Category: Sport

The weather did not affect the level of netball played as the U16 A team strode to victory against the St Joseph’s sixth form team. Excellent defending from Nancy King, who proved to be a wall against the St Joseph’s attack, and also Mia King for stepping up and considerably adding the team’s defence, proved crucial. Georgina Warren, Lucy Frank and Emma Harrington once again dominated the centre court, eliminating the St Joseph’s defence. Team work, precision of movement and ball placement, along with the superb shooting of Millie Leith and Chloe Neall, led Woodbridge to come away with a comfortable win of 19-10.

Despite an afternoon of tiring exams, the U16 A team were not fazed by the strong Kesgrave side. Nancy King and Jemima Potter united to form a solid defence whilst intercepting nearly every pass and turning over the play on a number of occasions. Lucy Frank and Emma Harrington also were a vital part of both the defensive work and in the centre, bringing the ball smoothly down the court. Millie Leith and Chloe Neall secured our win with excellent shooting in a nail-biting finish. Overall there was a high work rate, despite some over-ambitious throws, and we came away with a thoroughly deserved win.

The U15A netball team finished their season with an exciting tournament held at Woodbridge. Early games saw the girls win 22-2 against East Bergholt, 7-1 Ipswich School, 13-9 RHS and one loss against Ipswich High 7-11. With Ipswich High losing a game against RHS it meant that Woodbridge in their last game needed to score 22 goals to win the tournament. Despite 11 scored in the first 6 minute half they only scored another five in the second half. So they finished as runners up with a goal average of 13 while Ipswich High had an average of 14. All nine squad members played really well and have increased their goals scored this season to 221! Shooters Maddie Felton, Katy Garnett and Jemima Hill have been brilliant. Captain Chloe Outen has been continually outstanding, with defensive players Eleanor Berridge, Louise Farthing, Mia King and Mollie Biddle always working hard to break down the play of the opposition. Georgia Harrold and Flora Johnson have helped to feed the ball into the circle. A good team effort from a super set of girls – well done!

Reports by Katherine Bye
The U14A had a tense match against St Joseph’s College. At the start of the first quarter we picked up the pace and scored 6 goals in quick succession, putting us into the lead. However, St Joseph’s started fighting back and we finished the first quarter 7-4 to us. During the second quarter St Joseph’s scored 8 goals and Woodbridge scored 5. We held our nerve and great delaying down the court prevented them from going ahead and we held them level at 12-12. Holding our heads up high we went into the third quarter determined to take a strong lead. Great movement in the centre and goal third meant the ball travelled quickly down the court allowing us to increase our score, while good defensive interceptions prevented St Joseph’s from scoring many goals. At the end of the third quarter the score was 19-14. In the final quarter, we were determined to finish off the last league match of the season with a strong win. We worked well together as a team and with great play by all, we ended the tough match 28-20 to us.

Woodbridge School had a record five pupils, all from Year 9, represent Suffolk at England Schools National Cross Country Championship on Saturday 5 March in Nottingham. 44 counties each sent their best 8 athletes, so over 350 of the fastest children in England were competing in each race. The races are so competitive that there are often a half-dozen athletes crossing the line in a single second. The setting was perfect: cold but sunny conditions on an undulating but not too muddy course.

Suffolk finished 16th in the Junior Boys and 20th in the Junior Girls. Nathan Goddard finished an amazing 25th with George Rufford 260th in the Junior Boys, while Sarah Barker finished 88th, Amy Graham 192nd and Millie Buckingham 297th in the Junior Girls.

There are just two cross country fixtures left for this winter, the Inter Counties in Birmingham on Saturday 12 March and the East Anglian Prep Schools Cross Country Championships which Woodbridge School is hosting on Sunday 20 March. Please come and support your school as defending champions at this final event!

Nathan Goddard reports:

On Saturday, 5 February, eleven pupils from Woodbridge School made their way to Boston Lincolnshire, where in wet and windy conditions, they would compete in the East Anglian Cross Country Championships.

The first race of the day was the Minor Girls. Bea Thomas finished eighteenth, Isabelle Eaton twenty-fourth and Amy Goddard forty-fourth helping Suffolk to a team victory.

The following race was the Minor Boys where Kit Evans Lombe finished joint third, the School’s best result of the day, Henry Dinwiddy finished seventh, Charlie Turner twenty-third and Will Franklin twenty-sixth aiding Suffolk to another first place.

Junior Girls came after that race with Sarah Barker finishing in tenth place, Millie Buckingham thirty-second and Amy Graham thirty-fourth.

The final race with Woodbridge School interest was the Junior Boys. In this race Nathan Goddard finished fifth and George Rufford nineteenth. In both the Junior Boys and Girls, Suffolk achieved second place in the team competition. Through all the different races Suffolk managed a narrow team victory.

On Saturday, 5 March, Nathan Goddard, George Rufford, Sarah Barker, Milly Buckingham and Amy Graham have all been selected to compete for Suffolk at Nottingham in the ESAA Cross Country Championships.

Seb Gifford reports:

A positive start as we went 1-0 up in the first minute, a great goal scored by Charles Tetley. However, Ipswich came back to equalise 1-1.

Great team work enabled Mauricio Corfe to score a great goal, making it 2-1 to us at half-time. After a positive team talk with Mr Rais, Charles Tetley scored again, to make it 3-1 to us. Ipswich fought back and scored a goal from a short corner, but we were still 3-2 up! All the action was then down our end, with our defenders all working extremely hard. In the last minute we conceded a goal from a short corner which made it 3-3.

A great game of hockey, but we could work on being stronger with our sticks!

Reports by Verity Hobday

With great team spirit and great play we won the first quarter 8:4. With a four point difference we carried on determined to win the match. With some brilliant play we continuously got the ball down to our shooters and with excellent shooting from Libby Martin we won the second quarter 15:7. With some superb defending we only conceded five goals and with some more accurate and good passes from our attackers we scored another five goals. The score in the third quarter was 20:12 to us. With the final quarter to go we continued to play brilliantly. With some more great defence we only conceded four more goals. And with lots of great play from our attackers we managed to score four more goals, winning the match 24:16.

The U14As started the match against Northgate with a strong first quarter. Many great shots and good passing down the court allowed us to finish the first quarter with a solid lead against Northgate 9-2. Great defending by all players in the second quarter stopped them from getting any goals, while allowing us to continue increasing our lead scoring 9 more goals. With a change around of positions and a reminder to stay in the channels we scored 4 more goals but they also came back fighting and scored 3 goals. We left the third quarter still out in front scoring 22-5. Going into the last quarter we were determined to play even better and we scored another 12 goals. Great delaying in the middle third and defending in the goal third meant Northgate only scored 1 goal. We finished the game with a score of 34-6.

The U12B team played a close match against a very tall RHS team. With a 4-4 score at quarter time and 5-5 at half time the two teams looked to be locked. Woodbridge then started to find the way into the attacking circle and was able to get closer to the net, winning the next quarter 7-5. Good linking play from captain Ruby Cole and Cecily Royal- Dawson at mid court helped the team to move up court effectively. Nina Varadarajan and Katie Bellhouse did well in defence and kept the RHS shooters at bay. The final quarter saw the lead increase and a win of 9-6 was the end score.