So, it's the winter. Previously it was the sole preserve of the more hardy of our Young Athletes to turn their attention to Cross-country, and the less hardy to spend their weekends annoying their parents, and telling anyone who will listen that they are "bored". Well, under the guidance and leadership of Anne Roden, this is no longer the case. Norwich Union very kindly sponsor a fun-packed indoor athletics competition called "Sportshall". This is for all ages from 8 to 15, and SLH involvement has been growing and becoming ever more successful since we joined in 2002.
Date: 14th January
Venue: Crystal Palace
With 9 other teams competing, 5 representing whole London Boroughs, we knew competition would be tough. Our teams of 13 girls and 13 boys turned up looking nervous but excited. Anne and I handed out the stickers with the names of their events, to each competitor. Then followed a barrage of questions, like "What's a Paarlauf?" and "What's the Over and Under relay?" With these questions answered, it was off to warm up.
In the boys, there were excellent sprint performances from Tyree Obuks and Reece Young. Robert Dunning, Danny Holmes and Matt Beaumont combined to win the Speed Bounce. Robert was also a whisker away from winning the Javelin. Other good individual performances were from Tyree in the Standing Long Jump, Joseph Honey in the Balance Test, Ben Foreman in the Target Throw and William Reis in the Sitting Throw. Donal Davis, aged only 8, looks a good prospect leaping 2 metres exactly in the Standing Long Jump. Henry Kirby, Thomas Harrington, Max Goodwin and Jerome Mason also competed well, and showed great determination and team spirit. This helped the boys to finish in 5th place. An excellent result!
In the girls competition, in the sprint relay, Megan Waller and Jahisha Thomas finished first equal with 2 far taller girls in a very exciting race. Jahisha then followed this with an incredible 19 metre throw in the Javelin, combining with Jessica Meta to win the event. Maria Kavanagh and Rosie McDaniel showed good speed and stamina in the longer 6 lap Paarlauf. Elisha Wilson and Maria then combined to win the Target Throw. Other excellent performances came from Rosie and Emma Newton in the Chest Push, Ellie Riordan, Hayley Waterer and Caitlin Riordan in the relays. Leah Denny, Sophie Spain and Sophie Foreman also competed well, and helped the team to finish a very good 7th place, although there were very few points between SLH and the team in 3rd, so very well done to all.
During a short break the coaches were put on the spot, and asked to try the javelin in front of everyone. Anne was handed the foam implement, but sneakily handed it to me when I wasn't paying attention. I threw a decent 12 metres (just 7 metres behind 11-year-old Jahisha!). Many thanks to Robert Dunning, who put his arm around my shoulders and said "well done Ian, you did your best".
For the boys, Tyree, Reece, Robert and Danny were selected to compete in the Under 13s. For the girls, Maria, Megan, Jahisha, Ellie, Caitlin, Rosie and Leah also did the same.
I was impressed by the fact that when there was a chance for an extra non-scoring event to be filled, every hand in the team went up. This shows great enthusiasm, which hopefully means they all enjoyed themselves. Many thanks go to all the parents for their vocal support, and especially to the Harringtons and Kirbys who helped as time-keepers and supervisors in the field events.
A very successful season indeed. When we first started a few years back we could not raise an U15 team, and finished last in the U13s. This year we managed to field boys and girls U15 teams and a boys and 3 girls U13 teams.
These events contained 2-lap, 4-lap and 6-lap races. A lap being around 80 metres. There were also more recognised field events, such as Triple Jump, Long Jump, Shot, High Jump as well as the unique Vertical Jump and Speed Bounce. The latter of these is a timed event of 30 seconds, to see how many times an athlete can jump over a small obstacle and land on the other side, keep balanced, then jump back again. The obstacle is about 8-10 inches high. The winner did over 90! Try this at home, and it will give you some insight into how fit and fast these kids are.
There were 3 events, all held at Guildford Spectrum, a fine venue with good viewing facilities for supporters. The atmosphere was very good for all the events. The teams are smaller, made up of 6 athletes. Each athlete competes in 4 events to make the complete score for the team.
Let's start with the boys U15 team. It was the first time SLH have had a full team in the age group, and the results were good. There were 10 teams competing. There were good performances from Owen Thomas in the throws, Daniel Sellman in the relays and longer events, and Richard Humphreys in the sprints and relays. Tom Kennedy once again was our top scorer, competing in a variety of events, and he duly finished as the overall champion for Surrey. He collects his award at the Surrey AGM. Tom was selected to represent Surrey in the Regional finals. Ned Quiney also consistently finished in the top 10.
In the U13 boys, the results were just as good. There were good debuts from our U11 boys, Tyree Obuks and Reece Young who didn't look out of place against older boys. James McDonald shone in the jumps and relays, Adam Atkins and Gregory Campbell in the longer events, Robert Dunning and Danny Holmes in the relays and field events. Thomas Marsh was outstanding all round, and was selected to represent Surrey in the Regional final, after finishing consistently in the top 5. Overall the boys finished 2nd out of 12 teams!
In the U15 girls, it was a bit of a one-woman show. Kay Wilson competed as an individual competitor in the events, and succeeded in finishing high in the top 10 each time. She was outstanding in the throws, and backed that up with good performances in the sprints and jumps. She was very unlucky not to have been selected for the Surrey team. Loulou Rowlands also put in some performances, but we failed to put out a team here. Maybe next year.
In the U13 girls the turnout was exceptional. We managed to field 3 teams at each event! We had some new recruits from the U11 girls, as well as more established and experienced girls. The B and C teams mixed around a bit over the course of the events, and competed well. The B team finished 9th (the highest B team), and the C team 16th out of 21 teams overall. The A team surpassed expectations and finished as overall champions!
In the B and C teams, there were good performances were everywhere. Rosie McDaniel, Ellie Riordan, Caitlin Riordan, Megan Waller, Jahisha Thomas and Maria Kavanagh were all competing well above their age and were not to be overawed. The experience of Catherine Campbell, Lucy Palin, Freya Keany and Jenny Hewitt made sure that there was a solid base in all events. Lucy Gibbon and Rachel Smart supported the A team well when asked to do so. In all the running events we always looked good, and maybe the only shortcomings were in the field. These will improve as the strength and techniques improve over the next year. In the A team, there were some exceptional performances. Amy Mitchell jumped and threw very well, Lydia Sinclair sprinted well and was very quick in the relays and speed bounce. Hannah Field was up at the front in the 4-lap races and the Long Jump. Harriet Field consistently won the 6-lap race and with her sister Hannah, they were unbeaten in the Paarlauf. They both finished consistently in the top 10 points scorers. Sophie Small sprinted and jumped exceptionally and finished as the overall Surrey champion! Hannah, Harriet and Sophie were then all selected to represent Surrey in the Regional finals.
A great season.
Date: 26th Feb
Venue: Spectrum, Guildford
5 of our athletes competed for Surrey against Essex, Sussex, Kent and Middlesex. Tom Kennedy competed well gaining 3 medals, one of each colour, as he helped Surrey to finish second in the U15 boys. He finished 5th overall out of 30 boys. Thomas Marsh ran well to help the U13 boys again finish second. Hannah Field jumped and ran well in the 4-lap final, and also gained a gold in the Paarlauf. Harriet Field won gold in the 6-lap race, and another gold with her sister in the Paarlauf, to keep them unbeaten all season. Sophie Small again sprinted and jumped well to gain Bronze in both the Long Jump and the 2-lap sprint. Yet again Surrey unfortunately finished second.
It has been a real pleasure to be around such enthusiasm, determination and good team spirit. The support from all the athletes for the others was great to see. Thanks to everyone who competed in the SLH vest, you all upheld the honour very well. The only thing that some of these athletes are missing in these reports are nicknames. The seniors all seem to have them. I want to propose the following are from now known by an alternative name :-
Any other suggestions, let me know on Tuesdays.
Thanks also to all the parents who helped, drove or cheered. Thanks especially to Anne Roden for all the Tuesday and Thursday nights. As a final note, I can report that SLH had the overall supporting champion in Richard Humphries' dad, who cheered everyone in an SLH vest all day long, and could be heard clearly above everyone else in the hall!
Well done all, and look forward to next season!
Ian Field