Sport The Cheltonian 2023-24
Sport
When you first immerse yourself in sport, whether it be as part of a team or an individual sport, the main reason is because it feels fun and exciting when you play. An enormous bonus is making friendships that often last long after school has finished and learning some valuable life lessons along the way.
At College, we want sport to be fun, we want pupils to challenge themselves and others around them and ultimately, we want our pupils to forge a lifelong passion for sport, resilience and becoming independent learners. Over the course of the past year, the passion, effort and focus our pupils have when it comes to sport has been something of which we can all be proud. Pupils who take themselves out of their comfort zone and have a desire to perform at their best for College, is something that makes this job so worthwhile. Being able to provide an opportunity for all pupils to play sport at whatever level they desire is important here at College. This is reflected by the 655 pupils who have represented College competitively over the past academic year. The desire to wear College Colours on the pitches and courts and compete against some of the top schools in the country, and compete well, shows our pupils have achieved that precious love of sport and physical activity.
The following reports are testament to these pupils’ efforts and desire to perform. I am, as always, grateful for the commitment from the Sports Department and the wider Common Room, without whose support we could not deliver such a successful games programme.
Mr Tim Watts, Director of Sport
Talented Athlete Programme
It was a successful year for the Talented Athlete Programme (TAP) with individuals developing the skills needed to juggle a busy academic schedule alongside the physical and technical skills needed to progress within their chosen sport. All deserve praise for their application and effort this year.
Athletics and Sports Day
With numbers increasing from last year, excitement was certainly building towards the Athletics season.
Cricket
Despite one of the wettest and coldest Summer Terms that I can remember, the College Cricket Club had a very productive term. We played 95 competitive fixtures across our boys’ and girls’ teams, winning 53% of the matches completed.
Badminton
Our boys’ badminton team improved this season, winning three out of 11 matches. This was a welcome step up from last year when we didn’t register a single victory!
Basketball
With 30 - 40 pupils training regularly the Club is going from strength to strength. We were especially pleased to see good representation from girls, including Lucille Kalindawalo, Iona Davies and Eniiyi Animasaun joining this year.
Equestrian
Equestrian has gone from strength to strength this year with more than 40 riders on our roll and our weekly Monday training sessions at Rectory Farm for everyone are paying dividends.
Fitness
The pupils have enjoyed another varied and exciting programme of Pilates, yoga, circuits and strength training.
Golf
The season started away with Malvern College and all performed well but eventually lost 2-1.
Football
The football season saw the Club develop even further with over 100 Upper College members, both boys and girls. In fact, we had such a big interest from the girls, we now have two female senior teams!
Hockey
Before this season started 17 students and three members of staff went on a tour of Malasia starting off in the vibrant city of Kuala Lumpur making their way up through Ipoh to the beach resort of Penang over 12 days.
Netball
We had a fantastic start to the season with an exciting pre-season of friendly fixtures played against Severn Stars, Hucclecote Netball and Wrekin College squads.
Polo
Polo is a big part of College culture and Mondays and Thursdays at Longdole Polo Club are the perfect way to blow off some steam during the week. The speed at which the team exit the minibus on arrival is testament to this, or is that down to not getting stuck on Tony the pony? Poor Tony!
Rackets
It has been another busy season for the Club. Eighty boys and girls represented College in school fixtures, College singles and House doubles tournaments.
Rugby
The 2023 season was one to remember! This can often be measured through performances, fixtures lists, participation and general smiles on faces after a muddy afternoon.
Rowing
The year started well with the Cheltonian Society Regatta held at the Boathouse. This incorporated House Pots which was raced in a round robin format with Southwood eventually coming out on top for the boys and Queen’s for the girls.
Shooting – clays
The opening match of the season at Rugby School saw five of the team representing College for the first time.
Squash
Squash at College has been a thriving and growing sport this year.
Swimming
It seems that we always begin by saying that we have had another good year in swimming, but actually that really undersells what has been a vintage year in swimming.
Tennis
It has been a brilliant term for the Club with an average of 15 teams playing each weekend accumulating to more than 80 competitive matches.