English Schools Swimming Association 23rd Team Championships for Primary Schools
Saturday 17 June
Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield
Maia Noonan, Sofia Knight, Monique James-Thomas, Skye Henshaw, Poppy Couzens
Alex Forty, Alex Bryans, Shayan Patel, Tom Isaac, Fintan Dowling
We arrived at the Ponds Forge Sports Centre in anticipation of an exciting result. The children were confident, focused and were well prepared, having worked hard for this moment throughout their school career. All of them rose to the occasion and were excellent ambassadors for The Blue Coat School, as we are continuing to reinforce the reputation built up over the years that the Blue Coat swim teams are a force to be reckoned with!
The boys swam well in both the medley and freestyle relays against strong competition; they missed out on the finals but gained valuable experience and showed true sportsmanship. The girls’ team were superior to the rest of the competitors, showing their best talents in both of the heats.
The Freestyle team obliterated the opposition in the heats, breaking the National record in a time of 57.82 seconds, then in the finals taking gold in another National record in a time of 57.18 seconds.
Congratulations to all of the children for this fantastic result!
MRS DENHAM, MRS BARROWCLIFT
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U11A Rounders v King’s Hawford (A)
Wednesday 14 June
Blue Coat 3 – 13 King’s Hawford
Most Valued Player: Monique James-Thomas
The weather held out for our last Year 6 rounders match. We started off quite promisingly, with some excellent fielding especially between Sofia, Amy and Monique and we got 3 King’s Hawford players out in a row. However, with below standard batting innings and bad fielding decisions being made, we most definitely lost the match for ourselves. This match would have been a lot more closely contested had we played how I know we can and how we have done on so many other occasions.
Scorers: Maya Ahmed (2), Maia Noonan (1)
MRS BENNETT
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U10A Rounders v Solihull (A)
Monday 19 June
Result: BCS 17 – 15.5 Solihull
Most Valued Player: SkyE Henshaw- excellent bowling and batting
A tale of two halves on a very hot afternoon. The girls started strong, quick to the ball and throwing accurately to the posts and restricted Solihull to only 1.5 rounders off 30 balls. We then went in to bat and continued to play well, looking for gaps in the field and running hard in between the posts to score 10.5 rounders and secure a strong lead at half time.
The second half was a completely different game: Blue Coat went to sleep in the heat! A few silly fielding mistakes gave the opposition confidence and Solihull stepped up and started hitting the ball all over the pitch. Fortunately the girls did just enough to hold on but I hope a lesson was learnt in focus and concentration as we almost let that game slip away.
Scorers: Poppy Couzens (4), Skye Henshaw (3), Prisyn Pagliuca.
MISS CREWS
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U10B Rounders v Solihull (A)
Monday 19 June
Blue Coat 10.5 – 6.5 Solihull
Most Valued Player: Isabella Piggott-Kwofie
In perfect weather for rounders we started our first match of a triangular by choosing to field. We made a few mistakes early on but settled into a good rhythm with great bowling from Shalu and good decisions from Melissa. We got them all out for 6.5 rounders. We went in to bat and we started off well, with Shalu scoring our first full rounder, closely followed by Isabella getting a half. We progressed steadily, getting to second with further half rounders scored by Amulya, Gabrielle, Sarab and Tilly. Further full rounders were scored from Shalu and then Melissa smashed the ball well out into the deep field and ran home comfortably. Not to be outdone, Gabrielle went for it on her second bat and not only did she get one full rounder, she got an extra half for obstruction. We played well as a team, learning from our mistakes and wanting to do our best. I was so impressed girls!
Scorers: Shalu Arun (2.5), Tilly Richardson (2)
MRS BENNETT
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U10C Rounders v Solihull (A)
Monday 19 June
Result: Solihull 5 – 9.5 Blue Coat
Most Valued Player: Emily Bongs – for maintaining a good line when bowling.
This was a single innings match on a very hot and sunny afternoon. Blue Coat batted first, with May Hadley scoring the first half rounder. Kiran boldly took a chance but didn’t quite make it to second post in time. When it came to fielding, the girls showed good communication and Maya showed quick decision-making when having to decide whether to throw to 2nd or 4th. Pia was kept busy in back stop, preventing the ball from rolling down a bank.
Scorers: Alayna (1.5) Maya (1) Indira (1)
MISS GREEN
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U10A Cricket v Solihull (A)
Monday 19 June
Result: Blue Coat won by 7 runs
Most Valued Player: Samah Peerbux for excellent bowling.
The U10A team recorded a fine victory against Solihull courtesy of a fine bowling performance. Batting first, Blue Coat managed to reach 91 off its allotted 20 overs, mainly due to the number of extras conceded by Solihull. Too many of the batsmen did not value their wicket and were bowled, swinging across the line. It took a good stand between Samah and Shiva to help reach 91. The bowling was a different story! Everybody bowled with good accuracy and, if truth be told, had we managed to catch their opening bat early, we would have won the game more easily. Thankfully Kairav Singh bowled with 3 overs to go and we managed to close out the game for a deserved victory. The lesson from the match should be to learn to value your wicket as you only get one chance!
MR PROTHEROUGH
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U10B Cricket v Solihull (A)
Monday 19 June
Solihull 274-4, Blue Coat 244-8
Most Valued Player: Hector Crow-Marcetic captained the side maturely and started our batting innings with positivity
A perfect setting at Solihull, playing matches besides each other with our C team. Blue Coat held Solihull to 212 from the first 5 overs with better performances with the ball. Four boys managed to take a wicket apiece, but some brutal hitting through the leg side got Solihull to 274. Blue Coat started the innings brightly after the first pair leaving us at 218. However wickets tumbled, with Blue Coat not able to find the gaps in the field.
MR HARRISON
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U10C Cricket v Solihull (A)
Monday 19 June
Blue Coat 200 – 3, Solihull 207 – 2
Most Valued Players: Ansh Agrawal fielded exceptionally well; Peter Tomlinson punished the leg side deliveries with runs.
Solihull batted first and were scoring at a run a ball. Blue Coat managed to take a couple of wickets mid innings to check their innings before they accelerated to 207 off their allotted overs. In reply, Blue Coat equally scored at a run a ball and were heading towards victory but 3 late wickets proved costly. Blue Coat required 12 off the final over and scored 5 runs off the first 3 balls but the Solihull bowler reponded well to finish with 3 dot balls and ensure a Solihull victory by 7 runs.
MR DAVIES
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U9A Cricket v Eversfield (H)
Tuesday 17 June
Result: BCS 239 – 304 Eversfield
Most Valued Player: Dhruv Susarla
The U9A’s came up against a very strong Eversfield side and were resoundingly beaten on Tuesday. The positives from the game were the performance with bat and ball of Dhruv, Faaris and Luke Dolan, who all showed some game understanding and concentration, alongside reasonable batting and bowling skills.
MR PROTHEROUGH
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U9B Cricket v Eversfield
Tuesday 20 June
Result: Eversfield: 228-5, BCS: 236-5. Blue Coat won by 8 runs
Most Valued Player: Ay Ogunlola for his brilliant bowling – 2 overs, no runs and 2 wickets.
Blue Coat won the toss and decided to field. They put Eversfield in to bat and kept the score low with some great bowling early on. The catching was brilliant, with Ehsan, Charlie and Oli all taking catches. The pick of the bowlers were Ehsan and Ay who bowled four overs and didn’t concede a run. Straight bowling limited Eversfield to 228. In reply Blue Coat seemed to be cruising, with Oli scoring a couple of well struck fours until some late wickets created a little panic. Jake and Arya batted well to keep their wicket at the end and Blue Coat were victorious by 8 runs.
Scorer: Oli Smith top scored with 9
MR WURR
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U9A Rounders v King’s Hawford (H)
Tuesday 20 June
Result: BCS 10.5 -11.5 King’s Hawford
Most Valued Player: Storm Henshaw- excellent batting and fielding, one huge hit!
A very tight, exciting game of rounders. Blue Coat knew it was going to be a tough game as we were facing the recent tournament winners.The girls won the toss and chose to field. Blue Coat were quick to the ball and cut out a lot of possible half rounders, throwing accurately to the post. We then went in to bat and hit well but made a few errors, either being too cautious or too risky, which cost us a few vital scores.
In the second inning we learnt from our mistakes, came out fighting and won the second inning by one rounder. Unfortunately it was not quite enough, but it was a great match and the girls know they can beat them next time!
Scorer: Storm Henshaw (2.5), Ojal Rao (2), Joanne Bobin (2)
MISS CREWS
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U9B Rounders v Kings Hawford (H)
Tuesday 20 June
Blue Coat 14.5 -11.5 Kings Hawford
Most Valued Players: Lily Cunney – Excellent batting and bowling and Mahshami Ahmed – strong batting.
An excellent game of rounders and a good win for Blue Coat. The girls batted and fielded well and are starting to make the right decisions in the field to stop the half rounders.
Scorers: Chloe Liew (3) Enya Yu (2.5) Mahshami Ahmed (2), Lauren Claridge (2)
MISS CREWS
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U11B Rounders v King’s Hawford (A)
Wednesday 14 June
Blue Coat 15.5 – 9.5 King’s Hawford
Most Valued Player: Lazara Do – good batting and excellent fielding
A win and a great way to end the season. The girls started sharp, fielding tight and cutting out half rounders. They then went in to bat and took their opportunities to score, running hard and putting pressure on the fielders. They continued to apply the pressure in the second innings and gained a comfortable win!
Well done, girls
Scorers: Lazaro Do (3), Emmie McLaughlan (2), Stephanie Otite (2)
MISS CREWS
U11D v Wolverhampton Grammar Junior School (A)
Wednesday 21st June
Blue Coat 221 – 263 WGJS
Most Valued Player: Ryan Raeiszadeh for some excellent pull shots
The U11D team took on a well-drilled Wolverhampton side and acquitted themselves very well, demonstrating some good batting, with Ryan Raeiszadeh playing some excellent pull shots. All the players managed to bowl quite well, with Cody George being the pick of the bowlers. I was also really pleased with the running between the wickets, especially Kibria Awais and Cody George. Whilst the game was lost, the players enjoyed representing the school in a competitive fixture.
MR PROTHEROUGH
