Sport Athletics
Even Covid couldn’t stop Churcher’s students from running; Mr Daniel was to thank for the remote “Couch to 5km” and such was the uptake that he regularly had up to 50 runners training on a Wednesday before school upon our return. That so many students were disciplined enough to be ready to start running at 7am was testament to their dedication and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, that was the limit for cross-country, but some students were able to enjoy the track and field season. Across the junior and intermediate events at the South East Hampshire Championships, 14 students qualified to represent the South East team at the Hampshire Schools’ Athletics Championships, the biggest number from any school in the region! The year finished with Sports Day for each year group on consecutive days, and its new format was a fantastic advert for athletics at the school; it was incredible to see so many students participating and a fitting way to end the year. Mr K McGuire
Cricket
A wise man once wrote, “Cricket is a glorious game of uncertainty and no one should make it lose the charm of uncertainty by making it predictable.” This year has delivered more than our fair share of uncertainty, mainly in the form of the weather and, of course, Covid; we have had to work incredibly hard to get games played, especially as schools would suddenly be unable to fulfil fixtures due to Covid outbreaks. However, seeing the fields full on a Saturday has made all these other challenges pale into insignificance.
four and losing four. There was also a Senior 2nd team for the first time in many years and it indicates that our strong pyramid base and success in encouraging participation is clearly working. Meanwhile, it was a tough year for the U15 side this year, coming up against some excellent teams. However, the boys were incredibly committed and great fun. This age group is very much a stepping stone into the world of Senior cricket and many of them will be knocking on the 1st XI door in the not too distant future; a particular mention should go to Fergus Weatherhead for his 56 against KES Southampton and to Dom Porter for his 73 against Ryde. The U13s have been a delight to work with: enthusiasm, effort and energy, mixed with a dedication to training and match days, together with some talented players has been a terrific recipe! Unfortunately, we lost in the semi-final of the cup against a team who had one very strong player backed up by two other strong bowlers and although we really created some pressure, the truth was we didn’t score enough when we were batting and lost by just one run. From one match where we gave away over 50 extras to then playing local rivals PGS and conceding just six was a real moment of growth for the As. They continued to develop and on the last match of the season managed to beat Salesian U14As, a team which included some big, powerful boys. The Bs beat PGS at a bit of a canter and won all of their fixtures through the season.
Boys The Seniors have enjoyed a solid year, playing eight games (including representing the school at the National Cup at Bradfield), winning
The U12s season saw the year group have their first ever Churcher’s College fixtures against other schools. The first game took them a bit by surprise, having been beaten by a well drilled KES, but they rose to the challenge as the season went on. To say they were enthusiastic would be a huge understatement with 50+ boys regularly turning out to practice with a real buzz in the air every time. So focused on trying to improve their
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The Churcherian 2021
individual skills, week in and week out, the boys were queuing up to play in the fixtures and we really look forward to seeing how they develop next year. Girls The girls’ commitment to cricket in the lower years has been outstanding and they have made remarkable progress. The U15s have had a fantastic season: in both batting and fielding they are a force to be reckoned with, and this led to two convincing victories against King Edward VI and Ryde. At U14 level, attendance at training, at Churcher’s Development League and at inter-school fixtures has been fantastic, frequently having over 25 girls involved. Huge improvement in their bowling and batting technical ability has now initiated the transition to hard ball. Two excitingly close fixtures against Ryde and KES were the highlights of the season, with top performances coming from Rosie Bruce, Bella Gaunt and Elise Millington. We have also seen excellent participation from the Second Year; their enthusiasm and motivation for the sport was inspiring to work with. Regularly on a Saturday we would have 36 players for A, B & C teams. Although we didn’t have too many competitive fixtures against other schools, the girls have taken this opportunity to develop their game play and tactical knowledge brilliantly and there is a significant amount who are ready and raring for hard ball fixtures next summer. M R Maier
Hockey
Girls We welcomed a First Year that really engaged and bought into their hockey. Participation numbers for internal matches were exceptionally high with almost the whole year group consistently in attendance! To compensate for the lack of external
