Off to the nationals in hockey and netball

As always, it’s been another busy term for sport at Copthill. I often look back at the fixtures diary and wonder just how we fit so much into one term. We manage it with a great team of staff and cohorts of enthusiastic children who are desperate to develop their sport and enjoy the experience of representing Copthill against other schools.

Of course it would also not be possible without you, our supportive parents, who help manage the highs and lows of sport and a dream of every child engaging in a positive way.

This term is a busy one for ISA events. The boys attended the annual ISA National Hockey Tournament at Lee Valley where they were pitted against four other schools. They began the tournament with a narrow loss, which was then followed by a couple of draws. This meant they finished lower in their league and went through to the afternoon fixtures to play representative teams finishing in a similar place. They didn’t quite have the attacking prowess needed to score the goals required and unfortunately lost the afternoon matches.

The boys went to a really well organised event where they played some great football in the ISA regional tournament. Their strength as a team lay in defence and they worked hard to minimise the goals scored against them. Their enthusiasm and energy for football was evident to see, and it was just a shame they couldn’t match this with their results.

The girls had a long journey to Alleyn Court in Southend-on-Sea for their Regional ISA Netball tournament. We went in with high hopes and quickly realised that our hopes of nationals could be pinned on our first match of the day.

We drew Finborough, who we knew were very strong, and also striving for a nationals spot. The girls played some wonderful netball, fought hard and took the win. The winning streak remained for the whole tournament and they brought home gold medals and first-placed seeding for the National Finals.

Unfortunately the National Finals have been rescheduled as they were due to be played when we had a downfall of snow. So it means the training continues and we look ahead to the end of April to find out how their story will end.

A special mention must go to Sophie Alliston in making the National Cross Country Finals in Worksop where she placed tenth after finishing fourth in the regional event at Finborough.

The Year 5 Saxons Sports Tour has become an integral part of the spring sport term and once again we had a wonderful trip. The group enjoyed some competitive sports as well as challenging themselves in different outdoor activities. They really got stuck in and it was great to deliver so many smiley, happy faces back to Copthill late Saturday evening.

Year 5 and 6 House Matches were fiercely competitive this year and the final game of the day decided the winner for netball. This year's netball champions were Milton and the hockey was won by Casewick. In the Year 3 and 4 House Matches the netball went down to goal difference as three teams finished on the same points. Even after goals scored, Burghley and Milton were tied. So we went back to their match and Burghley had won 5-3, and so became the overall champions for 2023. Milton took the win for the boys Hockey after some strong play and good finishing.