SQUASH
Podium places at nationals for all our girls’ teams in yet another amazing squash season.
The constant flow of people on the squash courts, whether playing for the first time or returning to the sport, has been incredible; we have seen many players’ levels shooting through the roof within a couple of months of picking up a racquet.
I think it is fair to say that the girls have led the way this year in terms of results. We brought all three girls’ teams up to Birmingham for the national finals, with a podium finish in all categories! The KS3 team was composed of Milly Anscomb, Alex Bisztyga, Sophia Christova, Priya Mahil, Sophia Marriott and Nicole Slowinski, with Jane Ho and Cici Qin winning the Plate competition in the first round. The KS4 team of Tasia Nahornaya, Sofia Moschini, Sophie Lo, Brianna Kuranga, Lily Freeman and me, came second in the country. It was an extremely nerve-racking couple of fixtures which we won, the first two 4-1 against Marlborough and 3-2 against Gosforth Academy.
However, our winning streak ended in a remarkably close 3-2 defeat against Kenilworth in the finals. The KS5 team had a battle against Wycliffe in the third / fourth playoff to secure the third spot. This team was made up of Tasia, Sofia, Sophie, Kaitlyn Tan and me; among these players, four of us will still be here next year contesting another chance at the national title!
On top of the outstanding school results, many of the players were selected to play for Kent competing in the inter-county event in April. These players being: Samuel Ide, Tasia Nahornaya, Ethan Hu, Arnav George, Dehong Kong, Nicole Slowinski and Greg de Caux( who unfortunately got injured before the finals). I was also selected to play for France in the U17 European Championships in May.
It is hard to mention these results without giving credit to the two individuals responsible for all of this: Zeb Young and Mr Emmitt. Thanks to Zeb’ s coaching, we have had a record number of players competing both for the school and for the county. Without the organisation of Mr Emmitt, we would not have been able to participate in so many competitions. We are all extremely excited for what next year will bring!
Ciara Boulanger, Year 11
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