What an opening term of sport we’ve had at Wallingford! There have been riveting rugby matches, honourable hockey performances, and some fantastic footie games! We’re blessed to have a fantastic array of sportspeople at Wallingford, all of which have done the school proud over the opening terms.
There have been some incredibly impressive rugby performances, with strong games from the Year 7 and Year 8 team in the Abbey tournament, as well as notable victories for our Year 9s. The girls’ team took part in their first ever game of contact rugby; despite being nervous at the start, they grew into it, improving with each game and ending the tournament absolutely loving rugby – so much so that more fixtures have been organised! The Year 7s have taken to school rugby equally brilliantly, playing some splendid rugby over the term.
Mr. Dodson’s Year 11s remain undefeated and secured an impressive 12-5 victory over St. Birinus, dubbed as “one of the best games he [Mr. Dodson] has ever seen”. As the winners of the South Oxfordshire league, they are due to play the winners of the Reading league at Abbey Rugby Club in January under the lights – good luck! And the 1st XV Rugby side have kicked off their campaign.
Over at hockey, we’ve seen some brilliant showcases of skill and determination. The mixed Year 11 side produced a standout 8-0 win, whilst the Year 10 side have been equally impressive.
Football has started off as fantastic as ever. The Year 8 girls began the season with an excellent 8-1 win in their cup game – we can’t wait to see them in the next round! The Sixth Form Girls team put in a brilliant performance in their cup game – a narrow 1-0 loss doesn’t tell the whole story.
A special shout-out to Phoebe in Year 10 for winning our September Player of the Month and Isla in Year 8 for winning our October Player of the Month!
We started up basketball after October half term, with the Year 8 and 9s currently on a 100% winning record! Mr. Choi had special praise for Roman, calling him the “MVP” of their opening games – well done! The Year 10 and 11 side has also done well, winning their opening game of the season.
A major highlight of the year so far came when 12 students attended the annual duathlon, completing a 2km row erg and a 2km run. We are so proud of everyone who competed, achieving 4/4 team medals (including 3 GOLDS!!!). Congratulations to George for picking up Gold in the individual event for the Year 8/9 Boys Team. Also, congratulations to our Year 10/11 individual Girl medallists, Darcy (Silver) and Aurelia (Bronze), and our Boys medallists Arthur (Gold) and Tom (Silver). Not a bad day’s work, which was cemented by the team winning our Moment of the Month for November!
We hosted our inaugural HYROX race, with 40 students from Year 11 and Sixth Form competing! Everyone gave 100% which was great to see. A huge congratulations to Annabel, Daisy, Phoebe, Tom and Lewis who each won their respective categories! A special thank you to Charlie Botterill for coming along and helping with the event!
Students from Year 7-11 competed at the annual cross country event. Our teams did admirably, with the Year 10/11 Boys and Year 7 Girls both earning Silver medals! An extra special congratulations to Erin in Year 7 who ran a remarkable race, finishing in Silver to bring home an individual medal for the School.
Our opening terms of sport were wrapped up with Fletcher (Year 7) awarded the Boys Player of the Month, and Darcy (Year 11) Girls Player of the Month for November – massive congratulations to both!
Finally, a huge thank you to our amazing Year 12 and 13 Active Leaders who have assisted in organising, refereeing and helping at primary school games hosted at Wallingford.
It’s great to see so many students throughout school getting involved with sport, both the girls and boys are participating and performing brilliantly, so a big “well done” from all of us from the PE Department! We’re really excited to start football and netball next term – so keep up the hard work and participation!
- Mr Ford, PE Technician