We are flying the flag for St David’s Day!
National Cup Football
Our Post 16 girls football team are now our sole representatives left in the ESFA National Cup competitions. They are now through to the quarter-finals, so can count themselves as one of the best 8 teams in the country at this age group. A fantastic achievement. In December they travelled to Bingham in Nottinghamshire to play Toot Hill School and were 2-0 down at half-time. Toot Hill added to the scoreline shortly after the break leaving us with a mountain to climb with only 10 minutes left on the clock. With the temperature dropping and the light fading Dulci Binns pulled a goal back then Louis Tarbuck scored twice with seconds left on the clock to take the game to a penalty shootout. Sophie White proved to be the heroine saving two penalties, while Saiya Patel, Louisa Tarbuck and Darcy Warden scored from the spot to win the shootout 3-2. This took us into a last 16 fixture away at Repton School In January. Dulci Binns scored with an excellent long-range strike to give us the lead, but Repton hit the post during a goalmouth scramble shortly before half-time. We had chances to extend our lead, but failed to beat the Repton goalkeeper. This meant a nervy last 10 minutes, during which Repton threw everything at us. A combination of great last ditch defending and excellent goalkeeping from Sophie White kept the Repton attacks at bay and we ran out 1-0 victors. We await the draw for the quarter finals with anticipation.
WELL DONE GIRLS!
#BGLC_PE
Year 7 student, Harry Swain, has recently returned from the South of France, having been selected once again to play Tennis for Great Britain. Harry began playing tennis at Nottingham Tennis Centre as a Toddler where he subsequently was selected to train in squads as part of the LTA’s 10U Performance Programme. Having met the criteria a year early to train at a regional player development centre (RPDC), he now continues to train at Nottingham’s RPDC as a listed player on the National Player Pathway as part of the LTA’s National Age Group Programme.
Age 10, Harry competed in and won his first National Singles Title. The following year came his first of several selections to represent GB, and at the age of 11 won a further 2 National titles. Harry has been ranked as high as number 1 in Britain and despite being injured for a significant part of last year, still managed to end the year as 11U British number 3.
Brookvale Groby Learning Campus are behind Harry and are working to enable him to combine his education and the significant amount of training involved in his tennis development. Since starting here in September, Harry has been out to Poland and France to play for GB, and having previously won a qualifying event, had his expenses paid to compete in a junior international tournament at Rafael Nadal’s Tennis Academy in Majorca.
WELL DONE HARRY!
#BGLC_PE
