Sports Report – Week 22

This week has been busy on the field with Sports matches and our boys have been playing superbly in both Hockey and Football. See our match reports below:

Hockey Tournament, Bradfield College – U10

Last Friday, our U10 Hockey team had the opportunity to take part in 6 games over the course of the afternoon at Bradfield College and played some excellent hockey throughout. The tournament was preceded by a coaching masterclass from the College’s Staff and First XI hockey players, including Beacon Old Boy Freddie H, who was particularly excited to coach his old school. The boys created many attacking opportunities, with George O and Hugo C linking up nicely to score an outstanding goal starting in their own half. The defence was solid, and the team kept 3 clean sheets in the tournament, which was down to the strong defensive efforts of Teddy O and James G. The boys did themselves proud in both performance and sportsmanship, on and off the pitch. Well done!

Reported by Mr Stansfield

Football Tournament, Claire’s Court – U10A

Our U10A team made the trip over to Claire’s Court to compete in a tournament involving 16 different schools. We faced Oldfield, Thorpe House, and Belmont in the group stages, who we beat 2-0, 4-0, and 2-0 respectively. This meant we topped the group on 9 points and made it through into the cup competition quarter finals, which included the top 2 teams from each of the four groups.

We fought off Gateway in a game which we dominated and deserved to win 4-1. This secured our semi-final spot against a resistant St. John’s Beaumont side who kept us out until added time at the end of the game. We were awarded a penalty, which was cooly converted by George L to send us through to the final.

We were met by the familiar sight of a Davenies team who had previously beaten us earlier in the season. A tightly contested game including some great saves from both our keeper, Henry M, and the Davenies keeper, meant that the final would be decided by penalties after a 0-0 draw. The rules of the tournament stated that penalties would be sudden death, and so there was no margin for error. After successful penalties from Lochy M, George L, Harry A, Rocco G, Jude J, and Dhiren N-R, Henry M made a diving save to his left to win the shootout 6-5.

The boys played some really high-quality football throughout the afternoon, and it was a real pleasure to watch. I know Mr Robinson was very impressed!!

Reported by Mr Sutcliffe

IAPS National Hockey Finals, Repton School – Year 6

Our Year 6 Hockey adventure came to an end at a busy Repton School, which hosted the IAPS National finals on Wednesday. While there was no final glory there was no indignity either – but as is the case with most sport there were a number of what ifs, maybes and if onlys.

The boys were highly motivated and hit the ground running with a one nil win over Woodbridge School from Suffolk. Charlie C converting constant pressure to score the only goal. The addition of energetic Rory C gave us the impetus to see out the win. Next up came The New Beacon. Similar name but alas a dissimilar outcome. Possibly our worst game of the season saw a crushing 3 – 0 defeat. Our cause was not helped by their second goal coming literally on the buzzer to signal half time. What if the buzzer had gone seconds earlier…?

A one all draw against Wiltshire’s Chafyn Grove was to prove the key result in our pool. We led deep into the second half (George J and Leo O can argue amongst themselves as to who got the final touch) before a late equaliser. This is not to diminish the efforts of our GK Andrey V who was outstanding all day. The opposition simply scored a well worked goal. If only we could have held that lead…

Hall Grove from Surrey were our final group opponents and both teams battled out a nail biting 0 – 0 draw. Benji H and Finley F asserted their status as defensive guardians of note. Our group record of P4, W1, L1, D2 was respectable but results in other pools would determine our journey’s direction. Maybe we had done enough to make the Cup. We hadn’t…

The plate quarter final was an anti-climactic affair. All boys had to get a game and despite fresh legs we couldn’t break the stranglehold that the Downs from Bristol choked upon us. Xander B in particular stood out with a consummate performance. A 1 – 0 defeat was a sad way to end our season but taken as a microcosm of the whole it is a mere blip. 11 year olds can sometime struggle to see the bigger picture but really, they should. At Repton the losing finalists of the National final were a team defeated by us at the semi-final stage of the Regionals. That is a compelling fact that proves our boys are worthy hockey players.

They have played 22 matches this season across 3 tournaments and 2 home games. The record reads won 9, drawn 9 and lost 4. That is a percentage loss rate of 5.5%. Not even the All Blacks or Brazil have that loss percentage! This record shines even brighter when you consider how little hockey time the boys get. It is testament to how hard they have worked when they have been in that time.

The portents are good for next year too. Hunter O will get another crack at it and from what I’ve seen from Y5 in PE we have no little talent.

Let’s park that for now though and salute the class of ’23 who, by my reckoning, have done themselves and the school very, very proud.

Reported by Mr Williams

Football Match, Belmont School – U10C1

The  U10C1 enjoyed a comprehensive 6 – 2 over Belmont School last Friday. There were debuts for Arthur W and Freddie H and neither looked out of place at their new level while Benny G was a constant threat down the wing. Regulars Orson M and Nikhil J were a reassuring presence on the ball and their silky passing enabled strikers Xander F and Casper A to profit. Xander slotted home 4, while Casper added a brace. Our very own rock at the back, GK Tom T, only had his line breached twice. Well done boys, it was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon!