HEALTHY COMPETITION
Celebrating Cricket
Balancing sporting and academic success at Tonbridge School
It always seems cruel that the exam season not only coincides with the start of the English summer but also the cricket season. Cricket is viewed by many as the game of life: the batter looks either to survive or to make attacks, just as the bowler may go on the offensive or look to contain. It is a uniquely pressurised sport and, unfortunately, pressure is undoubtedly what our students feel as their exams loom ever closer. Retaining a sense of perspective is also vital: losing yourself in a game of sport which, in the moment, might feel more viscerally tense than putting pen to paper, can serve
to remind us that, whether you win or lose, it really isn’t the end of the world. Offering children a variety of active pursuits at all ages is truly essential if we want to raise healthy, balanced and well-rounded young people and encouraging participation alongside that breadth of offering is therefore essential. If you think you don’t like sport, then you just haven’t found the right one for you. Whether you represent your school’s A team or E team at the weekend or your house during the week, losing yourself in the physical activity of sport is undoubtedly good for the mind, body and soul.
Tonbridge offers 19 different sports from which to choose and - taking cricket as an example - 18 teams across the five year groups to represent the school in competitive matches. From this, we see boys unlock potential they didn’t even imagine they had, in the classroom, on the sports pitch and, consequently, in every other facet of school life. ROBERT STEPHEN Master in Charge of Cricket, Assistant Housemaster, Teacher of Classics www.tonbridge-school.co.uk TURN BACK TO PAGE 47 to read about Preparing Girls for The Future