Sport

Athletics

It is wonderful to have athletics and cross-country events back in full flow, and what a welcome back our athletes have provided us with! As ever, the cross-country season kicked off in style with the annual Butser Hill Challenge, back in all of its glory after an enforced break. A fantastic 44 Churcherian’s, and staff from the Senior School, took on this famous and challenging grade A fell run, and all runners should be rightly proud of their efforts. Continuing into the Autumn Term, students were able to represent the school as part of a team or as individuals in both national and county competitions, and did so with a huge amount of success. In the English Schools’ Cross-Country Championships, both the junior girls’ and senior boys’ teams qualified from our area to compete at regional final level - a very tough ask, given only two out of up to 18 senior schools compete in the first round. Our junior girls must hold the title of cross-country team of the year – as well as qualifying for the regional English finals, they also won the Hampshire Inter Schools Championships as a team, and followed this up shortly afterwards by winning the Highfield School cross country event. At Highfield, all our teams came in the top three; not only is this testament to their commitment and effort, but there is certainly something to be said for Mr and Mrs Daniel’s running club on a Wednesday morning. To have one of our junior girls qualify to run at the national championships continues encourage younger runners – what a role model!

Athletics always comes thick and fast in the short Summer Term, but our students were no less successful. Lunchtime clubs, which gave the opportunity to run, jump, and throw outside of the curriculum PE lessons, helped produce and support athletes that were very competitive at regional level. Our First Year boys, as a team, performed exceptionally well, winning each of their rounds to get to the Hampshire track finals, and it will be exciting to follow their progress alongside our individual athletes. I was so pleased that the College continues to have representation at national level in athletics, and watching all of our year groups enjoying their sports days shows that there is a huge appetite to develop in the sport. Kevin Maguire

Cricket

2022 has been a fine vintage of cricketing success for Churcher’s College. The number of girls and boys playing cricket for the school has toppled new heights, with the College typically putting out more than 20 teams on a Saturday.

Among the highlights of the year have been an outstanding win for our 1st XI against Abingdon in the National Cup and an amazing (albeit rained out) fixture celebrating our

Hampshire Champions 2022 Hampshire Champions 2022

300th anniversary against the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Clubfrom Lords).

Over the season, our U13 girls and U14 and U15 boys reached the County Cup semi-finals, while two of our teams went that step further to be crowned Hampshire Cup winners - the U13 boys, who rallied themselves and played their best game of the season to beat a good KES team. The boys showed they are capable of playing some brilliant cricket and this will undoubtedly motivate them to continue to build on this excellent performance and go on to bigger and better things. Also, the cream of the crop, our U15 girls, who followed up on their amazing indoor success (Hampshire champions and Regional runners up) by being crowned Hampshire champions, with a brilliant win against Priestlands. This has been a champagne team and an outstanding group of committed and very talented girls.

Rob Maier

Hockey

It has been an extremely rewarding first year as Head of Hockey. We held our own against some of biggest names on the school hockey circuit, and grew from strength to strength playing an exciting brand of hockey. Our teams scored an impressive 571 goals across the fixtures they played this season, which is testament to our positive gameplay style and attacking flair. We pride ourselves on our participation-based approach to player development, with a programme that nearly every pupil will engage with throughout their time at College. This mass participation is best demonstrated by our current Third Year, where over 140 pupils played hockey during their Games lessons this year. It is no coincidence that this age group has seen competitive success, with both U14A teams qualifying for their respective regional tournaments. Similarly, we promote high levels of exposure to A team hockey in our younger age groups, where it was not unusual for more than 20 players to represent our U12A and U13A sides. This is particularly impressive, considering that there are only seven players on the pitch at any one time! Through this participation focus, we hope to imbue a lifelong passion for hockey in our pupils. We see this paying off already in our older age groups, where we consistently see high levels of attendance at afterschool training and the lunchtime skills sessions run by Mr Wilson. We are fortunate to be in such a strong area for club hockey, where there are options for all abilities from entry level through to National League. I am happy to see that many pupils play hockey outside of school and this number grows yearly. These external opportunities have complimented the hard work of our school coaches, and we saw clear development at every age group over the course of the year. Nowhere was this development more evident than at the 1st XI fixtures against the Old Churcherians, during our season finale tournament, Churcher’s Champions. It is safe to say that there was plenty of excitement for the neutral, with a total of 13 goals scored over the two matches. The College 1st XIs finished the day unbeaten against two very tough sides, which was a just reward for their dedication and hard work throughout the season. We also had plenty of interschool success across all age groups and levels. Our Boys 1st XI reached the last 16 of the Independent School Hockey Cup, narrowly losing to eventual finalists, Bradfield College. Our Boys 2nd XI, U14 Boys A, and U14 Girls A all qualified for their respective South Central Regional finals, with the U14 Boys A finishing an impressive third overall. Not to be outdone, the U16 Boys B, U12 Boys D, U13 Girls B, and U12 Girls A all finished the season with a win rate over 70%.

We also saw plenty of individual success from our pupils involved with the England Hockey Player Pathway. Seventeen pupils were selected to represent either Hampshire or Surrey Junior Academy Centres ,and four attended Performance Centre. Two pupils had the honour to represent their country, with Ben Hegan and Will Porter playing for England U16s and U21s respectively. Will also participated in the Great Britain Hockey Elite Development Programme, which is a phenomenal achievement in and of itself, never minding the fact that he is one of the youngest players involved in the squad. Toby Blong

Netball

It was very pleasing to see such fantastic numbers (177 in total) at pre-season to kick off the 2022 term – it appeared the girls had very much missed their netball!

Firstly, we saw the introduction of our new Churcher’s netball dress. This new attire was designed to increase the professional image and performance of our teams and was very much welcomed by the girls. Hall of Fame cornerback, Deion Sanders, coined the phrase “If you look good, you feel good, and if you feel good, you play good” – this was certainly true of the season!

Across this year, we have played 160 matches – winning 93, which means a win rate of 58%, a figure that shows our teams achieve winning and losing in fairly equal measure. We have scored 3146 goals, and conceded 2,702 goals, producing a positive goal difference and indicating Churcher’s perform well at both ends of the court. However, not everything should be driven by statistics. Playing well, that is playing hard, playing with skill, playing with good sportsmanship, and trying to make the right plays as an individual and as a team, is more important than any specific result. While we have enjoyed a fair share of big victories and emotional defeats this season, the scores will just become fragmented memories. Therefore, the measure of success is not simply in just the statistics or wins, but rather the teamwork, the lessons learnt, and the maturing that are the results of effort, selfless commitment to the team, and dedication to personal improvement. These attributes were celebrated throughout the season by our nominated teams of the week and our weekly awards boards, which were published on the fixtures board and Churcher’s Netball twitter every Monday. As always, we enter into national competitions, and our U13 performance this season is worthy of celebrating. The girls produced some incredibly impressive displays of netball to reach the semi-final of the Cup, drawn away against St Alban’s High School. Despite being the best U13 school match I have ever witnessed, the girls sadly lost by one goal in the dying seconds of the game, and although this was incredibly hard to accept at the time, the girls used it to fuel their fire to keep going, to keep improving, to respect the effort they made, and to keep that effort alive in their training and their next games. Finally, our annual U12 and U13 PGL residential trip was a huge success – 48 girls travelled to Swindon for an action-packed weekend, filled with lots of netball and lots of adventurous activities. Three of our five teams made it through to the semi-final stages of their respective tournaments and came home with medals, with the U13A returning as champions!

Kelly Higgins

Rounders

The Summer Term brought two very enjoyable Rounders Festivals for the First to Fourth Year girls. It was excellent to see more than 60 pupils playing in the tournaments, which took place on Fridays after school. Some brilliant batting and fielding skills were on display, with each tournament finishing with a BBQ and ice-lollies. In addition to the Festivals, the U18 Girls Rounders team had a successful match against local rivals Bedales, winning by 4.5 rounders.

Rugby

What a fantastic term of rugby we had in 2021! Success in abundance in skill development, teamship, and also our results across all age groups. After such a difficult previous year, with no fixtures due to Covid, it has been amazing to see how successful our teams and pupils have been, along with all the enjoyment everyone has had within Churcher’s Rugby.

With an internal term of rugby last year, there was a strong focus on the foundation skills, along with fostering an ambition to try new things, and bring pace, energy, and adventure into our play. It has been so pleasing to see this come to fruition this term as we have returned to a competitive campaign. Traditional fixtures against Portsmouth Grammar School, KES Southampton, Shiplake College, and Reading Blue Coat School, as well as new fixtures versus Sutton Valence School and Wimbledon College, gave the pupils a brilliant platform to showcase their skills and ambition to play adventurously.

Across all age groups, there continues to be a fantastic participation rate, with all pupils wishing to represent the school having the opportunity to do so. Having additional teams at U13C and U14C and playing variations of the game, such as touch, has helped facilitate this. It is great that our programme is beginning to expand due to pupil demand. There have also been some very strong results with an overall 70% win rate and three of our teams having unbeaten seasons. Our U15As (played 12, won 11, lost 1), U14As (played 9, won 8, drew 1), and 1st XV (played 13, won 9, drew 1, lost 3) all had extremely strong seasons.

The pupils’ ambition to play with high pace and adventure has further been highlighted by the amazing range of tries scored, and also by our strong points difference. Over the term our teams have scored 2,583 points and only conceded 1,406, giving Churcher’s rugby a +1,177 points difference. An extremely pleasing statistic!

This year saw our first ‘Friday Night Lights’ fixtures, with our two senior teams playing Reading Blue Coats School at Petersfield RFC. With a crowd of more than 200, it was a fantastic evening and a special experience for our senior boys. Spectators were treated to two highly competitive fixtures, which were great to watch – the 2nd XV unfortunately losing 7-14, and the 1st XV fixture ending in a thrilling last-minute 21-21 draw. A truly wonderful evening for all involved! Our U15s and U18s entered the prestigious National School’s Cup and both teams had a very successful run of fixtures. The 1st XV comfortably beat Portsmouth Grammar School (50-0), Peter Symonds’ College (24-7), and KES Southampton (50-0) in the early rounds. Reaching the 4th Round, they were unfortunately on the wrong side of a very tight fixture, losing 5-7 vs Bryanston School. The U15As went one step further, making the last 16 in the competition. On their way to the 5th Round, they beat Portsmouth Grammar School (50-12), The Mountbatten School (31-7), Oaklands Catholic School (52-5), and Weydon School (7-0). The team then travelled to Gloucester to play St Peter’s RC High School in what was to prove a fantastic fixture. The team worked extremely hard to the final whistle and were so close to snatching victory at the end of the game. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, and St Peter’s moved onto the quarter-finals, winning 1518. A big congratulations to both teams who performed so well in the tournament. The term finished with a new endeavour within the community, as all teams travelled the short distance to Petersfield RFC to take part in the new Frank Guy competition. All teams took part in friendly fixtures against our local club teammates, under the lights on the last Friday evening of the term. It was a marvellous way to finish the season as well as a great celebration of rugby within the Petersfield community. Pupils, players, staff, coaches, and supporters all had a fantastic evening and we will look forward to this becoming a long-standing pillar of our fixture card going forward.

Swimming

The year kicked off with record numbers hitting the pool for the First Year swimming session, with 75 pupils hoping to join the development or competitive squads. The theme of record numbers continued, with all swim squad sessions proving very popular; more often than not, lanes have been full and the atmosphere buzzing – even the early morning sessions have been well-attended, with 15-20 swimmers taking the opportunity for an early morning set.

Our development galas have once again been very successful, not only in terms of final race results, but also the number of swimmers who have had the opportunity to race in a competitive environment for the very first time. This has allowed confidence to grow and the sense of team spirit to be created.

For our competitive swimmers, it has been another brilliant year! The Hampshire Relay Championships saw 12 relays, 26 swimmers, and 20 golds – a very successful return to racing for Team Churcher’s!

The swimming times produced from our senior boys put them within the top 30 in the country, and subsequently, they qualified for the National Relay Finals at the Olympic Aquatic Centre. An outstanding day of swimming from this experienced and talented team (Tom Hogg, Alex Sandberg, Kai Jackson, Felix Brockdorff, and Alex Paton) saw them double finalists, finishing 8th and 9th in the country – we couldn’t be prouder of these performances!

The Bath Cup provided another outing for our elite swimmers, this time for the open girls and boys squads. I am delighted to report that, for the first time, the girls team (Lotta Jackson, Kitty Hogg, Isabella Liedtke, and Lily Johnson) reached both relay finals in the small school competition, with Lily (2G) producing the fastest splits in every swim! This event also felt like the end of an era – it was the last time the trio of Tom Hogg, Kai Jackson, and Alex Sandberg would journey to the Olympic Park to swim as part of Team Churcher’s. Needless to say, emotions were high and the boys gave it their all – reaching the finals in both the 4x100m freestyle and 4x50m medley relay. A fantastic way to finish their Churcher’s swimming careers.

The Henley Classic Open Water swim is always a challenge, but a great event nonetheless. What should have been a 2.1km swim, was shortened to 1.2km due to extreme fog conditions, but this did not get in the way of our team of young swimmers. Made up of Henry Plewes, James Medley, Isabella Liedtke, Nicole Parker, and Charlie Stevenson, the team weaved their way through the mass start, to all finish with respectable times and collect their medals. Special mention should go to Charlie Stevenson who finished the fastest U14 on his first open water swim!

Water Polo

This year, water polo has seen a wave of enthusiasm throughout the school. Not only have we had great success with the U18 Boys team, but also the formation and growth of our junior teams. The U18 boys team qualified for The National Plate Competition. In the first round of this competition the boys played some fantastic water polo, with stand-out performances from Alex Sandberg, Tom Hogg, and, competing in his first ever water polo competition, Alex Paton. This put them at the top of their group and saw them proceed through to the final stage of the competition, where they

narrowly lost in the Semi-Finals to St Ambrose. A victorious performance in the third-place playoff ensued; never before has a Churcher’s team made it this far in the competition and to top it off, a podium finish to sign off their time at Churcher’s.

The success of our U18 team has most certainly driven participation in the younger year groups. This year we have formed two excitable U13 mixed water polo teams. Their skill levels have progressed in leaps and bounds, and the team finished the year by competing in their first ever water polo competition. It has been a fantastic year for water polo at Churcher’s and we are already looking forward to the next!

Kelly Higgins

Tennis

The tennis tour to Marbella, followed by pre-season training at school, prepared Churcher’s students well for success on the tennis courts, both home and away.

The U12s and U13s have had a successful tennis season this year, with excellent participation levels during games, and all courts being full at after school training and on Saturdays. Several competitive matches have been played against local schools including Seaford, Oaklands, and West Hill Park, with 8 wins, 1 draw, and just 3 losses across this age range.

The U14s have had a tough season but they continued with their great enthusiasm and trained hard to improve their knowledge of doubles games. We have had amazing participation from the Third Years, with some 50 at training sessions every week. The pupils learnt something new after every match, which showed on their score cards in taking many games to deuce against Charterhouse in their last match of the season.

Well, what a season the U15 boys’ and girls’ teams have had, captained by Jack Douglas and Lexie Oliver, who both proved to be worthy of the role. The boys have had an amazing record and have won 100% of their matches, including some very tough matches against Charterhouse, Worth, and PGS. They also won the Hampshire and Isle of Wight inter schools’ tournament organized by the LTA, and will be playing other counties in September. The girls have had a great season, winning 70% of their matches, and also managing a good cup run, making it to the quarter finals. The Senior team this year was captained by Evie Davey and Matt Hodges, both having served tennis for a significant amount of time, including many tours away to Spain and Portugal during pre-season training. There have been many memorable moments this year, including a stunning end of season campaign at Lord Wandsworth College, where, 4-2 down after the second round of matches, all three teams playing that day managed to win their final round of matches, some with thrilling tie-breaks, to take the matches to 5-4 overall in sets.

In May, tennis players from all year groups turned out to represent their Davis Cup country. The initial stages were group matches, with the top countries from each group going through to the semi-finals. The Churcher’s Davis Cup was won by Jack Douglas and Georgia Meredith (Great Britain), in a closely fought and high-quality final against Dan Bennett and Theo Shaw (Netherlands). The winners of the third and fourth place play-off match were Raffy Sharper and Grace Clark (France).

We were certainly blessed with the weather during the annual Parent and Pupil tennis tournament. We had a record number of 62 pairs entering this year, with everyone enjoying a great BBQ and atmosphere, while watching some fabulous tennis played by both parents and pupils. After a highly competitive semi-final, the winners were Cameron JeffriesKeel, (Lower School), Daniel Bennett (Middle School), and Alex Lambrianou all playing with their fathers.

Tina Jenkins