Other Sports
The sporting possibilities at Shrewsbury are enormous and our wonderful site makes such diversity possible. Brief details follow of some of these sports. Please also see our pages on Fixtures - Other Sports and Latest News - Other Sports to get a feel for the range and participation in these activities.
Archery
We have a professional archery coach who comes to the School on Wednesday afternoons. All pupils are invited to try out this fabulous Olympic sport - no previous experience is necessary, and all equipment is provided. The sessions take place in the Alington Hall from 4.45pm - 6.00pm on Wednesdays.
Students train at the London Road Athletics Track, and take part in pentathlon events at Wrekin College and full-scale athletics meetings at King Edward VI School in Birmingham, as well as a number of field events. In the Summer Term, there are a number of inter-house competitions such as a Triathlon, a Quarter-Mile race, and the Sidney-Darwin Dash.
Badminton
Badminton is popular with a committed core of students who attend practices twice a week in the Michaelmas and Lent terms. The School team plays several matches during the year against local schools, and pupils of all ages are involved in the squad. An annual inter-house competition inevitably creates stong rivalry.
Shrewsbury School has a thriving community of basketball players who train three times a week and normally play one match per week against local schools in both knockout cup and league competitions. Training takes place on a Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and is available to boys in all year groups. There is a strong core of overseas students who perform very well in basketball and have often acquired the skills at their previous schools in clubs and schools in Hong Kong. The players work with a committed external coach under the guidance of Mr Hughes, Housemaster of Ridgemount, who also arranges the fixtures. There is an U19 and U16 team who play in the county league and knockout and also the English Schools’ Basketball League where we play five other schools in the West Midlands area.
Along with the training sessions there are opportunities for boys to go and watch the Shropshire Warriors play in Telford and the coach also organises a Sunday training camp once per term, which is always popular as it gives boys a chance to really work at their skills in an intense period of time.
The Fencing Club meets every Wednesday (5pm - 6.30pm) and every Saturday (2pm until 4.30pm) under the tutorship of professional coaches Ken and Andrew Holding, both of whom are British Fencing qualified. Andrew is a former British cadet sabreuer with over twenty years of fencing experience and well known on the sabre circuit. Ken has represented the West Midlands on numerous occasions and has been runner up at the West Midlands mens foil and mens sabre, and placed second and third at the Shropshire Open and Hereford and Worcester Open respectively.
During their time at Shrewsbury Ken and Andrew have achieved great success with their school fencers at national level, with several of their pupils representing Great Britain and their home countries.
The club's fencers compete regularly at open and county competitions and against school, university and local clubs. All club members are equipped to the highest national standards (800n jackets and under plastrons, 1600n masks and maraging blades). The club has the benefit of having its own metallic piste.
Ten week courses for beginners are run from the beginning of the school year and fencers compete in internal school competitions. Fencers can use the activity as part of their Duke of Edinburgh award.
Golf is offered on three separate week days with fixtures played on Wednesdays or Sundays, although our younger students are introduced to the sport in Curriculum Games.
On Mondays, up to ten pupils, from across the age range, have a group lesson with a qualified PGA professional at a local golf club. This is usually a six to eight week course to introduce pupils to the game and develop their skills and enthusiasm enough to spend the last few weeks of term playing on the golf course at Arscott or Meole Brace. The golf activity is subsidised but carries a termly charge (£30), added to the School bill, with golf equipment available for those starting out.
On Wednesdays, those with their own golf equipment have the opportunity to play, at no charge, on local Shropshire golf courses and there are about six to eight regular players. Thursdays are equally popular and are similar to Wednesdays, but form part of the Sixth Form Activity option and are charged for accordingly.
On occasional Sundays throughout the year we head to Little Aston Golf Club – about an hour away from School. A venue for many major amateur and professional tournaments, Little Aston is a fantastic golf course and very welcoming to Salopians.
The School enters a number of national golf tournaments each year, such as the HMC Foursomes, the ISGA Schools Matchplay competition, the annual Prior Cup at Shrewsbury Golf Club, and the ISGA Shire Trophy.
The School is also represented at various ‘Old Salopian Golf Club’ meetings, for example at Trentham and Royal Liverpool Golf Clubs, and we always look forward to the OSGS versus The Schools annual golf event in May, at Hawkstone Park Golf Club.
The golfing year concludes with the traditional pilgrimage to the British Open Golf Championship; the School has a tradition of manning The British Open score boards, which is a great work experience opportunity for golf fans.
Hockey
Although not a major sport for boys, hockey is currently growing in popularity at Shrewsbury. In recent years, the fixture list has grown to include U15, U16 and 1st X1 matches against schools such as Wrekin, Ellesmere and Denstone College, and a highly competitive lower school inter-house competition takes place on the school’s astroturf in the Lent Term. Emphasis is given in training to developing the skills that many have learnt at prep school, and many boys play club hockey at Shrewsbury Hockey Club, with whom we have strong links.
Please see Girls' Sport for their Hockey details.
Polo
Beginners, more experienced players and the merely curious are most welcome to explore this exhilerating sport, described as chess at 30 miles an hour. We train principally with Longdole Polo Club at Birdlip in Gloucestershire, sometimes at Rugby and occasionally in Cheshire.
Whether during the arena season in winter or on the broad, green fields of summer, matches pitch us against even the most challenging of other schools, both at individual games and at National Schools tournaments.
In the annual Schools & Universities Polo Association (SUPA) Tournament at the end of the 2011 season, our team took the second place: 2011 Polo report.
Shooting: Royal Shrewsbury School Rifle Club (RSSRC)
Shrewsbury School shooting has experienced an encouraging increase in popularity over the last year and some prominent talent is emerging. Teams have been entered into the British Schools leagues tin 2013 and five members trialled for the British Schools touring team. Although unsuccessful this time around, the standards have risen significantly and there is strong promise for next year.
Volleyball
Volleyball is popular with students as a House competition sport, and we also play a limited number of School fixtures.
