Sports Report. Hockey

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Deborah Mills
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Volume 13, Issue 1 29th September 2016 Sports Report Hockey King s U16 girls hockey team are Kent County Champions after beating Sutton Valence in the final with a thrilling 2-0 victory.

It was the same team that were so cruelly knocked out of the U14 county semi-final last year with just seconds left on the clock.

1 Volume 13, Issue 1 29th September 2016 Sports Report Hockey King s U16 girls hockey team are Kent County Champions after beating Sutton Valence in the final with a thrilling 2-0 victory. They started off the morning, as a group of fifteen young but determined Remove girls, who were actually the U15A team playing against other schools U16A teams. It was the same team that were so cruelly knocked out of the U14 county semi-final last year with just seconds left on the clock. Playing against girls a year older was going to be a challenge, but the belief, determination, skill and work rate of the U15A team would prove to make up for it. King s topped the morning group round thanks to a superior goal difference. After drawing 0-0 with Kent College Pembury in the first game of the day, King s went on to beat Simon Langton 4-0 and then Cranbrook 2-0 to finish first in the group and secure a quarter-final spot against Tonbridge Grammar School in the afternoon knockout stages held at Kent College. The quarter-final was a thrilling end-to-end match. The desire was evident from all of the girls, and once Annabel Biloune found the back of the net, King s managed to cling on for the win. The semi-final against Sevenoaks got off to a shaky start and Sevenoaks were awarded a penalty-stroke early on in the game. King s hadn t conceded a goal all day and goalkeeper, Tori Glaister, made sure that would stay the case making a spectacular diving stick save to deny the Sevenoaks penalty taker. At the other end, against the run of play, Annabel Biloune found the net again for King s to give them a 1-0 lead. The heart and soul that the girls poured into their final few minutes was admirable. This team was determined not to let last year repeat itself. The defence held strong and when the final whistle went the screams of excitement at reaching the final and therefore securing a spot at Regionals was electrifying. Having come through a nail-biting quarter and then semi-final, many teams would fold: spent, exhausted, satisfied to have come such a long way. Not this team. Fired-up and ignoring aching limbs and protesting backs, they took on Sutton Valence with a determination and focus that was well beyond their years. Sophie Stonier continued to dominate at right midfield as she had done all day, Tori Glaister had an absolute stormer in goal, and two more goals from Annabel Biloune meant King s were Kent Champions. This wasn t a tournament won by individuals however, the whole team were outstanding and the difference between King s and the opposition was that King s weren t a team that relied on individuals to perform as there were contributions all over the field. Mr Holland and his co-coach Sarah Kerly have worked tirelessly with this team since the beginning of the season and look forward to taking this team on to their next challenge in the Regional Tournament after half term.

Hockey As always, it has been a very busy start to the girls hockey term with numerous weekend and midweek fixtures as well as several tournaments including the Kent County Tournaments for both the

This was hockey against some of the top teams in the country so King s did well to finish 3rd out of the four competing schools beating Queenswood 1-0 in the 3rd/4th Playoff match.

The standout performances were the 3rd XI for their thrilling 5-3 win over Haileybury and to Rob Sanderson s U14B team for their emphatic 10-0 win over Eastbourne on a day when the Shells completed a

2 Hockey As always, it has been a very busy start to the girls hockey term with numerous weekend and midweek fixtures as well as several tournaments including the Kent County Tournaments for both the U18 and U16 teams. The season kicked off with the hosting of the annual Birley s Tournament where we welcomed 1st XI teams from Framlingham College, Oundle School and Queenswood School. This was hockey against some of the top teams in the country so King s did well to finish 3rd out of the four competing schools beating Queenswood 1-0 in the 3rd/4th Playoff match. Saturdays have seen some tough block fixtures against Haileybury and Eastbourne College. The standout performances were the 3rd XI for their thrilling 5-3 win over Haileybury and to Rob Sanderson s U14B team for their emphatic 10-0 win over Eastbourne on a day when the Shells completed a clean sweep with the U14A and U14C teams also winning. In the Kent County Tournaments the U18s topped their group with wins over Benenden, Simon Langton, and Eltham College to progress to the quarter-finals against Bromley High School. After a fantastic defensive display and then creating a chance to win it with a short corner on the final whistle, the match ended a 0-0 draw and went to penalty strokes. Bromley High scored all five penalty strokes and with their goalkeeper managing to make a save to deny King s from scoring all theirs, King s were knocked out of the tournament in the cruellest way and by the smallest of margins with a 5-4 loss on penalties. Rowing This term rowing has been positively inundated with new pupils especially very encouragingly girls the Rio effect? The first race is on the 8th October at Burway Head but the season has kicked off in great fashion with the Boat Club dinner celebrating the Clubs wins and performances last academic year, topped with Henley and a boys pair representing England and winning at the Home Countries International. We were lucky to have Frances Houghton, with a host of other OKS, speak at the dinner about her road to Rio and the historic silver medal in the Women's Eight. Swimming Girls Intermediate relay team of Phoebe Brockington (HH), Louisa Long (BR), Chloe Sumner (MT) and Emma Bradshaw (KD) competed at the Kent Swimming Relay Championships at Medway Park at the weekend. A successful afternoon saw them return with 3rd place in the Freestyle relay and 4th place in the medley event. Louisa Long swam a new personal best time leading out the freestyle event whilst Phoebe Brockington swam a personal best and took 2 school records on the backstroke lead leg of the medley relay. The girls must now wait and see if the times they recorded rank them in the top 30 schools in the country that qualify for the National finals at Stratford Olympic park in November.

Whilst the end of term in July heralded a much needed rest for most pupils, a small group of school swimmers headed out to the BEST centre in Mallorca for a training camp to prepare for competitions

From the 10th-17th July swimming scholars Phoebe Brockington (HH), Louisa Long (BR) and Stephanie Andrews (BR) (together with Stephanie s younger sister Lucy) completed nearly 50,000 metres in the

There was inspiration provided by French and Croatian international swimmers who were using the pool as a training base prior to travelling to Rio for the Olympic games.

3 Whilst the end of term in July heralded a much needed rest for most pupils, a small group of school swimmers headed out to the BEST centre in Mallorca for a training camp to prepare for competitions at the British and Welsh national championships. From the 10th-17th July swimming scholars Phoebe Brockington (HH), Louisa Long (BR) and Stephanie Andrews (BR) (together with Stephanie s younger sister Lucy) completed nearly 50,000 metres in the long course 50m outdoor pool over 9 training sessions. The girls coped well with a demanding program in 35 degree temperatures training in one of the top facilities in Europe. There was inspiration provided by French and Croatian international swimmers who were using the pool as a training base prior to travelling to Rio for the Olympic games. Lucy, who was the youngest competitor in the whole championships, recorded new personal best times in the 50m and 100m Backstroke finishing 25th and 24th before finishing 33rd in the 100m Freestyle. Stephanie built upon the valuable experience gained in the British Championships to record a new personal best time and school junior record in the 200m freestyle event missing the senior record by 0.11 of a second and finishing 21st overall. She also finished 25th in the 100m freestyle before a magnificent swim in her favourite 100m Breaststroke event saw her claim gold in the final to become Welsh National Champion. Swimming On our return from the training camp Stephanie travelled to Sheffield (July 25th/26th) to compete in the British National championships. In the 50m Breaststroke event Stephanie rose to the occasion posting a time just off her personal best finishing 20th in Great Britain in her age group. Whilst at the event Stephanie was delighted to be involved in a live link to the GB swimmers in Rio to wish them luck in their Olympic events. The following week Stephanie was joined by Phoebe, Louisa and Lucy in Swansea for the Welsh National Championships. Louisa swam in the 50m and 100m Backstroke finishing 14th and 20th respectively in her age group and followed that up with 16th in the 50m Butterfly. Phoebe swam in the 50m Backstroke just missing the final in 11th place.

Senior Squad 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd XV With a 60% win ratio across the eleven teams through the club, we are going into the exeat weekend with positive thoughts for the rest of the season.

difficult to find form. They have shown resilience and commitment, despite challenging conditions and continued to play with passion and respect for the opposition no matter what the score.

Pre-season began one week before school came back to ensure an intense start to the season s preparation.

4 Senior Squad 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd XV With a 60% win ratio across the eleven teams through the club, we are going into the exeat weekend with positive thoughts for the rest of the season. Whilst there have been many teams taking advantage of the fantastic dry conditions with impressive wins, a huge amount of credit must also be given to those players and coaches that have found it difficult to find form. They have shown resilience and commitment, despite challenging conditions and continued to play with passion and respect for the opposition no matter what the score. All teams have made a fantastic start in promoting these values and have represented the school extremely well. Pre-season began one week before school came back to ensure an intense start to the season s preparation. After a warm up game against Kent College we played in the Reigate tournament which proved to be a very difficult start to the season playing the likes of Tonbridge and a strong Reed s side. The boys demonstrated true grit and determination against St Johns, winning in the last few minutes of the match. Despite losses of key players within the squad due to injury, we have won six out of ten matches across the three senior teams. With the return of some players and the introduction of new players, we will continue to build momentum throughout the squad. Congratulations must go to Freddie Williams TR (Captain), Matthew Barker TR (Vice Captain) and Harry Nabavi (Pack leader) on their new roles of responsibility within the club. Junior Colts Colts The colts have had an amazing start to the season under the guidance of Mr Turner and Mr Bell. Both teams have won every game and have accumulated over 300 points between them whilst only allowing 40 points to be scored against them. An outstanding attitude to training and a determination to improve at every opportunity is leading to an excellent group of rugby players that improve with every fixture. We look forward to another fantastic set of performance against Reeds, and maybe this year is the year Mr Turner! The junior colts have had a more difficult start to the season against very strong Felsted and Eastbourne A teams. However, our B and C teams have shown excellent depth in this age category which will ensure it s development. Both the players and coaches are working extremely hard on specific areas of the game to prepare for Reed s next weekend and we are sure that the outstanding potential amongst the junior colts will come through over the next few weeks. Under 14s Rugby The U14s have had an excellent start to their sporting life at King s with strong performances against Duke of York's and Felsted. The coaches have worked hard to maximise the little time available before the first fixtures to prepare them for the season and have done so very effectively as all teams have won two from their four fixtures. With lots of exciting individual talent, it is fantastic to see so many King s pupils enjoying their rugby at this age group and we look forward to seeing this gather momentum throughout the season.

5 On a windy day at RCP the boys battled hard against Whitgift B in this ISGA matchplay round 1 encounter. On a beautiful and challenging course, one of the best in England and a real delight to play on, the boys were up against it, playing off scratch against three low handicappers (3, 5 and 8). Whitgift A must be strong! Captain, Edouard Barrois lost 4&3, Zach Barker by 2 holes and Jake van der Gaag by 3&2. CPN faced an uphill struggle against Whitgift's own professional and ex- tour player Tim Trodd, but managed to wrestle the honour from him on a couple of occasions. Good luck to Whitgift in the next round. Golf Battling the 34 degree heat and substantial swathes of heather at this season s Smarden Bell event, the boys put up a good show, with skipper Barrois registering 29 points off scratch, a score matched by young Zach Barker. These fine performances were only bettered by one student in a field of 45 students. Meanwhile Jake van der Gaag mustered a creditable 14 points, with Will Oates on 9 (and nearest the pin champion on the 6th hole). Ollie Moore managed 10 points to complete the scoring. Although a very tough course off the white tees, it was a privilege to play at Royal Ashdown Forest on such a gloriously sunny day. With a score of 91 points we were 6th out of 9 schools, with only six points separating us from Reigate who were second with 97 points, behind runaway leaders Tonbridge. On a damp day in Oxfordshire, after a three-and-a-half-hour journey and a 6 am departure, we arrived in good time at Magnolia Park GC and enjoyed a splendid day's golf in the ISGA Schools Cup. Our nett team result placed us a very creditable 8th/18, with Kingston Grammar taking the spoils. The gross result saw us finishing 11th/18 with Wellington College out in front. Will Oates battled well off 16 and hit a series of wonderfully long shots, but Zach Barker off 8 and Jake van der Gaag off 16 were very impressive, with both finishing with nett 76 on the testing par-73 course. These scores placed both of them at 17th=/54 in the individual nett category, with Zach a most impressive 17th/54 in the gross league as well. Overall, it was a splendid effort and the boys promise to return next year to do even better... On a beautiful day on one of the best courses in the land we took on the powerful Winchester College in the scratch matchplay foursomes HMC round 1 event. We were up against it from the start against opposition with much lower handicaps but battled hard to keep the ball out of the heather. Our first pair of Ed Barrois and Zach Barker put up a good fight against Winchester's top golfers but succumbed 4&2. Meanwhile, Jake van der Gaag and Will Oates went down by a humbling 8&6. However, Ollie Moore and Fred Miller salvaged a decent point, winning their match by 5&4. What a treat to play such an immaculate course in the distinguished company of three-time hockey Olympian, Rob Moore (230 caps!). We wish Rob and Winchester every success in the next round. ISGA Scottish Schools Open. Having travelled to Scotland with BA, we arrived at the hotel in Edinburgh on the Saturday to see the boys rush off to the hotel's par-3 course. We played the Kings Acre course in bright sunshine on the Sunday in the delightful company of two Merchiston youngsters who endeavoured to show us the ropes on the magnificent layout of their home turf. The boys scored really well and we eagerly awaited the tournament on the Monday morning. Fred Miller was the star, finishing 2nd/74 golfers in the nett competition and with Ollie Moore backing him up with a nett 71 on this par-70 course, King's B team ended up 5th (out of 30 school teams) with 136 points, only 7 behind champions Loretto A. Skipper Ed Barrois had a stormer and finished with a nett 69, playing off 5. Jake van der Gaag managed a nett 72, off 16, to register 141 for King's A, which placed them a creditable 11th amongst the nett scores. Ed was in excellent company towards the top of the leaderboard, finishing 14th/74 with a gross 74, 1 below his handicap.

Captain, Ollie Lark, led the offense with two assists from behind the goal, which were converted by the midfielders.

6 Lacrosse On the 17th September, the senior lacrosse team at King s travelled to North London Collegiate School for a round robin match. The squad started the season with a big win 3-2 against NLCS despite being the visiting team. Captain, Ollie Lark, led the offense with two assists from behind the goal, which were converted by the midfielders. Goalie Bella Whitney succeeded in making several saves despite having to use a regular stick due to equipment malfunction. After their success against NLCS, King s lined up against St. Paul s. The game started off with both teams trading an early goal, but St. Paul s strong midfield line managed to tire out the King s defence. Exhausted, King s allowed a few penalty goals, resulting in the final score line of 1-4. In the final two games against The Lady Eleanor Holles first and third team, King s lost 0-3 and 0-2 respectively. However, despite the losses, goalie Bella managed to shine by making over five saves. At the end of the tournament, Bella was nominated by the other teams as King s most valuable player. With the first win under its belt, the King s team will return to Canterbury feeling confident in its ability to achieve more wins. Fencing On Sunday the 25th September 2016 the school hosted the 2nd of this season s British U17 Ranking Fencing events. The event sponsored by Bang & Olufsen Canterbury, broke all records for an Under 17 Fencing event in the UK, with over 500 fencers, parents and spectators. The refereeing team was led by recently retired Olympic referee Mike Thornton and featured several recent OKS. In the hardest U17 girls event in over 20 years, Douce De Boisesilin finished 9th, narrowly losing Hjalmar Johansson still only 14, finished 33rd in the boys event. King's South African International Liam Brazier finished 37th. The event also saw the debut of several shells at this age group who acquitted themselves well with Roman Sokolov (13) winning 2 of his 6 fights in the group stages. Headmasters Peter Wells and Peter Roberts and Bang & Olufsen's Jonathan Hill presented the prizes and medals to the winners.

Scholars News The senior girls started the hockey season with a tough few preseason days. They worked hard on their fitness levels and used the opportunity to start fine tuning their skills.

The girls had a team building evening reliving the winning moments and creating gold medal posters that are on display around the School.

Tori Glaister competed in the JRPC rounds over the summer and was selected for the cluster competition which was held at Lee Valley Olympic Park.

7 Scholars News The senior girls started the hockey season with a tough few preseason days. They worked hard on their fitness levels and used the opportunity to start fine tuning their skills. There is a great buzz in the hockey community at the moment after the GB women won GOLD in Rio. The girls had a team building evening reliving the winning moments and creating gold medal posters that are on display around the School. The 1st XI will be ably led by Morgause Lomas who has already shown incredible athleticism in goal and Laura Patterson will support her as vice-captain while she leads by example on the pitch. Tori Glaister competed in the JRPC rounds over the summer and was selected for the cluster competition which was held at Lee Valley Olympic Park. Tori was outstanding in goal and was challenged by some of the top players in the region. This environment is really tough with a lot of competition for places and Tori s experience has already shone through in her outstanding play for her school team. James Crawley had a busy summer competing in the Kent IAPS where he was placed second in the U14 boys 800m and was 1st in the 75m hurdles. He also won silver in the National Prep Schools Cross Country Championships. James went on to the South of England Cross Country Championships and placed 17th out of 267 in the U13 boys and won a team gold medal for Tonbridge Athletics Club (TAC). The Excellence Programme led by triple Olympian Jen Wilson, has started again with a fresh new programme in place. Physiotherapist Jolindi Jefferson s expertise has been called upon and she has worked tirelessly in finding robust sessions which follow an exciting concept of kinetic link training (KLT). KLT is a systematic approach to biomechanically balanced, full-body resistance training which helps young athletes use resistance bands and functional movement patterns to help support strength and conditioning development. A key focus is to learn correct techniques which will support the athletes development and help them prevent unnecessary injuries. Ultimately this will lead our young athletes becoming faster, fitter and stronger. Included in the programme is Junior Athlete Development (JAD) movements which Mat Lister is leading. The movements devised by Saracens Rugby Club have been found to be incredibly important for young athletes and focus on body mobility and help prepare the athlete for training and competition. We are delighted to have over 50 Sport Scholars, Exhibitioners and pupils invited into the Excellence Programme involved in the 2 sessions a week. Well done to Excellence Programme athletes Allegra Hinds, James Crawley, Francesca Maini and Matt Stonier for winning their respective age groups in the Interhouse cross country. There were some incredibly fast times and exciting races on the day with the battle for 1st place in the boys intermediate race between Matt Stonier and Lucas Lacamp certainly being one to remember.

Sports Report. Hockey

Sports Report. Hockey 9 t h N o v e mb e r 2 0 1 7 V o l u m e 1 6, I s s u e 1 Sports Report Hockey The 2017 season started in the summer holidays when a squad of 26 girls formed two hockey teams which toured South Africa,