Sport

You will have read earlier in Old Witleian Chronicles (page 9) about the sports that were available to pupils at King Edward’s in the late 1950s and early 60s.

We have been interested to read about the opportunities pupils have had to stay active whilst at King Edward’s. There have been many improvements to the facilities across the campus in recent years to include the Upper Gurdon’s pitch renovation, the new 6 lane outdoor cricket nets, the refurbished swimming pool and our renovated Astro, to name but a few. However, behind the scenes, pupils have also been given the opportunity to access more sport within the curriculum through dedicated timetabled hours. We have a vast array of sports in the co-curricular programme in addition to our sports fixtures.

Our core suite of sports includes football (boys and girls), netball (girls), cricket and hockey (boys and girls). We are now able to offer competitive teams in Rugby, Swimming, Golf, Table-tennis, Badminton, Basketball, Athletics, Crosscountry and Tennis and recreational sports in Fitness, Yoga, Pilates, Run-club, Cycling, Squash and Volleyball. Our staffing has also increased dramatically to include dedicated Heads of Sport for our major sports which includes former England and Surrey cricketer, Mr Rikki Clarke, as our Head of Cricket and Surbiton Hockey Club veteran, Mrs Fiona Fitch, as Head of Girls’ Games and Hockey. It really is an exciting time to be involved in sport at King Edward’s.

CRICKET

After two seasons of Covid affected cricket, it was wonderful to have a full season of cricket fixtures. ExEngland international cricketer Mr Rikki Clarke led all years in a full winter nets program, including girls hard ball sessions for the first time in the School’s history. Our county players benefitted from individual sessions with Mr Clarke throughout the winter and all the pupils were able to utilise the new nets and enjoy the newly laid first XI ground. We hosted the MCC for a second year in a row

and played against the Forty Club, the largest wandering cricket Club in the world. The number of fixtures we play has been extended as we entered multiple county and national competitions across all ages for both boys and girls.

HOCKEY

It was an exciting two Terms of hockey for both boys and girls with significant strides being made by all our teams which culminated in great results across the board and trophies! Our newly laid artificial pitch, opened by Giselle Ansley MBE, double Olympic Hockey medallist, has helped however, Mrs Fiona Fitch, Head of Girls Games, can claim credit as well; Mrs Fitch is a Surbiton Hockey Veteran and is training for London Masters, and previously played for Ladies 1 South. Under her tutelage, all age groups are in a position to compete against some of the traditional ‘hockey schools’ including Portsmouth Grammar, Seaford, St Johns Leatherhead and Lord Wandsworth College.

Alongside the extensive weekly fixture programme and local tournaments, the U16 girls squad competed in the Hampshire Trophy, fielding pupils from 3rd, 4th and 5th Forms, and finished respectable third place. The boys also competed in the Hampshire Trophy and were successful in bringing home a trophy in the U14 age group, the Bronze medal at the U16 age group, and Bronze in the U13 In2 tournament.

This season King Edward’s hosted Masterclass Sessions, hosted tournaments in the U10 and U13 age groups and hope to extend the tournaments to include U11 and U14 teams. We are now able to offer our pupils personal development opportunities to coach and umpire as part of their Duke of Edinburgh awards.

FOOTBALL

Mr Garry Haylock, the School’s Head of Football, guided the girls’ football team to victory as they emerged as champions at the Belmont School 5-a-side tournament this past Spring. Following the England Lionesses Euro 2022 win, we undoubtedly will have more girls who will want to join the team. Our existing U14, U13 and U12 teams already show an abundance of skills with one of our Lower Sixth girls attending a trial for the ISFA (Independent Schools Football Association) U18 side.

Our boys U12 and U13 teams kept their opponents in check with many notable victories and the U12B side remaining undefeated all season. The big success story of the season was the U14A side who scored 89 goals in 14 games! To ensure the team was challenged, they often played against older opposition and were continued to win. The U14B side were only defeated once all season.

Pupils from our 3rd and 4th Forms were selected to play for ISFA and we expect others to join before they leave King Edward’s.

NETBALL

The School is lucky to have five fantastic and recently re-laid netball courts right in the very heart of the School. The courts are packed with pupils throughout activities time as it is an enormously popular sport for the girls. Mrs Annette Hobbs has led the Netball programme for the past year. Under her guidance, the girls have shown tremendous progress, highlighted by the U13A side who won the annual Lord Wandsworth Netball tournament for the first time in the School’s history.

TENNIS

With our six hard courts and our temporary nets placed on our new AstroTurf, there is plenty of opportunity for competitive and recreational tennis at King Edward’s. Our tennis programme is played across all Terms, with the Autumn and Winter Terms providing pupils with the knowledge and skills to compete within the summer fixtures. Pupils have the opportunity to participate in tennis within core PE lessons, activities and now through the introduction of private lessons, which is run by our new Sports Graduate and County Tennis player, Mr Ollie Nash.

King Edward’s aims to provide carefully designed sessions that cater for complete beginners to players aspiring to become County players and beyond. Individuals and groups are assessed within each session and more competent players are provided with more advanced teaching. Sessions are designed around three categories: technical, tactical, and mental. It is important that all pupils learn the basic techniques before developing tactical awareness and the mental aspect of the game.

All 1st, 2nd and 3rd Form pupils have a chance to play tennis through the PE requirements. Additionally, there are 2 or 3 tennis activity slots that are organised for match play, further coaching support or as a chance to practice with friends. The activity slot is also useful for players to practice what they have been taught within their individual 1-2-1 lessons which Mr Nash incorporated this year. The Summer Term provides pupils an opportunity to compete in fixtures against other schools within Surrey and Hampshire.