Latest 'Other' Sports News

A full report and photos of our first House Athletics day will be available at the beginning of next week.

Last weekend a number of boys travelled to Birmingham to compete in the West Midlands Youth Championships. At this event two boys managed to qualify to represent the West Midlands at the National finals. They were Charlie Godman who came 3rd in the U16 Boys Foil and Harry Cox who came 3rd in the U18 Boys Sabre.

This win follows on from last month's success in the Epee qualifiers at Packwood, in which Arthur Cheng came first and Charlie Godman came second.  Charlie will therefore, remarkably, be competing in both the epee and the foil West Midlands Youth Championships.

I've been fencing at the school for 5 years and am now too old to compete but I think this is one of the best results we've had in a long time. I imagine that with these boys being much younger than me that there will be future successes still to come.

Chris Williams
RSSFC

Shrewsbury travelled to the Malvern St James netball tournament on Saturday 4th February. Previous years the tournament has always been competitive, but very enjoyable. With encouraging results from netball fixtures so far this term and the continuation of Tuesday evening league, we were looking forward to the challenge, and for the first time we had 2 teams in the tournament. The tournament was divided into 2 pools; Division A and Division B, each game lasting 8 minutes in length, with 2 minute change over. The winners of Division A played the runners up of Division B and then the winners of Division B played the Runners up of Division A which lead to the final.   

Photo -  Katy Mason-Jones, Elen Murphy, Eli Palje Rhys-Davies, Lucy Emms, Alice Paul, Hannah Pritchard, Rebecca Haynes.

In the A division, Shrewsbury 1st VII came up against a very high standard, quick moving Christ College netball team and had fought back to a 4-4 score until Christ College pulled away to win 7-4. However, we came back with strength against Edgbaston High School and played to our full potential demonstrating clean, clear passing and excellent movement around court to win 7-5. The confidence of the team grew when it came to playing Malvern St James 2 and the excellent playing continued with beautiful movement of the ball from centre third into the goal third, and very tight marking by defence provided Shrewsbury with an 11-0 win. Our final game in Division A was against a strong Kings School; there were slight mistakes on both sides, however an evenly matched game to finish 5-5. 

Shrewsbury 1st VII came Runners up in Division A and had to meet Malvern St James 1 (Winners of Division B). Shrewsbury started off unsteadily, making unnecessary mistakes and forcing the ball which resulted in Shrewsbury trailing by 0-3. However Shrewsbury regained their confidence and played outstandingly well, passing the ball elegantly around the court, with beautiful finishing from the attackers to win 6-3. 

Shrewsbury 1st VII then met Christ College School who are renowned as a netball school in the final. Shrewsbury played amazingly, they picked up their game and their movement around the court was effortless. There was sharp passing down the wings to our fast moving attacking players who scored time and time again, which was further aided by our defence that blocked and zoned extremely well. The game was very intense and ended in a 5-5 score which resulted in 5 minutes extra time being played. Christ College in extra time brought their game up and went on to score 3 consecutive goals, however Shrewsbury fought back breaking their centre twice to come back, with the game finishing 7-8 to Christ College.

An amazing game played by both teams, with Shrewsbury School walking away with Runners-Up.

In the B Division, Shrewsbury 2nd VII also came up against Christ College 2nd as their first match. Once again a high tempo game, with quick movement around court and sharp passing skills, Shrewsbury were drawing level 4-4; however Christ College came back with strength and ended the game 4-7. Shrewsbury 2nd VII came back full of confidence against Hanley Castle and demonstrated their ability and experience with some excellent defending but also good movement of the ball from the centre third into the goal third, Shrewsbury dominated the game to win 8-2. This continued into the final game within division B against Malvern St James 1, Shrewsbury played well kept tight when marking and finished off most shots on goal they had. Shrewsbury demonstrated their skilful play and it was a very evenly matched game but Shrewsbury ensured that the finish was theirs, winning 5-4.

Shrewsbury 2nd VII came runners up in division B, which meant playing Christ College 1st team. Shrewsbury were stretched against such a fast team, however played extremely well and fought for each and every pass and shot, unfortunately Christ College were too fast and played effortlessly to win 2-9.

Shrewsbury then came up against Malvern St James 2 to decide who would take 3rd and 4th place. Shrewsbury started very well and demonstrated their ability on court, however the result of playing two consecutive matches  took its toll and Shrewsbury became tired. Malvern St James 2nd took their lead and just kept the lead to win 9-5 and take 3rd place. Shrewsbury 2nd VII then took 4th position out of 9 very high standard teams.          

Overall it was a great morning of netball and to see Shrewsbury 1st VII came away with runners up and Shrewsbury 2nd VII to come 4th against very high standard netball teams was excellent.

Congratulations Girls.

Miss Hartshorne and Miss Woo

The 1st VII started soundly from the first quarter, but not playing to their full potential. Shrewsbury were dead level with Kings Chester until the third quarter where the girls in blue took the lead 14-13 in this very tight contest. The game was evenly matched with concise passing skills and communication evident from both sides, however in the fourth quarter Shrewsbury raised their levels and eventually pulled away winning 24-14, with some unstoppable shooting and passing skills on show. Player of the match was awarded to Lucy Emms (GS).

The 2nd VII played extremely well from the first whistle against their Kings opponents, demonstrating their strength in all elements of the game. This was illustrated in the score line at the first quarter, with Shrewsbury going in with an 8-2 lead. The girls built upon this to finish with a resounding 28-8 win. Shrewsbury 2nd VII have demonstrated confidence across all elements of netball from concise passing, accurate shooting, tight marking and fluency of ball up and down the court. The player of the match was awarded to both Holly Free (WD) and Izzy Barber (WA).

Miss A. Hartshorne

Samson Yick (G IV) came away with a silver medal from the Badminton England U17 Bronze tournament in Worcester over the weekend.  Samson was the only representative from Shropshire in the tournament, and he was drawn against players with English rankings varying from 819 to 293.

This is only the second badminton tournament that Samson has ever entered, so is a really remarkable achievement.

The RSSBC have produced some wonderful Maltese Cross umbrellas, which are now on sale in our School Shop (see details below).  They are plain navy, with a white Maltese Cross on each quadrant, and a full colour Shrewsbury School Crest on a button on the handle.

The picture in the background of our umbrella poster is of the 1st V111 wining the final at Henley in 1980 beating Radley College by 2½ lengths (on a rainy day), coached by Nick Bevan and stroked by Mark Yale . Another member of the crew was John Garret who later competed in a number of Boat races and in the Olympic Games on three occasions.

Background to the Maltese Cross
The eight-point cross of the Knights Hospitallers became known as the Maltese Cross when  Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, gave the Knights Hospitallers the island of Malta in the 1550s, after they had been kicked out of Cyprus by the Ottoman Turks.

The eight points of the cross are said to symbolise the eight points of courage: Loyalty; Piety; Generosity; Bravery; Glory and honour; Contempt of death; Helpfulness towards the poor and the sick; Respect for the church.

The Maltese Cross is now used by a number of institutions and establishments, perhaps most notably in this country by St John Ambulance, and it is also on the crown of Shrewsbury School's crest.

In 1866 the Royal Shrewsbury School Boat Club (RSSBC) was founded as a club, run by the boys, for rowing at Shrewsbury. In the original constitution, it stated that the dress rule was, “a straw hat with a dark blue ribbon and a white jersey trimmed with dark blue with a blue Maltese Cross on the front of the jersey.”

Around the 1870’s when the newly formed football clubs were being established around England, many of the first uniform kits to appear were those of the Public Schools and sports clubs with which the game was originally associated. Blackburn Rovers first wore white jerseys adorned with the blue Maltese Cross of Shrewsbury School, as several of their founders had been educated here.

The Boat Club has continued to use the Maltese Cross and although the white lycra trimmed with dark blue with a blue Maltese Cross on the front is now the preserve of the 1st VIII only, the Maltese Cross itself is used in a variety of ways by the boat club.

The umbrellas are available to buy for £30 (+ £5 P&P) from the School Shop 01743 280868 / mhignett@shrewsbury.org.uk, or direct from  Paul Manser, Master in Charge of the Boat Club,  pmanser@shrewsbury.org.uk.

In the meantime, please see our 2011 news page.