Sports News Term 4 2022/23
Term 4 has been a very busy term for Sport at St John’s. Read some of the highlights here.
Cross Country
A new generation of running talent was on show at the Wiltshire Cross Country championships at Sheldon School on 21st January. The Minor Boys group was dominated by St John’s, and the talent and enthusiasm in evidence bodes well for the future of distance running.
The athletes competing were George Risdale, Riley Wyatt, Zeb Scott Harden, Andrew Luo, Marlowe Barber and Edward Barratt.
It was a similar story for the Minor Girls team with Amelie Disley, Evie Patterson and Isabella Henderson displaying gutsy performances.
Congratulations to Oliver Whiting competing in the Junior Boys team and die-hard performers Olivia Smith and Daisy Fry who have competed year on year reaching these championships in their final year as an Intermediate.
Both Amelie Disley and George Risdale have had an amazing cross-country season. They achieved 5th and 4th place in Wiltshire which led to competing in the Southwest AA Championships at Blaise Castle on 4th February for Wiltshire. A fantastic achievement for their debut cross country season.
Hockey
Hockey leaders
Thank you to the 14 St John’s hockey leaders who represented the school at the primary hockey festival held at Marlborough College. They helped with running the event on the day, umpiring, and supporting the younger students. They all showed excellent leadership and initiative to ensure the day ran as smoothly as possible with 8 local primary schools. Many local primary teachers commented on how well they did and what great role models they were. Well done everyone!
Y8 girls’ hockey
Well done to the Y8 hockey team who came 5th in their recent Wiltshire hockey tournament. They were the top state school team out of 8 schools which is an excellent achievement. Throughout the tournament they showed excellent enthusiasm and teamwork. In their pool they beat Abbeyfield 1-0, lost to St Marys 0-2, and lost to Warminster 0-4. They were able to learn and develop their tactics which was highlighted in their 3-0 win over Sheldon to become 5th. Well done girls!
Y7/8 boys’ hockey
Well done to the Y7/8 boys hockey team who came 3rd in their recent Wiltshire hockey tournament. Throughout the tournament they were able to move the ball around well and make some great moves up the pitch as well as defending hard. They showed great teamwork, and all the boys were able to play a range of different positions. They beat Denary 2-0 and lost to Warminster and Salisbury Cathedral 0-3. Well done to Daniel who played in goal for the first time and made some excellent saves. Well done boys!
Netball
A big thank you from the St John’s PE department to Crosby & Lawrence for their very kind donation of six match balls for netball.
Y9 Netball
The Y9 girls had a great afternoon competing at Marlborough College. All three teams played some excellent Netball throughout. The blue team’s marking and passing was excellent and really put pressure on when needed, and the final score was 13-15. The yellow team’s linking play and movement into space was highlighted as a strength and their score was 11-18. The red team showed great teamwork and passing, and their score was 8-20. Well done girls!
Cricket
The U15 girls cricket team recently took part in the Wiltshire Softball Cricket Tournament. They had an excellent tournament, eventually getting knocked out in the Semi finals by tournament winners Hardenhuish. The team was a credit to St John’s and played some fantastic cricket, especially in the last group game to reach the semi finals! Special mention must go to the excellent batting performance from Isobel Place and some great bowling from Phoebe Rex and Isabelle Collister.
Reaching the semi finals was an outstanding achievement considering eight of the nine players were playing up an age group and only one of our players has played cricket since last summer. Well done to the team: Phoebe Rex, Phoebe Smith, Isabelle Collister, Izzy Thrift, Isobel Place, Lucy Brown, Ellie Neathey, Emmanuelle Baldwin, Tilda Borthwick
Football
Well done to all the girls who have been involved in football at St John’s this year. This is our fastest growing and (probably) most successful sport! We’re already looking forward to welcoming more great players next year.
U14 Girls Football
St John’s U14 girls football team won their quarter final against Hardenhuish 6-1. Another brilliant all-round team performance and we are certainly looking like a team that could go on to win the county cup.
Year 7 Girls Football
Well done to the Y7 girls football team who are currently undefeated this year!
The team beat Royal Wootton Bassett School 6-0, despite having two less players! Goals from Nina x3, Mia, Gen and Georgia. Player of the match was Cat.
U12 girls also won 5-3 also against Hardenhuish School in their quarter final. Again, the team showed brilliant character to come through a tough tie and really have the potential to go all the way in the tournament.
Y7 Boys Football
The Year 7 Boys played a home fixture against a talented and well-structured RWBA team. In the early exchanges both teams were awarded a penalty which were both converted. RWB finished the half stronger than St Johns and went into the interval with a deserved lead. The second half was a similar story with St Johns playing some good football, but RWB seemed a little more cohesive and energetic. By the end of the game RWB had extended their lead to 6:2 to take a well-deserved win. Credit to all the boys who played some really good football and battled hard for the whole of the game, never giving up.
Squad: George Risdale (C), Jack Sie (VC), Ben Foley (GK), Lewis Green, Ed Barrett, Benji Place, Riley Wyatt, George Bourton, Oakley Flippance, Jayden Chiu, Archie Morris
Year 11 Girls Football
The Year 11 girls team (left, with assistant coach Oscar Hiscock) have won nearly every match they have been involved in during their five years at St John’s!
The team unfortunately had to withdraw from the County Cup this year as they were unable to field a team for one of the matches.
Basketball
Year 9 & 10 Boys Basketball
St Johns once again made their annual journey to Salisbury for the Year 9 & 10 Boys Basketball competition.
This year hopes were high as this group of boys had been working hard over the past months attending training after-school. Five other teams took part in this year’s competition and St Johns first game was against St Joseph’s school. The boys started strongly, opening an early lead thanks to some super ball movement allowing easy shots. St Joseph’s utilised their main player well as he proved difficult to contain in open play. After a few unforced errors St Johns led at half time 5-3 thanks to a big impact off the bench from Jack Evans. Things went stale for a while but then pandemonium took place after a flurry of attacks from both teams took the score to 7-5 with only 20 seconds remaining. In the dying moments of the game St Johns held on to win after a fortunate miss from St Josephs. A good and promising start. Final score 7-5 to St Johns
The second game on paper looked like an impossible task after having watched St Edmund’s School easily dispatch their first opponents. However, St Johns put in a dogged performance defending hard against an onslaught of strong offence. Even though St Johns came away with a loss they held their opponents to minimal points in comparison to their previous score. St Johns lost 1 – 9. Credit to Finlay Moffat-Gonlzalez and Charles Lazarev for playing tough defensive against their best player.
Stonehenge was up next. A team that St Johns looked to be an equal match against. The match started slow with neither team able to establish themselves. Lots of opportunities were missed by both teams, baskets that should have been scored. Disappointingly it was Stonehenge that took hold of the game with two quick scores in the second half and St Johns struggled to respond as the opposition grew in confidence. Archie Gagen put in a great effort on both ends of the court and rebounds from Isaac Davenport helped to slow down the opposition. Stonehenge Win 11 – 3.
In the St John’s final game the teams both battled back and forth with each team taking the lead on multiple occasions. Eventually with 53 seconds to go the score settled at 9 – 9 with the other team shooting free throws. The student from Trafalgar school kept his composure and scored both taking the score to 11 – 9. A last attempt from Harry Mundy found the hoop but sadly failed to find the bottom of the net and the buzzer sounded on a disappointed St Johns team.
Overall, the team played well and have definitely built upon the previous visit the year before. They played strong defence against all opposition, holding them to very low score lines.
Team: Issac Davenport, Henry Gagen, Archie Gagen, Baxter Gagen, Jack Evans, Jack Cox, Daniel Neshev, Adrain So, Charles Lazarev, Harry Mundy, Finlay Moffat-Gonzalez, Sam Dennis, Arthur Ashbrook
Touch Rugby Festival
On Thursday 23rd March we hosted the Year 7 and 8 girls touch rugby festival at St John’s. This was another brilliant event, involving around 100 Year 7 and 8 students, and the quality of rugby was excellent. There were three St John’s teams in the event and our first team qualified for the School Games finals in July at Dauntseys School! Seven Year 9 girls acted as officials at the event and did a great job, ensuring that everyone really enjoyed their day and that everything ran smoothly and on time. All St John’s players and officials were a real credit to the school and should be very proud of themselves.
Inter-Form Sports Tournaments
This year has seen a return of the inter-form sports tournaments which were such a huge success last year. Every tutor group in year 7 and year 8 has the opportunity to enter a team into a range of tournaments throughout the year including football, rugby and rounders along with netball for the girls and basketball for the boys. Tutor groups are allocated points based on the position they finish in each tournament with all points added up at the end of the year to determine our most talented sporty tutor group in each year. Students in years 9-13 have had the opportunity to take on leadership roles and ensure the smooth running of the tournaments. A large number have been involved this year and the events really couldn’t have run without their assistance.
The turnout at these events has again been fantastic with hundreds of students getting involved in the football, netball and rugby tournaments which have taken place so far this year. Both competitions are still very tight with a number of tutor groups in with a chance for taking the title, so it is vital that every tutor group enters a team for the two remaining events. After the freezing conditions for the most recent event, we are hoping for some brighter weather in the future!
Primary Rugby Festival
Sixteen Year 9 boys helped to run the Primary School Rugby festival on 22nd March, which involved around 20 local primary schools . The event was a massive success and we have received numerous emails from parents and primary school staff praising the quality of the officiating from the St John’s students.
The students should be really proud of themselves for enabling so many primary school students to take part in this fantastic event.
