News Sports Spring Term Round-Up 27.03.2024
It has been an incredibly busy term with many squads, teams, crews and individuals achieving fantastic success in major tournaments, championships and competitions. Most importantly, the girls really showed a lot of commitment to their training and great enjoyment and team spirit. Many thanks to all of the PE staff and coaches who have worked so hard to support the girls. Below they give us their round-up of the last few months:
Netball
It has been an incredibly exciting and busy term on the netball front. The U12’s continued their success this year as Middlesex Finals Runners Up and were also crowned National Champions in Loughborough. U13’s finished Middlesex as semi-finalists with some great team performances on display. The U14’s worked enormously hard, finishing as Middlesex Final Runners Up, as well as being quarter finalists in the National competition. Our U15’s had a tough season and their commitment to training reaped just rewards when they were crowned Middlesex Champions. In addition to this, U16’s travelled to Loughborough in March after winning all of their Sisters n Sport qualifying matches. Competing against some tough opposition in the National Plate Final, they finished overall in a strong third place and finished fourth in the Middlesex prelims. Finally, the U18’s had a fantastic season, with players competing for their last time in Godolphin and Latymer colours with great success: they were deservedly crowned Middlesex Champions! They also won both friendly matches against St Paul’s Boys School and Godolphin and Latymer Staff, much to the delight of their supporters, to finish off the year with a lot of fun! Overall, a brilliant term with plenty of netball opportunities, competition and success for all players involved.
Hockey
Hockey has had a successful term, with the U13s reaching the Independent School Cup Plate National Finals, a fantastic achievement. As the end of season approached the teams finished off their seasons by winning the U12, U13, U14 and U18s Ibstock tournaments. We also had our celebration breakfasts to award certificates and trophies to individuals, as well as celebrate team successes. To finish off the season we had the annual ALLSTARS game, which saw Team Emmie (1XI Captain) vs Team Tally (1XI VC). The teams were made up of the top players from Year 9 and above and the match was a fantastic display of top-quality hockey, culminating in a Team Emmie win. A big thank you to our Upper Sixth leavers for all their dedication and commitment to hockey over the years, we wish them all the best for the next chapter in their lives. We would also like to wish Emmie the best of luck at the Four Nations in Spain, as she represents England U21; we will be cheering her on.
Rowing
Easter sees the end of the longer distance Head of the River races, and beckons the approach of the summer regatta season. In the last week the Boat Club has had some great performances, across all age groups, with an amazing success! At the Schools’ Head of the River Race, three Godolphin and Latymer crews competed over the 4.2 mile course, from Mortlake to Putney. The J16 eight put in a gutsy row to finish second in their category and the 2nd eight showed strong commitment to finish sixth in theirs. Our 1st eight started first in their event and laid down fierce power and pace over the length of the course. Pleased with their performance, hearts were in mouths as the crew and coaches waited for the time trial results. Our time was given as 18:44.7, which placed our crew first in the girls’ 1st eights, and we later found out this was a new course record, beating the previous time by 17 seconds! Fantastic rowing! A few days later our J14s and J15s travelled to Dorney to compete in the Junior Sculling Head. This was the first ever race for the J14 octo and they learnt a lot about racing, going considerably faster on their second leg of the race. A J15 quad also had a fine race, despite most of their squad being away on DofE. Easter has 40+ rowers travelling to Belgium for rowing camp, where we will work to sharpen up ready for the summer regatta season.
Cross Country
Another exciting cross country season unfolded this term as we had a record number of teams entered into the Main Schools London XC Championships, including two teams in the junior ‘B’ race and, most impressively, two inter teams. Both inter teams went on to win team medals – Silver (Maeve, Arabella, Alice and Kyra) and Bronze (Abby, Siena, Kim-Loan, Carolina and Rose). Other highlights from the season were Maeve (Year 10) and Allegra (Year 12) qualifying for English Schools National XC, coming 115th and 42nd respectively, it is an amazing achievement to represent London at this prestigious competition. Allegra also won our school ‘Athlete of the Season’ award too. The ‘Most Improved’ award this year went to Arabella, who was first reserve for the London team, a very impressive feat and is testament to Arabella’s hard work over her time here at Godolphin and Latymer. We have had several students represent Hammersmith & Fulham at the Year 7 and 8 Borough championships (Viva, Chloe, Scarlett, Liana, Danqi and Maia) which was a particularly gruelling course, made even more challenging by the relentless rain. A favourite competition of ours is always the Harrow SES XC, where this year we brought home the bronze, silver and gold individual medals as well as the team gold medal in the intermediate race.
Extra-curricular Clubs
With the extra-curricular programme being so wide, girls have had several opportunities to represent school in badminton and trampolining fixtures as well as entering our largest cohort ever into the Public Schools’ Fencing Championships. 14 girls entered the foil category with Ines Goyarrola finishing in third in the Girls’ Junior Foil category, Henrietta Westin finishing seventh in the Mount Haes Foil category and Ella Iliffe finishing ninth in the Girls’ Mount Haes Epee. We also enjoyed a wonderful extra-curricular display where the dancers, gymnasts, kickboxers, trampolinists and karate students all showed off what they have been learning over the year. It is a lovely way for the school community, as well as parents, to see what other sports are on offer across all age groups.