the College at a county cross-country event. And although most football fixtures were postponed again, our boys' 1st XI made a return for a National Cup match.
Rowing
On Saturday 28 January, our Sixth Form rowers took part in 5km races from Chiswick Bridge to Hammersmith Bridge at the Quintin Head.
Once again, our boys were split into two evenly matched VIIIs in order to develop the squad and to keep up the internal competition. The crews finished only three seconds apart and were the 5th and 7th fastest junior VIIIs, finishing only behind other schools' 1st VIIIs.
The girls took a break from sculling this week and tried their hand at rowing in the VIIIs. Although having limited time to practise in this boat type, they put together a great race to finish as the 3rd fastest junior girls' crew. A great achievement which they should be very proud of.
Next weekend, we go and race at Wycliffe Head. Good luck to all those taking part!
Coach: Mr D Currie, Director of Rowing
Netball
U18A vs Sir William Borlase's Grammar School
The A team played Sir William Borlase's Grammar School and sadly lost 35-12. Only six players from the A team were able to play this match therefore we had players step up from the B team which included G Bradbury and L Stokes. These players slotted in perfectly and L Stokes received Players' Player for her aggressive defence which forced multiple turnovers.
Because of the loss of players, we played in mixed positions, some of which we weren’t used to. E Browne stepped up and played defence with M Berry, who received Coach's Player due to her excellent defence tactics. E Young also played out of position going from defence to the opposite end of the court to play as shooter. This suited the team incredibly well and also revealed E Young’s secret talent of shooting which we can take advantage of in future matches. For this reason, she received Player of the Match. Lots to learn from this match and things to work on in training for our next league game against Reading Blue Coat on Wednesday 1 February.
Report: S Di Cuffa, A Team Netball Captain
Coach: Mrs C Lovelock
U18C vs Reading Blue Coat
Shiplake’s C team had a well-played third match of the season against Reading Blue Coat’s D team. Shiplake made a great start to the game, holding defensive positions really well with E Morris and G Wyndham-Smith beautifully intercepting passes and creating opportunities to get the ball back down to the other side of the court.
At half time, the score was 7-2 to RBC but the girls remained positive and tried very hard to bring the score back up in the third quarter. Although we scored two additional goals, the match ended 18-5 to RBC. However, we are incredibly proud of how everyone remained positive and continued to try their best throughout the game. J Pallett and D Knight received the team’s Players of the Match and A Baiden received Players' Player.
Report: A Baiden, C Team Netball Captain
Coach: Mrs K Neill
Football
Boys' 1st XI vs Wetherby Senior School
Wetherby School instantly took the game to Shiplake with their high intensity, but a fantastic defensive shape from H Palmer-Garett, J Cooper, T Gill and Player of the Match L Poundall held firm to keep any attacks from leading to a goal. Captain T Barley's goal after 20 minutes, which replicated that of Steven Gerrard, put Shiplake 1-0 up. 15 minutes later, we introduced H Doyle to the pitch where, within 3 seconds of the whistle blowing, scored from a cross delivered by J Biggin - the quickest goal scored in Shiplake Football history from a substitute.
Shortly after, Shiplake won a penalty where T Barley handed the ball to J Biggin for him to slot away to make the score 3-0 to Shiplake. Wetherby searched for a comeback and brought the score back to 3-2 from to a penalty and a quick counterattack. However, A Siviter, on his First XI debut, managed to make it 4-2.
Wetherby pressed to make amends and brought the score back to 4-3 with ten minutes to go. However, Shiplake held firm and are now in the quarter finals of the National Cup!
Coaches: Mr B Claridge & Mr A Gingell
Cross Country
Oxfordshire Schools Cross Country Trials
On Tuesday 24 January, Shiplake travelled to Radley College to take part in the Oxfordshire Schools' Cross-Country Championships. With the races starting at 1.30pm, we made a quick start to get ready and warmed up on the icy ground.
First off was H Biggs who ran in the U15s boys' race. After a hard second lap, he finished in a great position ending his race in the top 50. After this, it was soon time for A Malcolm and W Tavinor to start, with the two laps coming together to form a tough 5.4km race. The pair of them finished strongly and both placed highly in their heat.
A short while later, E Over set off in the U19 girls' category, with the sun slowly warming the muddy ground. She placed 9th out of a total of 57 runners. Finally, T Lebeau and myself (G Jones) stepped up to the line. Being the last race of the day, the ground's condition had worsened considerably, making it a gruelling and muddy 6.4km race. Both Tom and myself finished strongly, coming in the top 25 as well.
Special mentions must go to A Malcolm who placed fourth overall with an outstanding time of 19 minutes 40 seconds, and E Ower who placed 9th in her race coming in at just over 22 minutes. These great performances mean that both qualify to represent Oxfordshire in the national Schools Cross-Country Championships in March.
Report: G Jones
Sports Psychology Talk
Former Hampshire CCC and Henley CC 1st XI captain, Michael Roberts, presented a performance workshop on fear, failure, anxiety and confidence. Michael is a sports psychologist in the first class arena working alongside Essex CCC and, more locally, within the rehab departments of the NHS.
High performance takes place in the 'present moment'. There was a lot of discussion around strategies to stay in the present moment rather than dwelling on the past or getting worried about the future. The workshop provided pupils with a greater understanding of how our minds operate and in particular what happens under pressure in competition.
