Year 10 Basketball team make history

The year 10 basketball team have gone further than any other side from Sandringham School this season reaching the last 8 in the whole of the country. We have seen the culmination of that run in what has been a very busy week for the boys as they went out in the National quarter-final last night.

On Tuesday the side travelled to Walsall to take on Pool Hayes Community School in the last 16 tie which saw us come out 51-42 winners in a pretty one sided and very scrappy game against a well organised zone defence. This then set up a quarter final place with one of the country's top teams in Burleigh Community College, Loughborough. The school is a Basketball Academy linked with the Leicester Riders.

The game was always going to be tough but off the back of a convincing win, the team was full of confidence. We started strong and quickly established a 4 point lead. Burleigh began by shooting the ball well, which meant we had to shift to a much tighter man to man defence. Michael Stubbs continued to dominate in the key and drew a number of fouls as well as forcing himself inside to score off a number of strong drives. The Burleigh defence saw this as a threat and began to double team Stubbs which gave Moody, Ryan and Marshal opportunities to attack. As the game drew to an end Burleigh's outside shooting took over and saw us 6 down with 2 minutes to play. The game became a 4 point game but eventually slipped away as time ran out.

The team have achieved so much in such a short space of time and have literally put Sandringham school on the basketball map. Congratulations and let's hope next year is even more successful.

The team:
Michael Stubbs
Riley Griffin
Charlie Marshal
George Holley
John Little
Jacob Moody
Oli Ryan
Sam Tanton
Max Hood
Will Holland
Leo Stamatiou

Year 7 and 10's crash out in District Semi's

Both the year 7 and 10 football teams failed in their bids to reach the District cup finals. The year 10s played Beaumont last night and went down 2-0 to two costly mistakes. The year 7 team played Verulam, this years county cup semi finalists. The team lost 1-0 to a super strike from 20 yards. The team battled hard and were unlucky not to sneak an equaliser in the dying moments.

Well done to both teams for reaching the semi finals. Let's hope they can both learn from the experiences and move on to bigger and better accomplishments next year.

Year 8's make County Final

The year 8's have made it to the county basketball final after a 68-62 win away at Turnford this evening. The boy's were always in control of the match but had to fight through a well organised full court press and an extremely physical side from Cheshunt. A solid team performance and some great individual contributions from Akutu, Frankl, Mair and Cleaver managed to overpower Turnford in what became a closer match than first expected.

The team has set up a county final against St. Columbas next Wednesday at 4:00pm, which will be a tough game!

Year 9 go out of County Cup battling

The year 9 boys basketball team lost in a great game against a strong Beaumont side in the County Cup Semi final yesterday. The team put in a solid performance against a side that have had much success and includes some fantastic players who have been playing up in age.

The game always seemed just out of reach but the team fought hard after going 23 points down to get the game back to single figures. A good defence from Oli Ryan, Max Hood and Jacob Moody restricted Beaumont's players scoring, but eventually landed us in foul trouble. Some great drives from Hood, Moody and Tanton helped us close the defecit as we chipped away at Beaumont's lead.

The game finished 72-61 and would have been very different if missed lay ups had have been converted. This year has been a very positive one for the team and has seen huge progress. I know that next season we will continue to close the gap and produce more fantastic results.

Year 7 District Netball Tournament Results and Match Reports

Yesterday the year 7 A, B and C teams competed in the District Netball Tournament at Roundwood Park School.

The year 7 C team played some fantastic netball, with Jordan Adams and Mia Pullara making some excellent interceptions. The whole team worked well together and experienced playing in a variety of positions. The C team finished in 5th place in their pool.

The year 7 B team battled some fierce competition winning 3 of their 5 matches. Kuljinder Johal and Charlotte Pether worked well together in the shooting circle and tucked away goal after goal. The B team narrowly missed out on going through to the B team semi-finals and finished 3rd in their pool.

The year 7 A team played some outstanding netball throughout the tournament. They breezed through the A team pool matches, losing only one of their games to Beaumont. They went through to the semi-finals as runners up. Their next competition was St Albans High School, who had one all of their games so far in the tournament. The Sandringham A team then had the game of their lives with fantastic shooting from Chloe Nichol, Emily Caswell and Jasmine Fisher and some exceptional interceptions by Abi Charnock. Sandringham had beaten the High School 7-6 and were going through to the District Final! In the final, Sandringham again faced Beaumont. After a nail biting first half the score was 4-3 to Beaumont but Sandringham were making a comeback. Chloe Pettengell battled against tough opposition and sent the ball into our shooting circle where Emily Caswell put away her shot. The game was tied 4-4. Beaumont made a quick break and managed to take the lead in the last minute of the game. Sandringham made a desperate effort to get the ball back down our end but there just wasn’t enough time and the game finished 5-4 to Beaumont. A superb effort by the whole team and an astonishing achievement to finish runners up in the District Final.

A huge congratulations and thanks to all the girls who represented the school and played some brilliant netball.

Miss O’Connor

Year 7 Sportshall athletes perform well

The year 7 Sportshall Athletics took place yesterday at Gosling, Welwyn. Both the boys and girls performed very well finishing 2nd and 3rd in the district respectively. There were some excellent performances from both teams including wins for a number of individuals including Tom Goodall, Dan Goldingay, Erin Breen and Emily Mair.

The evening was a great introduction to competitive athletics for a number of the students and an insight into the success that we should have throughout the Summer term.

Well done

Year 7 & 9 Netball Match Vs St George's - Monday 14th March

Today the year 7 & 9 netball teams faced St George's to improve their postition in their respective leagues.

The Year 7 Netball Squad
Jasmine Fisher, Abby Charnock, Chloe Pettengell, Ruth Saunders, Emily Caswell, Emily Mair, Frankie Hammond, Chloe Nichol, Izzy Hanton.

The year 7s started with vigour and determination, finishing the first quarter leading 7 - 0. They continued with the same impressive performance, driving forward with the ball and working it into the circle to allow Chloe, Jasmine and Emily C to slot the goals away. The girls finished with an outstanding 19 - 2 win with Chloe Pettengell achieving Most Valuable Player. An excellent result girls well done.

The Year 9 Netball Squad
Ashleigh Wright, Rhian Hay, Rachel McKinlay, Pheobe Murray, Zoe Pagdin, Esther Gill, Rachel Pankhurst, Jessy Fox.

The year 9's started well with Ashleigh Wright scoring the first goal of the game. Unfortunately St George's were not planning to stay behind for long quickly achieving a 2 goal lead, finishing the first quarter 3 - 1. Sandringham were not going let St George's get the better of them, fightin back in the second quarter with 2 goals each bringing the score to 5 - 3, St George's. Sandringham continued to play well with superb interceptions from Rachel M and Esther Gill but unfortunately it was not enough to beat St George's accurate shooting and centre court play. The final score being 14 - 7 to St George's.
The Most Valuable Player as nominated by St George's was Esther Gill.