2014/15 SPORTING REVIEW

Another Successful and Memorable Year

It has been another fantastic year of sport at Congleton High School, with success coming in every sport. Sport continues to go from strength to strength and this year teams have been entered into over a hundred different leagues and tournaments in a wide range of sports. What is incredible is the profile of PE and sport at CHS, over ten percent of Congleton High School students received awards at last month’s annual Sport Awards Evening and many more participating in school sport every week.

The sport that has seen the most success this year is netball. CHS’ netballers have enjoyed another brilliant year. Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 won their respective leagues and both the year 7 A and B teams along with the year 8, 9 and under-18 teams were crowned South Cheshire Champions. Next year, CHS’ netballers will face a sterner test as they will play in the Macclesfield league for the first time.

In football, it was the girls that embarked on another gripping cup run. The under-16 girl’s reached the English Schools’ Cup quarter-final for the second successive year and they can take huge pride in reaching the last 16 out of 271 schools that entered in the national competition. The same girls team reached the Cheshire Cup semi-final. The under 15 girls won the Stoke City FC ‘World Cup’ tournament, which coincided with the recent Women’s World Cup in Canada.

The year 7 boys had a great start to high school football winning the local league whilst year 8 and year 9 finished runners-up in their respective leagues. Next year the hope is for the boys to do better in the cup competitions and hopefully win some more silverware.

Rugby has not been one of the priority sports at the school over the years however the PE staff have worked tirelessly to promote rugby as one of the school’s major sports alongside football recently. Last October, 41 students travelled to France for the first ever school rugby tour. The students not only had a tour of French team, Racing Metro 92’s training ground, they also received a private training session from the Racing academy coaches. The students also played matches against tough French opposition. The tour was hailed a huge success with the students building on their love of rugby and planning has already started for the next one.

The year 7 rugby players did not travel to France but they have made a very promising start to high school rugby with them winning the A league in the RFU Cheshire Emerging Schools league. It is hoped that next year will be even better for rugby with the creation of a rugby league between local schools due to start this autumn. This will see regular fixtures for the year 7, 8 and 9 rugby teams.

Staying with the winter sports, there was also success in hockey with both year 8 and year 9 girls winning the South Cheshire League for their age group.

Basketball has boomed in participation at CHS over the last few years and this year the year 11 basketball team were crowned South Cheshire Basketball champions and the Sandbach School’s Partnership winners.

Athletics is a sport which CHS has done traditionally well in and this year is no different. There have been a number of impressive individual performances but the stand-out ones have to be Jonathan Adderley, Josh Robertson and Beth Jones who represented Cheshire in the Mason Trophy Inter Counties Schools’ Athletics Championships in Birmingham last month. The school have also done well in the team events and the year 7 boys won the Sandbach Schools Partnership indoor athletics championships.

One of the sports which has proven very popular with students this year has been rounders with over 100 students attending rounders club every week. Despite only having leagues and tournaments for girls, many boys have still joined in playing rounders throughout the summer. There has also been success in the sport with the year 10’s winning their league as well as being crowned South Cheshire Rounders Champions.

The 2015 table tennis competition saw a repeat of last year’s final and it was James Garside who successfully defended his title after holding his nerve in the deciding game to beat the 2013 winner, Mr de Souza.

CHS’ PE department have gradually been broadening and extending the number of sports in which students can participate in. One sport which has been made available for students to try is indoor rowing and it is a sport that CHS have excelled in again this year. Five teams qualified for the Cheshire and Warrington School Games after impressive performances at the Sandbach School Partnership event. CHS took twenty students to the games and returned with a fantastic twenty medals. They finished in the top three in all but one of the classifications that they entered and there were also several individual successes too.

One of the highlights of the school year has to be the school’s first ever Watersports Trip. The trip to the Costa Brava in Spain was organised to be inclusive for all students and to help broaden and extend the number of sports and opportunities that are on offer to all. 54 students enjoyed the glorious weather and a wide range of exciting and challenging water sports including paddle boarding, kayaking, sailing, wet walking and snorkelling. The trip was a great end to what has been a fantastic year of sport.

Written by Adam Bailey