Category: Sport

The Junior first team produced a dominating performance against RHS, winning 6-1.  It was a physical match from the start with some pushing and shoving but the Woodbridge girls managed to stand their own.  Olivia Buchanan was outstanding and made her mark on the match within minutes. RHS could not cope with her power and speed on the ball.  Olivia put the Woodbridge team ahead with a great strike at a short corner. Unfortunately the celebration was short lived as RHS took advantage of Woodbridge’s lapse in concentration and defensive disciplines and scored their own goal a minute later.  After this Molly Marshall and Ella Walker never gave them another sniff in defence. With outstanding marking, confident stepping up, good tackling and accurate distribution they set the tone for the rest of the match.  Woodbridge played great passing hockey as a team and produce excellent hockey to watch. Positional play and decision making were at a very high level. Bea Thomas was brilliant in her work in the press and putting RHS under pressure and then leading well again to attack.  Woodbridge peppered the RHS goal with shots and penalty corners, bringing the best out of RHS’ very good goalkeeper.

Olivia scored another goal before half time. This was followed by Clara Simpson scoring from a well-executed penalty corner variation.  After a deserved rest at half time, Woodbridge continued their fine form and passing play.  Olivia Buchanan scored another 2 goals before Ella Walker scored the final goal after every player having a part to play, transferring and passing well. Clara Simpson received the ball in the D, having assessed her options well, and swiftly moved the ball to Ella at left midfield, who slotted a perfect effort into the far post.  Perfection!

Well done to every player: Molly Marshall, Ella Walker, Annabel Nicholass, Jessica Elmer, Olivia Buchanan, Issy Eaton, Katie Norman, Clara Simpson, Bea Thomas and Emily Whyte.  Player of the match went to the unstoppable goal scorer of the day, Olivia Buchanan.  Thanks to all the parents and staff who supported the match.

It may have been a damp November day but somehow the cross country athletes from Woodbridge School brushed that aside with considerable ease. Spirits were high, with all four teams competing following their wins in the Suffolk leg. Anything seemed possible. We were up against seven counties including the might of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

The fact that Woodbridge School had never had a Team qualify for the National Finals gave the task ahead some context. 21 Teams (top three from each of the seven counties) would be reduced to three for Nationals in each of the four races.

First race of the day was the Junior Girls (u14) and although the team had worked hard and were likely to finish as a fairly compact unit, we were not expecting this young group to qualify.
How wrong we were!

Bea Thomas ran an exceptional race and every athlete raced for the line making every position count. The result – A Trip to Nationals by finishing third, beating 4th by just two points.
Individual results were Bea Thomas 5th, Molly Marshall 15th, Amy Goddard 20th, Issy Eaton 34th, Cecily Royal-Dawson 35th, Anna Jackson 66th.
Congratulations Junior Girls!

Second race was the Junior boys (u14), our strongest team and the one where we genuinely felt we had our first chance of qualification. We were not disappointed as the Woodbridge vests soon made their way to the front of the race and the boys finished second, a single point behind the school that won.
Charlie Turner was the star performer running an exceptionally well judged race to close in on the lead pack and then power home for second place.
Individual results were Charlie Turner 2nd, Kit Evans-Lombe 7th, Henry Dinwiddy 15th, Will Franklin 22nd, Edward Rufford 32nd, Tom Turner 47th.
Congratulations Junior Boys!

Next up were the Inter Girls (u16). Perhaps an outside chance we thought. Better than that the girls qualified for Nationals in a strong second place. Sarah Barker and Amy Graham worked their way through the field and were full of running in the closing stages to claim 3rd and 4th respectively. Special mention should also go to Charlotte Dinwiddy who ran a brave attacking race to finish 23rd.
Individual results were Sarah Barker 3rd, Amy Graham 4th, Charlotte Dinwiddy 23rd, Milly Buckingham 31st, Sophie Graham 38th, Victoria Burrows 40th.
Congratulations Inter Girls!

Final race of the day saw the Inter Boys (u16) line up. Whilst the Team realistically knew qualification was unlikely, the boys had trained well and were keen to improve on last years 7th place.
With Nathan Goddard leading from the front with another of his powerful displays for 2nd place, the boys packed well for the team to come home in 5th place.
Individual results were Nathan Goddard 2nd, George Rufford 19th, Daniel Davies 28th, Alex Evans Lombe 29th, Tom Harrington 35th, Nathaniel Gunn 42nd.
With that effort is has to be – Congratulations Inter Boys!

So off to Nationals we go. Formby, Lancashire on Saturday 3rd December.
With some 4000 secondary schools in England only 25 make it through to the Nationals and Woodbridge School will be in three of the four races.

We are one of only three schools in England to qualify more than two teams – Now that is something!

Oliver Juszt of Year 10 is one step closer to achieving every sportsperson’s dream – representing your county. Oliver represented the Saxon Tigers U16 at the recent England Hockey HiPAC (High Performance Assessment Camp).  HiPAC is a residential three-day camp which forms part of the Junior Regional Performance Centre Tier 2 Activity.  Apart from being a wonderful experience and learning opportunity, Oliver also impressed the coaches and national selectors.

England Hockey recently announced the National Age Group Training Squads, and Oliver has been selected in the England Boys’ U16 squad.  Oliver is therefore one of 31 players who will now attend a series of training weekends, training days and NAGS Academy sessions.  The first of these will be a Training weekend on 12 – 13 November at Lilleshall National Sports Centre.  We wish Oliver the very best for this, and for the training and assessments which are to follow.  Meanwhile, many, many congratulations, Oliver, on what you have already achieved.

On Thursday 13 October the Woodbridge School Cross Country Team competed at the first round of the Suffolk Schools Cross Country Trials hosted by RHS.

An exceptional team performance with 6 medals, 10 top 10 positions and 29 qualifying by right to compete in round two at Culford on Saturday 3rd December.

With no seniors we only competed in 6 of the 8 races, and in 5 of the 6, Woodbridge School finished in the top three teams. Inter girls only had three runners and therefore an incomplete team.

Individual results were as follows:

Medalists:

Gold – Amy Graham – Inter Girls
Gold – Nathan Goddard – Inter Boys

Silver – Amy Goddard – Minor Girls
Silver – Henry Dinwiddy – Minor Boys
Silver – Charlie Turner – Junior Boys
Silver – Sarah Barker – Inter Girls

Four of the 6 above will be racing in the same age group next year!

Other top 10 finishers:

4th – Kit Evans Lombe – Junior Boys
8th – Edward Rufford – Minor Boys
9th – Molly Marshall – Junior Girls
10th – Issy Eaton – Junior Girls

19 other athletes qualifying by finishing in the top 50 : (age group and position in brackets):

Sophie Graham (JG11), Bea Thomas (JG13), George Rufford (IB14), Anna Jackson (MG15),  Victoria Burrows (JG16), Ella Pitt (MG17), Emily White (JG20), Charlotte Dinwiddy (JG21),  Nathaniel Gunn (JB23), Thomas Harrington (IB23), Will Franklin (JB24), Joanne Garnett (IG25), Mauricio Corfe (JB28), Tom Martin (MB29), James McCarroll (MB30), Jess Elmer (JG33),  Billy Zhu (JB40), Katie Norman (MG43), Iris Morton (MG49).

Congratulations to all athletes taking part, not just the qualifiers, and thank you to staff and parents that supported on the day.

Good luck to everyone taking part in round two!

7 Woodbridge school riders qualified for the NSEA Championships, including two individuals and two teams.  The age range of riders was from 10 to 18 years old.

The first day saw the youngest team member, Ada Marson age 10, take part in the JwS 70cms Final. This was her first time competing at the Finals, and she produced a confident clear round, taking all the short routes. She scored 3^rd highest on Style marks, but finished 11^th overall out of 55 individuals competing. She was the youngest in the top 12 riders.

The second day saw the most action for the Woodbridge Teams with the Dressage Team of James Brown, Tabitha Wilson-Smith, Lydia Sida-Page and Francesca Aitchison competing as well as the 80cms showjumping team of Rowena Wilson-Smith, Tabitha Wilson-Smith, Francesca Aitchison and Fleur Ludgrove.

The day started with the Showjumping team. The course was in the outdoor International Arena and consisted of a relatively straight forward first part, with a jump off course offering the option to take tight lines and go for a fast time. With 50 Teams contesting,  it was all or nothing  to have a chance of a place. Sadly, other than Fleur Ludgrove who produced a good clear and a fast jump off time, the rest of the team had a fence down resulting on a team score of 8 penalties and no placing.

The Dressage team however had a truly successful day. Two riders took their tests in the morning; Tabitha and Lydia rode Prelim tests and scored individual placings of 2^nd and 8^th places respectively, leaving the team in 2^nd place after the first round. Then the final two riders, James and Francesca, took Novice tests in the afternoon to produce the final scores for the results.
James performed exceptionally well and took 1^st place in his arena, whilst Francesca was also placed 8^th in her arena.

This resulted in a fantastic result of the Team taking 2^nd Place at the Championships.

The final day saw James Brown contesting his individual qualification in the JwS 1.10m competition.
He produced a good round with one fence down; but with only one clear round out of 22 competitors this was a superb result. He finished up taking an individual 7^th Place in this Championship – another good result for James.

Woodbridge School also was awarded a Training Voucher for coming 2^nd in the Regional Points League 2015-2016

The school had a range of riders from Grass Roots rider Eve Marson (8yrs, Yr 4) to Senior Dressage Team riders present to collect the Award,  representing all those that have gained points in Regional Points accumulating competitions against other schools in the Eastern Region (Suffolk, Essex, Cambs, Norfolk). This is based on Team points won and includes Grass Roots through to Open classes.

A great team spirit existed across all the ages with everyone supporting each other.

Team members:-
James Brown riding iL Darco G –   2^nd Team Dressage , 7^th JwS Individual 1.10m
Rowena Wilson-Smith riding Autumn Gold – Team 80cms SJ
Lydia Sida-Page riding OK Mister – 2^nd Team Dressage
Tabitha Wilson-Smith riding Ruby Queen of Diamonds – 2^nd Team Dressage & Team 80cms SJFrancesca Aitchison riding Wix Spring Realm   – 2^nd Team Dressage, 8^th individual Dressage & Team 80cms SJ
Fleur Ludgrove riding Otter – Team 80cms JS
Ada Marson riding Rolly Rascal – 11^th JwS Individual 70cms

An article in the EADT on Thursday 20 October about Oliver Juszt who has been selected to play at the HiPAC after an impressive performance at a regional tournament.

Position: 3rd Place
The U16 Hockey team did themselves and the school very proud at the recent U16 County Cup. With the school not running an U16 team for regular fixtures during the term, the squad was made up of Y10s, usually playing for the U15A team and Y11s playing in either the 1^st or 2^nd senior teams. With only limited sessions to prepare as a team, the players were very focused to make sure they gelled, and had the key tactical and structural things right as a group.

The evening started on a high as the motivated team took on Framlingham College to won against their more favoured opponents. Woodbridge defended with all they had and made sure they built fast counterattacks, one of which stunned the opposition as the ball ended in the back of their goal. A big onslaught of attacks followed but the Woodbridge defence stood firm giving Woodbridge a 1-0 win!

The team could not quite get their concentration and efforts up to the same level for the next match against Ipswich School. Lack of experience, slow decision making and lapses in concentration resulted in Ipswich School having 3 uncontested attempts at goal and they made no mistake. Unfortunately these three moments decided a game in which otherwise Woodbridge wasn’t outplayed by any stretch.  But it is the score line that counts and Ipswich were deserved winners, 0-3.

Woodbridge started slowly against St Joseph’s but found their stride after about ten minutes. For the second half of the match it was all Woodbridge but we were just unable to score. The St Joseph’s goalkeeper managed to stop the final effort every time as Woodbridge did everything right apart from score. 0-0 was the final score.

The last match of the evening was against Ipswich High. Woodbridge spent much of this game in their own half, unable to build quality attacks reliably. As legs and minds fatigued, players opted to run with the ball rather than pass, resulting in too many turnovers of possession.  Issy Cory made key saves to keep Woodbridge in a match that by the final few minutes our girls were dominating. This last period of possession and sustained pressure on the Ipswich High D was however not enough and again the teams had to settle for a 0-0 draw.

Woodbridge thoroughly deserved their 3^rd place in this event and will look back thinking “perhaps we could have even gone one better”… But that is sport, and our girls were magnificent, and showed great sportsmanship on the night.

There were outstanding performances from a number of players:  Eleanor Berridge and Maud Peel in defence showed composure, speed and good decision making; Harriet Petley was influential in the midfield and was one of the outstanding players of all the teams; Maddie Craig ran miles on the night, winning the ball in the press and building attack after attack, using her speed to good effect; and Issy Cory played well in goal and made some telling saves.

Thanks to Sophie Little who was an excellent team manager and supporter for the evening..

Finished 3rd to secure qualification to County round

The first round of the ESAA Cross Country Competition was held at Farlingaye on Friday 7 October and we were lucky enough to have a full quota of runners for each age group.

The Inter boys were up first – a great race, where Nathan Goddard was in the lead (by quite a few metres) the whole way. The boys all ran superbly and finished with 37 points: Nathan Goddard 1^st, George Rufford 6^th, Alex Evans Lombe 13^th, Daniel Davies 17^th, Tom Harrington 20^th and Nathaniel Gunn 25^th.

Next up was the Junior girls. Unfortunately, we had an illness in the morning so we competed with 5 runners. The girls knew they had to work hard in order to gain a place in the next round so gave everything they had. They eventually ended up scoring 18 points: Bea Thomas 3^rd, Molly Marshall 4^th, Amy Goddard 5^th, Cecily Royal-Dawson 6^th and Anna Jackson 21^st.

Junior boys were next to compete and were all up for the challenge.  All 5 boys came in the top 10, scoring 16 points, which is phenomenal. Charlie Turner ran excellently and managed to fight for 1^st place against Kit Evans Lombe.

The last race of the day was the Inter girls. We were fortunate enough to have a full team –with Harriet Petley stepping in at the last minute and Sarah Barker fighting her way through illness, and the girls ran another superb race. Amy Graham held her own and gained 2^nd place, closely followed by Sarah Barker. The girls scored 23 points: Milly Buckingham 8^th, Sophie Graham 9^th, Victoria Burrows 12^th and Harriet Petley 33^rd.

Huge congratulations to all teams as all four qualified for the Regional finals on Saturday 12 November at Lincroft School, Bedford.

Every single runner should be extremely proud of their achievements – a number of them have worked so hard,  training throughout the summer. Again, a massive big thank you to Mr Goddard who without his help and support, these students would not be able to achieve what they do. Thank you to all the parents for their support too.

Score: Won 2-0

The girls first team set off early on Saturday morning to play Wymondham. The journey was well worth it as the team delivered an outstanding performance, outplaying their opponents for most of the game, winning 2-0.

Woodbridge started strong and soon had their first chance at goal when Laura Graham passed a ball across to India Lawson on the left side of the D. India’s first time effort went just wide with the goalie stranded. Soon after this another shot at goal resulted in Maddie Craig having a pin ball battle with the Wymondham goalkeeper, three sharp attempts at goal being well saved. The pressure was building but Woodbridge nearly got outdone by a quick counter attack when a player was unmarked in the D. Sophie Little made a telling save to deal with this situation and kept the score level. Shortly after Laura Graham and India Lawson were again influential in build-up play, feeding the ball to Victoria Williams, who made no mistake and slotted the deserved goal.

After half time Woodbridge continue to dominate and were patient in their play around the attacking D. A great team goal resulted with Alice McLeod-Scott, Georgia Harrold, Mollie Biddle and Laura Graham all being involved. Maddie Craig was the final piece of the puzzle and played the ball perfectly past the left foot of the goalie.

As time went on the pace of the game started to take its toll.  The team managed to get through this period, not allowing Wymondham to convert the chances they were now getting.

The final whistle went with Woodbridge 1st team deserving winners by two goals to nil.

Each player had a role to play and it was a complete team performance. Tildy Paul’s distribution out the back helped Woodbridge get pass the first line of defence time after time. Mollie Biddle was impressive at centre back, winning 50/50 balls and dominating the middle of the pitch. Georgina Warren played excellent and was well supported by Alice McLeod-Scott. Maddie Craig grew into her role in the team and worked tirelessly. But ultimately the player of the match award goes to India Lawson for great work in both attack and defence.