Category: Sport
30 Woodbridge School athletes took part in the third and final round of the Suffolk Schools Cross Country trials, which was hosted in School last week. Read more about the event, the runners and the full results in our report from running coach Mark Goddard.
Mark Goddard’s Report
On Thursday 12 January Woodbridge School were proud hosts of the final Suffolk Schools Cross Country trial for this winter. Following this third and final trial, Suffolk Schools will announce teams of 16 in each age group to compete at Anglian Schools in Northamptonshire on Saturday 4 February.
After the February race, and including those race results, Suffolk Schools will announce reduced teams of eight (only for Juniors, Inters and Seniors – Year 8 and above) to compete at English Schools in Nottingham in March.
A very successful day for Woodbridge School athletes with around 30 having qualified to compete on their home course, with four winning individual medals and hopefully some 20 in contention for selection to be announced later this week.
Well done to every athlete and good luck to those racing at Anglian Schools.
Medal winners:
- Gold – Henry (Year 12)
- Silver – Amy (Year 13)
- Silver – Dexter (Year 6)
- Bronze – Otis (Year 6)
Minor Girls (Year 6 and 7)
- 4th India J (Year 6)
- 5th Ella (Year 6)
- 9th Grace (Year 7)
- 10th Marina (Year 7)
- 11th Alexandra (Year 6)
- 21st Eirann (Year 7)
- 45th India B (Year 6)
- 47th Charlie (Year 7)
Minor Boys (Year 6 and 7)
- 2nd Dexter (Year 6)
- 3rd Otis (Year 6)
- 4th Alfie (Year 6)
- 5th Charlie (Year 6)
- 6th Ollie (Year 6)
- 7th Digby (Year 7)
- 19th Oscar (Year 7)
- 21st Alfie (Year 6)
- 44th Jacob (Year 7)
Junior Girls (Year 8 and 9)
- 4th Romilly (Year 8)
- 20th Felicity (Year 8)
- 31st Eloise (Year 9)
Junior Boys (Year 8 and 9)
- 12th Jasper (Year 9)
Inter Girls (Year 10 and 11)
- 4th Phoebe (Year 10)
- 14th Poppy (Year 10)
- 15th Ellen (Year 11)
- 21st Rose (Year 10)
- 28th Georgia (Year 10)
Inter Boys (Year 10 and 11)
- 18th Bruce (Year 11)
Senior Girls (Year 12 and 13)
- 2nd Amy (Year 13)
- 7th Isobel (Year 12)
Senior Boys (Year 12 and 13)
- 1st Henry (Year 12)
Last weekend saw 21 of our cross country athletes compete at the annual county cross country championships.
Our busiest time of year, and for some this is the first of five races in less than a month.
The county championship is a one-off event leading to selection for UK Inter Counties in March, which in turn at senior level leads to selection for the World Cross Country Championships.
County Champs also includes an introduction to cross country at U11, even though they do not progress to the UK event. The boys U11 race was something to behold, with Woodbridge School athletes filling six of the top seven places. A special moment for all those in attendance!
Across the races Woodbridge School athletes won nine individual medals and special mention must be made of the U13 Girls who took a medal clean sweep. In doing so the girls took the team prize beating all of the Suffolk athletics clubs.
Full results below.
Medal winners:
- U11G – India (Year 6) – Bronze
- U11B – Dexter (Year 6) – Silver
- U11B – Otis (Year 6) – Bronze
- U13G – Romilly (Year 8) – Gold
- U13G – Felicity (Year 8) – Silver
- U13G – Alice (Year 7) – Bronze
- U17W – Isobel (Year 12) – Bronze
- U17M – Henry (Year 12) – Silver (Henry raced Essex Champs on the Saturday and was second by just four seconds, behind the individual that took bronze at the UK Inter Counties in 2022)
- U20W – Amy (Year 13) – Gold
Equally excellent results from:
- U11G – Ella (Year 6) – 5th
- U11G – Alexandra (Year 6) – 6th
- U11G – Imogen (Year 6) – 10th
- U11B – Alfie R (Year 6) – 4th
- U11B – Oliver (Year 6) – 5th
- U11B – Charlie (Year 6) – 6th
- U11B – Alfie P (Year 6) – 7th
- U13G – Grace (Year 7) – 15th
- U13G – Marina (Year 7) – 17th
- U13B – Digby (Year 7) – Unfortunately Digby twisted his knee mid-race and had to withdraw
- U15G – Phoebe (Year 10) – 10th
- U15B – Angus (Year 10) – 6th
Congratulations to every athlete and well done to Romilly, Felicity, Alice, Angus, Isobel and Amy who are all selected to represent Suffolk at the UK Inter Counties in Loughborough on Saturday 11 March 2023, Henry will be representing Essex.
Departing from School on the last day of term, students from Years 11 to 13 travelled on their ski trip to Claviere in Italy over the Christmas break from 16 to 23 December.
Arriving early morning at their hotel, students were greeted by perfect conditions following significant snowfall the day before, everyone was excited to get their skis on. The hotel was in a ski-in, ski-out resort, with lifts literally minutes away, this coupled with bluebird conditions as well as being on the French border, students were able to ski every day from Italy into Montgenèvre, France, a much larger and more varied ski area.
Developing their skills amazingly quickly, even the beginner group were able to ski down red runs by their second day. Improving technique combined with near-perfect conditions and superb instructors, students were soon confidently zipping around the beautiful mountains having an amazing time.
The evenings offered students the chance not only to sample the local cuisine – eating pizza in an authentic Italian pizzeria proved to be a particularly favourite – but to take part in a range of activities together. From visiting a French Christmas market with its amusements and entertainment and watching the World Cup final in France in Briançon, to bumboarding and drinking hot chocolates at the Olympic ski resort in Sestriere.
So much fun was had by all, it was everything the students had hoped it would be – and more! Special thanks must go to the staff, particularly Miss Hinton, for taking the time to ensure students enjoyed a memorable trip to Claviere.
Eight Woodbridge School Cross Country athletes travelled to Oxford last Saturday for their final race of the 2022 calendar at the South of England Inter County Cross Country. Selected to represent Suffolk, our athletes competed at the event, a county event only surpassed in competitive terms by the UK Inter Counties in March.
A great experience for all young athletes, congratulations go to everyone who took part.
U13 Girls: Year 8’s Romilly, 20th place
U13 Girls: Year 7’s Alice, 75th place
U13 Girls: Year 8’s Sophie, 89th place
Suffolk team came in 9th place.
U13 Boys: Year 7’s Digby, 77th place
Suffolk team came in 12th place.
U15 Girls: Year 10’s Phoebe, 70th place
U15 Girls: Year 9’s Charlie, 75th place
Suffolk team came in 3rd place.
U15 Boys: Year 10’s Angus, 30th place
Suffolk team came in 5th place
U17 Women: Year 12’s Isobel, 60th place
Suffolk team came in 11th place
Wishing all our athletes a very well-deserved racing break over the festive season ahead of an action packed January!
Woodbridge School Senior Girls cross country team were in Leeds last weekend, to race at the National Final of the English Schools Cross Country Cup. This was the sixth year is succession that one or more Woodbridge School teams had qualified for the nationals, with only 27 secondary schools across the nation qualifying to compete in each age group. The girls raced as an incredible unit to exceed expectation and finish in 9th place. Only the second time one of our girls’ teams have finished in the top 10.
Congratulations to our athletes:
Year 13’s Amy – 26th – her best cup final result in her final school year!
Year 12’s Isobel – 45th – a tough competitor and team athlete at every event!
Year 11’s Eloise – 51st – a brilliant finish to storm through the field!
Year 11’s Ellen – 84th – quite some performance for her first ever season!
Year 11’s Phoebe – 108th – played a major role in the Regionals to make sure the team qualified for this event!
Next stop is the South of England Inter County Cross Country on Saturday 10 December, the final race for the calendar this year.
There’s plenty of news for Cross Country this week, with the second Suffolk Schools Cross Country trial having taken place, as well as confirmation of students being selected to represent Suffolk at the South of England Inter County Cross Country.
Suffolk School’s Cross Country trial
Last Saturday students set off to Ipswich High School to compete in the second Suffolk Schools Cross Country trial, where there were unprecedented results, achievements and medals.
Following the first trial in October just the top 100 athletes in each age group, from around 80 schools, were invited to compete at this trial.
The talk of the day had to be our Minor Girls team (Years 6 and 7) where Woodbridge School athletes had seven of the top 14 places, something that’s absolutely unprecedented! To give this performance some context, 16 athletes will represent Suffolk Schools at Anglian Schools in February, so we have potential as a single school to fill almost half the county team.
We should also celebrate our individual medalists on the day, it’s never easy at this level:
Minor Girls – Alice (Year 7) – Gold
Senior Girls – Amy (Year 13) – Gold
Inter Girls – Phoebe (Year 10) – Bronze
With just one trial remaining, which Woodbridge School will host on Thursday 12 January (parents very welcome to spectate, our first race starts at 11.00am), we still have around 20 athletes in contention for Suffolk Schools selection (across the age groups) to compete at Anglian Schools in February, with just under half (and age groups Junior and above) still in contention to compete at English Schools in Nottingham in March.
Below we have the full list of athletes in the top 20 on Saturday:
Minor Girls:
1 – Alice (Year 7)
5 – Grace (Year 7)
6 – India J (Year 6)
7 – Marina (Year 7)
10 – Ella (Year 6)
11 – India B (Year 6)
14 – Alexandra (Year 6)
Minor Boys:
9 – Digby (Year 7)
Junior Girls:
6 – Charlie (Year 9)
9 – Felicity (Year 8)
Inter Girls:
3 – Phoebe (Year 10)
8 – Ellen (Year 11)
9 – Rose (Year 10)
16 – Poppy (Year 10)
Inter Boys:
5 – Angus (Year 10)
17 – Bruce (Year 11)
Senior Girls:
1 – Amy (Year 13)
4 – Isobel (Year 12)
Huge well done to Year 7’s Amelie, Charlotte, Eirann, Oscar and Jacob, to Year 8’s Sophie, Year 9’s Eloise and to Year 10’s Georgia, Lyra and Lilianna and Year 11’s Oscar, who competed on the day, not achieving a top 20 place, but doing incredibly well.
Congratulations to every athlete that took part, and thank you to staff and parents for their support on the day!
South Inter Country Cross Country
Congratulations to the following Woodbridge School athletes who have been selected to represent Suffolk (county rather than schools) at the South of England Inter County Cross Country in Oxford on Saturday 10 December:
U13G – Year 7’s Alice and Year 8’s Felicity, Romilly and Sophie
U15G – Year 9’s Charlie and Year 10’s Phoebe
U17G – Year 12’s Isobel
U20W – Year 13’s Amy
U13B – Year 7’s Digby
U15B – Year 10’s Angus
Congratulations to all and we wish them the very best of luck at the Southerns!
Huge congratulations to our U14 and U16 netballers who qualified for the regional finals of the National Schools Competition over the weekend. Fantastic play saw our U14s win all their games, beating Ipswich School, Framlingham College, Culford, Ipswich High School, Finborough and Stowmarket, resulting in gaining first place, scoring 51 goals with 17 against. The U16s won against Framlingham College, Culford, Ipswich High, Benjamin Britten, Stowmarket and Finborough, but narrowly lost one game against Ipswich School, resulting in second place and scoring 79 goals with 34 against. Both teams will go on to represent Suffolk in the regional round of the National Schools Competition on 28 January at The Stanborough School, Welwyn Garden City. The girls should be proud of their achievement as Woodbridge was the only school in Suffolk to get two teams through to the regional finals. Amazing work and thoroughly deserved – well done! Massive thanks to everyone who supported the players from the sidelines, you were all amazing too!
U14 Team: Year 9’s Charlie, Eloise, Millie, Lyrah, Bea M, Scarlett, Lily M, Year 8’s Izzy, Georgia C and Amelie.
U16 Team: Year 11’s Charlotte C, Charlotte H, Georgie, Florence, Sklya, Marina, Year 10’s Juno, Lara and Georgia P.
Last Friday, 11 November 2022, a one-day workshop presented by The Well HQ, called Sport In Her Shoes, took place in School. The event was aimed at supporting girls, boys and teachers in understanding and being able to talk about and discuss the female body, how it works and how to approach challenges so that girls can continue to participate in sport and physical activity at all times.
In partnership with Best of Suffolk, The Well HQ co-founders Dr Emma Ross, Dr Bella Smith and Baz Moffat presented different workshops throughout the day. Dr Emma Ross is a female athlete health specialist and former Head of Physiology at The English Institute of Sport who was also the lead for the SmartHER project within the UK High Performance System from 2016 to 2020. Dr Bella Smith is a GP in Woodbridge and specialist in women’s health. Baz Moffatt is a former GB rower and now a women’s health coach with expertise in pelvic health.
The day began with a whole School introduction to girls, boys and staff, followed by different workshops relevant to different Year groups. The introduction delivered by Dr Emma Ross, focused on specific differences in the male and female body and physiology with some great examples of common misconceptions as well as assumptions in sport as well as other parts of life. For example, the fact that crash test dummies for car design are based on a male physique therefore do not represent female drivers which clearly has implications for safety. More recently the introduction of PPE during the Covid pandemic saw female healthcare workers struggling with face masks as the design was based on a man’s face. A world primarily designed for men has massive implications, and the examples here are just the tip of the iceberg; females not being able to rise to the level of their goals because a system doesn’t support them is just not acceptable and so the day began with the students’ minds focused on the need for consideration and change.
Throughout the rest of the day, a number of Year group specific workshops took place, providing information and an opportunity for discussions on subjects including: the menstrual cycle, the power of female centric nutrition, breasts, bras, pelvic floor, injury and concussion, coaching girls and the female mindset. Speakers also discussed the social-political context of gender gaps inherent in the world of sport, exercise and physical activity.
The biggest aim of the day was to reduce embarrassment, increase education and encourage more support and conversations on matters that affect girls and women every day. Confirming that girls should not be held back by their female physiology, the day explored misconceptions, confirmed facts and provided advice and support for girls and boys at Woodbridge. From learning that you can gain a mile over a marathon by wearing the correct sports bra to understanding the impact of the menstrual cycle and products designed to reduce the impact on your sporting life, it was a captivating and informative day for everyone.
Comments from students about this particular part of the day included, “It was just so interesting. I play regional and county netball so everything was relatable, for example I just attended the breasts and bra seminar and I had no idea I should be wearing a sports bra!” as well as, “It was intriguing and interesting, really eye opening and inspiring – I hadn’t realise the damage you could do by not wearing a sports bra, and the improvement it could make to your sporting performance.”
One of our Year 11 students said they had thoroughly enjoyed the day, commenting, “It was so engaging! The idea of fitting sport around women rather than the other way around made so much sense. And it was so important that boys were part of the conversation because after all, they’re going to have consider these issues and challenges in their future lives – here at School and beyond in their working life.”
Dr Bella Smith commented on the day saying, “We know how beneficial exercise is, both physically and mentally, so for girls to be held back by their own physiology and hormones is crushing. What we’ve been teaching and talking about today is what I like to call ‘body literacy’; no one knows and understands their body better than you – you are the expert. And so by understanding what’s going on, what support there is available and being able to talk about it without feeling ashamed or embarrassed, means we can understand ourselves and each other more and make improvements that benefit everyone.”
Summarising the event, Ralph Pruden, Head of Sport, Fitness and Health at Woodbridge School said, “We have to make sure that girls have the same opportunities in sport as boys, and that means providing support to enable them to continue to play sport at all times. Today has been incredible, the School has been filled with conversations from the workshops and there’s been a real sense of comfort around the subjects they’re talking about – which is exactly as it should be. I’ve been impressed by the students’ approach to the subjects discussed.”
With research1 showing that 64% of girls drop out of physical activity and/or sport during puberty, it’s vital this subject is approached, understood and communicated to everyone, and Woodbridge School was delighted to host the event. Having hosted a meeting with parents ahead of the event, and inviting staff to participate and join in the seminars on the day, every possible step was taken to support the development of understanding and to facilitate and inform conversations.
On Saturday 12 November, five of our cross country teams competed at the Regionals of the English Schools Cross Country Cup. Our region includes the might of Essex, one of the largest and strongest running counties in the country.
There were some great individual performances with three of our athletes recording top ten finishes:
Romilly (Year 8) 5th in the Junior Girls
Angus (Year 10) 6th in the Inter Boys
Amy (Year 13) 6th in the Senior Girls
Our overall team results were as follows:
Junior Girls – 6th
Junior Boys – 11th
Inter Girls – 5th
Inter Boys – 10th
Senior Girls – 3rd
The highlight of the day was the final race where our Senior Girls team finished 3rd and in doing so qualified for the National Finals, due to be held in Leeds on Saturday 3 December 2022.
A fantastic effort and achievement from Year 13’s Amy, Year 12’s Isobel and from Year 11’s Eloise, Ellen and Phoebe.
Amy has been in a qualifying team for Nationals every year of her senior school career, setting her own individual piece of Woodbridge School history! (This ignores 2020 of course, where the event was cancelled due to Covid).
Congratulations to every athlete, thank you to parents and staff for their support, and the very best of luck to the Senior Girls!
During half term, 44 students and four members of staff embarked on the first overseas sports tour for a number of years – the Paris Rugby tour. Setting off in the early hours and making progress through the tunnel and to Paris for their first stop at the Eiffel Tower, the students had the opportunity to walk around the surrounding area, getting the coach travel out of their system.
With the hotel located just outside the Disneyland complex, it was perfect for the School party, allowing unlimited buffet breakfasts and evening meals; for those with adolescent boys this was clearly fantastic news as it guaranteed that the boys were fed and watered well every day.
The tour saw the group visit the Montparnasse Tower with views over Paris, unfortunately the low cloud obstructed some of the more famous landmarks, but being 250 metres above the Paris Skyline was thrilling. The Stade De France was an excellent tour, giving students the chance to sit in the changing rooms and run out onto the pitch as their idols have, and as they have seen on TV. A river boat cruise along the River Seine provided an opportunity for everyone to relax and enjoy the views around Paris in the sunshine; from the Eiffel Tower to the Notre Dame cathedral and the Statue of Liberty.
Whilst the emphasis of the tour was about having fun and enjoying each other’s company, the tour was also about playing rugby, and both teams (U14 and U16) played two matches whilst on tour.
Unfortunately the French opposition was a little strong on each occasion, however the games were very competitive and enabled the students to play on some excellent surfaces at two great venues against two clubs who hosted the boys exceptionally well.
The players of the tour were:
U14 – Year 8’s Isaac, Ollie and Liam, and Year 9’s Angus
U16 – Year 11’s Tolly, Oscar and Year 10’s Archie
Tourist of the week – Year 9’s Oliver for all his help, talk and classic one-liners throughout the week.
Thank you to all that came on the tour and we look forward to the next one soon.
