Sport

Cricket is a hugely popular sport at Shiplake College, with over 150 pupils participating in the sport at some level. The College fields 9 teams in fixtures throughout the Summer Term.

Shiplake’s outstanding grounds are cared for by the award winning Richard Evans and his team, who have twice received the Independent Schools’ Groundstaff of the Year honour. Richard looks after three excellent squares, eight grass nets and four artificial nets. Players enjoy use of the state-of-the-art cricket pavilion, which is an iconic feature of the College site. The College also makes use of excellent indoor facilities which include four nets and a bowling machine which are used throughout the winter cricket programme.

The Shiplake College Cricket Club boasts a team of 15 passionate coaches who oversee the development of the squads in all year groups in the Spring Term as a minor activity and as a major games option in the Summer Term. The staff team are joined by cricket professional Chris Ellison. Chirs is one of only a handful of ECB Level 4 coaches in the country. Shiplake pupils have the opportunity to receive expert tuition throughout the off-season with Chris, via his coaching company Performance Cricket (more information below).

The College has strong links with Henley Cricket Club, who frequently make use of Shiplake’s excellent facilities. Additionally, Berkshire youth cricket teams often host home matches at Shiplake College, due to our accessible location and first-class playing surfaces. 

Fixtures and Tours

Shiplake play a strong fixture list against local schools throughout Oxfordshire and Berkshire with matches for the U14s, U15s and Seniors on Wednesdays and Saturdays and the U13 and U12s on Tuesdays and Fridays. In addition to the regular inter-school fixtures the U15s and U14s take part in the Taverner’s Cup Regional Competition, enjoying good success in recent years.

Performance Cricket Coaching

The College has an excellent working partnership with coaching specialists Performance Cricket. They are headed up by Chris Ellison, and deliver a fantastic year round programme of cricket coaching at Shiplake and in the Henley area during the school holidays. There really is something for everyone. Details of upcoming courses can be found below, with further information at https://www.performance-cricket.com.

Football is rapidly growing in popularity and quality at Shiplake College following its recent introduction as a major games option in the Spring Term.

Having played rugby in the Autumn, pupils are given the choice between football and hockey after Christmas. The College fields multiple teams at most age groups, giving an opportunity to experience competitive fixtures to all pupils who wish to play.

Football fixtures are scheduled throughout the Spring Term against a diverse range of local independent and state schools. Despite being a relatively small school, the hard work and spirit shown by Shiplake teams is invariably enough to compete admirably against opposing schools with larger cohorts.

Pupils who opt for other major sports such as rowing and hockey often enjoy playing football as a minor games option, while the annual inter-house football competitions are always hotly contested affairs.

Having been established in the very early days of the College, the Shiplake College Hockey Club is still going strong in its sixth decade of competition. The College has a close relationship with Premier League side Reading Hockey Club and use the facilities at the club for both training and fixtures.

For the girls, hockey is the major sport in Autumn Term, with two teams playing in local leagues most weeks. For the boys, alongside football, hockey is a major sporting option in the Spring Term. Hockey is played throughout the College with up to five teams competing between junior and senior level. The College boasts a number of specialist hockey coaches who are passionate about developing the sport at Shiplake and the all-weather astroturf allows hockey to be enjoyed even on the coldest and wettest days of the year, providing a great arena for skill development and small sided inter-house tournaments. 

Both the boys and girls teams have also enjoyed successful tours abroad in recent years, to both Spain and Holland.

Shiplake College has a reputation for punching well above its weight in sport, and hockey is no different.

Shiplake College occupies a beautiful rural setting on the banks of the River Thames. With its own stretch of water just two and a half miles upstream from the world-famous Henley Royal Regatta stretch, it is no surprise that the College has a thriving and successful Boat Club.

Shiplake is nationally renowned for rowing with current and former pupils representing Great Britain, including Olympic gold medallists Will Satch and Ben Hunt-Davis, Richard Lester and Malcolm Carmichael. The College has gained a world-class rowing reputation for its programme for boys and girls and a number of rowers are selected to represent Great Britain at international junior championships each year. 

There are around 140 members in the Boat Club who compete throughout the season at both head races and regattas. Head races have a time trial format over distances of 4-6km. In the Summer Term, racing changes to the more exciting regatta style events with crews racing over a shorter distance but with up to six crews side by side. Highlights include the National Schools’ Regatta in May and the Henley Royal Regatta in July, where at least one of the senior boys' VIIIs compete every year. In 2021, two girl quads qualified to race at Henley Royal Regatta for the first time and the A boat went on to win the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup for junior quadruple sculls. 

The College has extensive facilities with the newly-opened Davies Centre housing an excellent fleet of boats as well as large space for numerous ergometers and a weights room. In addition to Shiplake's own facilities and training at Henley, the boat club makes use of the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake, home to the GB rowing team, and also the Olympic rowing venue Dorney Lake, both short distances away. 

Boys and girls at Shiplake receive elite coaching and support in order to develop their own talents and help them realise their potential. In Year 9, the boys start off by rowing with two oars; known as sculling. The main aim for this year is to introduce the sport and teach the basics of rowing. After Year 9, the transition is made to sweep rowing with one oar. Most age groups race in eights, although from time to time Shiplake also compete in smaller boats. Girls predominantly race in quads.

Despite being a small school in comparison to local rivals in Reading and Oxford, Shiplake College sports a proud rugby tradition with a habit of causing upsets year on year. Supported by a hugely experienced coaching team, focusing on the skills required to play high tempo counter-attacking rugby, Shiplake boys are able to enhance their own individual talents as well as the ability to work well in a team.

There is no doubt that boys get a lot of enjoyment out of rugby at the College. Teams continue to go from strength-to-strength, with the recent increase in pupil numbers contributing to Shiplake’s ongoing success. An important feature of Shiplake’s inclusive environment is that all pupils throughout the College are given the opportunity to represent their school. Multiple teams are fielded in every year group allowing every willing pupil to experience the honour of playing for Shiplake.

Player Development

"Our playing philosophy is to develop personal skills within a sporting environment, be challenged on the sports field and to achieve a personal measure of success."

Shiplake College has a strong and growing reputation for player development. In recent history, players have gone on to represent Wasps, Worcester, Bath & London Irish in the Aviva Premiership, and England Age Groups, (U16 – U20), England 7s and Fiji U20. The major sport in the Autumn Term is Rugby and the majority of students at Shiplake opt to be involved in the contact variation of the game.

Most fixtures will be played on a Saturday morning, against other independent schools in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and London. For a small school we are proud to field 15 sides regularly. Rugby is a game for all shapes and sizes and we offer A, B, C & development teams with a level to suit all abilities. Touch rugby is rapidly growing as a sport in England and we now offer U12/13, U14/15, U16 and U18 touch rugby training, run alongside contact rugby.

Friday Night Lights

A highlight of the season for the whole school is Friday Night Lights, held annually at Henley Rugby Club towards the end of November. With floodlights, nerves and c.500 spectators, playing for the Davies Shield in Friday Night Lights is one of the proudest moments for a Shiplake rugby player.

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Rugby 7s

Run alongside the major sports of the Spring Term, players that choose to play Rugby 7s adapt and develop their playing style to suit the shorter format of the game. The 1^st VII enter a number of tournaments across the South East, building towards Rosslyn Park National School 7s towards the end of March. Those players aiming to play county representative rugby have the opportunity to do so through links with Counties (Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire & Berkshire) and Premiership Academies (London Irish, Saracens and Wasps).

At the beginning of February, Shiplake host the curtain raiser of the school 7s season with the Shiplake 7s. Sixteen of the best 7s sides from the South and Midlands play for the Cracknell Cup, named in honour of Old Viking Chris Cracknell (Ex-England 7s player and Ex-Fiji Coach). A history of the tournament can be found at www.shiplake7s.co.uk.

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Tours

An overseas tour to South Africa has become a regular biennial feature of Shiplake rugby. Occurring in August, the tour generally consists of around 25 boys who are in contention for the coveted 1st XV jerseys. The tour offers a chance for the boys to experience South African culture, visiting some amazing locations such as Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg. The 15-day itinerary typically includes a number of skill workshops at Alan Zondagh’s Rugby Performance Centre, fixtures against various local schools and game drives at the Kariega Game Reserve.

Scholarships

Please visit our scholarships page for more information on rugby scholarships available at Shiplake College.

Coaching

Our coaching philosophy is a focus on the fundamental skills of catch, pass, tackle and run, pupils are equipped with all the tools to play rugby safely. To allow freedom of expression during training and in matches, developing leaders to make good decisions on and off the field.

CARDS (Creativity, Awareness, Resilience, Decision-Making, Self-Organisation)

Coaches aim to make creative players who are self-aware and aware of others. Clearly, players need to demonstrate resilience and decision making in the game and self-organisation on or off the pitch. CARDS underpins all our coaching and playing at Shiplake.

Creativity - “ability of the players to create new and adapt existing solutions”

Awareness - “of ball, opponents and team mates to make good attacking and defensive decisions”

Resilience - “ability of all the players to cope effectively when faced with adversity, challenge or stress”

Decision-making - “individual & collective decisions based on their awareness under pressure by applying principles of play”

Self-organisation - “players’ ability to identify problems, solutions and co-ordinate themselves”

Coach Education & Rugby Safety

Pupils and staff are encouraged to attend coach education award courses with the RFU, starting with Scrum Factory, Rugby Ready & Rugby Safe. Many of our coaches hold RFU Coaching (Level 1 & 2) & RFU Refereeing (Level 1 & 2). Pupils often start their coaching journey at Shiplake having the opportunity to achieve the Scrum Factory, Rugby Ready & Rugby Safe awards before leaving Shiplake.

Shiplake are at the forefront of rugby safety and recent changes to the “Rules of Play” are there to support the development of the game, and to ensure our players have the best possible experience on the field. Shiplake takes part in the RFU Activate programme for warm ups and to prevent player injury in conjunction with Bath University. All players at Shiplake undertake an evidence-led warm-up that helps reduce the risk of injury.

Alongside cricket, tennis is a major games option for all pupils in the Summer Term, although there are further opportunities to play all year round through our external coaching programme. Tennis players enjoy use of fantastic facilities both on and off site, including three floodlit, all-weather Astroturf courts and two pristine grass courts. 

The tennis club performs well on a busy fixture list against other schools, including The Oratory, Radley, St Edward’s Pangbourne and Reading School, to name a few. Regular matches are played on most Wednesdays and Saturdays of the Summer Term.

Training sessions take place throughout the week with a combination of coaching from Shiplake staff and professional external coaches.

There is also a number of social events including the very popular 'Bring a Parent' tournament, the Staff v Pupils, and the Ist VI v OVS match. For some year groups, there is the opportunity to join College sports tours visiting destinations across the globe.

In addition to the major games options offered to boys and girls at Shiplake, pupils are given the opportunity to try their hand at a whole host of other sporting activities. This provides greater variety to maintain pupils’ enthusiasm for physical activity throughout their time at the College.

Minor sports can be selected as part of pupils’ overall games programmes, enjoyed as an alternative to the major sport played in each term which occupies the majority of coaching time. Alternative options include badminton, basketball, cross country, golf, rugby sevens, softball, squash, swimming, and table tennis. Boarders engage in many of these activities during recreational times.

Furthermore, pupils are given the opportunity to develop skills in extreme-sports such as climbing, mountaineering and abseiling, and in water-sports including kayaking and sailing, through Shiplake’s new outdoor education programme. Specialist tuition is offered through residential trips and on a weekly basis on the College site and in the local area.

Shiplake offers the flexibility required by high-achieving sportsmen and women to maintain their own training and competitive commitments. This is especially relevant to those who excel in a sport which the College does not compete in externally. Sufficient time and resources will be allocated to these pupils in order that their progress in their chosen sport can continue unimpeded. Specialist coaching and tuition will be arranged where appropriate.