News and Social Media

Sports Roundup: March 2023
9th March 2023

Sports Scholars Programme

On Friday, our Sports Scholars attended a workshop as part of our Sports Scholarship workshop series, where staff and external guests help develop our Scholars’ toolkit of strategies to maximise their performance and progress.

Led by Sarah Carvell (Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at the University of Gloucestershire), the workshop focussed on understanding pressure, and how to embrace it and thrive within it.

Lacrosse

Sherborne School hosted the South West Regional Lacrosse Tournament on Saturday. The U13, U14 and U15 lacrosse teams all advanced to the later stages of the tournament, with the U13s making the quarter final of the Championship Group, the U14s making a semi-final and the U15s taking home the victory in the Plate Final for their age group. Well done all!

15 CLC students in the U15 lacrosse team pose with their lacrosse sticksAbove: U15 lacrosse team

The senior lacrosse squad attended the Charlie Waller Trust Invitational Lacrosse Tournament at Marlborough College. All proceeds from the tournament support mental health programmes for young people in schools and universities. 

The U16s secured two wins in their section, while the 1sts and 2nds had tournament experience against a variety of opponents. There were close games across the board with a number of brilliant moments that showcased the individual ability and incredible team play these young women can produce under pressure.

LC3 (Year 9) student Charlotte represented a U19 Scotland team at a tournament this weekend as part of the squad’s preparation for the Home Internationals in April. She contributed positively to the team’s performance throughout the weekend. We all wish her well in her forthcoming opportunities to play representational lacrosse.

It is wonderful to see a number of lacrosse players involved in performance opportunities outside of school over Half Term. Several players attended England Lacrosse Talent Pathway Regional Academies to expand their knowledge of the game and pursue personal development in their sport.  Congratulations to Gabby, Bibi and Arabella (all UC4 / Year 10); Tessa, Emma, Emi (all UC5 / Year 11); Zara, SFC1 (Year 12) and Antonia (SFC2 / Year 13) for their efforts. 

Netball

CLC hosted the local Cheltenham and District Netball tournaments over the last two weeks.

The U12 netball team were unbeaten all afternoon and excitedly took their first trophy of the season in the tournament against 12 local schools. They showed great sportsmanship, resilience and learned how to manage a tournament environment. A great team effort – well done to all!

The U12 netball players celebrate with their hands in the air, with a player in the middle holding the award.Above: U12 netball team

Football

It was wonderful to have students representing College at the Cheltenham District Football tournament. They demonstrated excellent resilience and determination, and enjoyed the experience of playing teams from other local schools.

12 CLC football players pose for photo in front of the goal wearing green striped uniform.Friday evening saw Houses competing in the annual Junior House Football competition. It was brilliant to see so many pupils out playing and demonstrating great teamwork, humour and positive support and commitment. Congratulations to St Margaret’s for winning this year’s competition.

Rowing 

Just before Half Term, the Junior and Senior House Rowing Competition was held at the Health and Fitness Centre. With a relay format, each team had to complete 2,000m (Junior) or 3,000m (Senior) between them. 

The standard of play and effort levels of the teams were great, as was the level of noise and encouragement! 

The winners of the Junior event were Glenlee followed by St Margaret’s and Farnley. Glenlee also won the hotly contested senior event, with Glengar in second place and St Helen’s placed third. 

Fencing

Both Honor and Antonia (both LC3 / Year 9) qualified for the British Youth Championships. Honor had a hard-fought direct elimination fight to make it to the last eight and qualify. Antonia took the gold medal with a tight final.

Polo

On Sunday, Lucy (SFC2 / Year 13) and Bel (UC5 / Year 11) represented College at the Schools and Universities Polo Association competition in Rugby. It is the first College team to play polo for a number of years. It was fantastic to see them succeed across all three matches against Marlborough, Harrow and Cheltenham College. 

The team won their division and will hopefully inspire future polo players, with another competition due in April and possibly more to come after that.

Rowing 

On Saturday, two CLC crews raced at Avon County Spring Head. In an event which contained three divisions and over 250 crews, our rowers coped well with rigging boats, getting afloat, warming up and racing the 1,500m back down the river. 

Cheered on by CLC parents, both the UC4 (Year 10) coxed quad and the UC5 (Year 11) double performed excellently to complete their first race in competitive times.

National Squash Competition

The U18 National Schools Stage 2 event against Wycliffe College and Balcarras School took place on Tuesday 14th February. Our students had some very competitive matches with some excellent play demonstrated. They will be soon be competing at the finals on 17th March. Well done to everyone involved! 

Skiing

It was fantastic to see 2022 Leaver Alexandra Hewett enjoy success at the English Championships in Bormio, Italy, claiming first place in the U21 GBR Giant Slalom and third place in the Slalom. 

Meanwhile, there was more success for Alice (LC2 / Year 8) who finished third in the U14 Giant Slalom and took first place in the Slalom at the same event. The winter season will culminate with the British Championships at the beginning of April.  

Cricket

SFC1 (Year 12) student Aimee spent two weeks in Rwanda recently helping to grow women and girls’ cricket. She played against local teams and volunteered at a school, coaching cricket as well as umpiring and scoring. 

Swimming 

The Cheltenham Challenge Cup was a fantastic event. This triangular meet with Cheltenham College and Dean Close School saw our swimmers display some fabulous racing to take the match. Sadly it wasn’t sufficient to claw the points difference back from the first round, meaning that Cheltenham College took the Cup.

It was uplifting to see how our swimmers executed their races by maintaining technical improvements under race pressure, with the majority of the times close to or better than their season best or personal best performances. We’re very proud of them all.