School sport and sports leaders news

Level 3 Sports Leaders

On Friday 8 April our year 12 level 3 sports leaders had a fantastic session of play activities down at Busy Bees Nursery in Matlock.

The youngsters aged 2-4 had a fun time as did the grown-ups!

Young Ambassador assembly

This Tuesday the penultimate Young Ambassador assembly took place at South Darley Primary School. Leaders from yar 10 were Abigail and Louis who both inspired the pupils about their life in sport and drama.

SSP FA Girls Ambassador

SSP FA Girls ambassador, Erin J (Y10), had her first teams meeting with the other nine ambassadors from across Derbyshire on Tuesday.

They were discussing plans to further highlight girls playing football, what makes an ambassador for football, how to influence others and presentation speaking.

County Sports Hall Athletics

On Wednesday, the County sports hall athletics competition took place at Derby University.

The Rural Derbyshire SSP representative was our cluster winner, Lea Primary, who came 3rd out of eight teams competing – well done, a brilliant effort!

SSP High 5 Netball

The SSP High 5 netball finals took place at Highfields on Wednesday after school.

Highfields sports leaders, who had been trained in officiating by England netball’s Val Kindred, did an awesome job.

Youth Sport Trust project

On Thursday, the Youth Sport Trust project got underway at Claremount Specialist PE College on the Wirrel. Staff were trained in this new intergenerational project called ‘Move and Groove’.

Highfields have been selected to be a pilot school for this project.

Ex-SSP manager, Janice Price, together with two Activity Coordinators from Ivonbrooke Care home and Mrs Allen attended the training. Following this, the ten selected Highfields dance leaders will visit the care home for six sessions (one per week) once Janice has trained them in the delivery to the elderly residents, alongside the care home staff.

Match report

U16’s Girls Football County Cup Quarter Final

Miss Paley Yesterday our U16 girls football team had their county cup quarter final match vs Chapel School. After a long wait the girls were raring to go! We started the first half with a great energy and keen to put them under pressure early. It quickly showed that our counter-attack was going to cause Chapel problems. We created lots of opportunities on goal but unfortunately couldn’t find the back of the net. Then a well worked team passage of build-up play from Highfields saw us pressing them high into their own 18-yard box; where their defenders tried to clear, but Keeley G made an excellent block tackle which then rebounded goalward and lobbed their goalkeeper. GOALLLLL 1-0 to Highfields!!! Chapel were now beginning to find their rhythm and were piling on the pressure trying to gain an equaliser before half-time. However, strong and disciplined defending from every single player across the pitch, alongside fantastic communication from our defenders and Lucy as our GK enabled us to stay 1-0 up at the half-time break. A reflective team talk gave us some things to think about tightening up entering into the second half. Into the second half, the game immediately began to hot up! Both teams now demonstrating an increased physicality to win their personal battles and to keep possession for their team. Chapel came out strong with a new game plan and began creating a lot more possession and shots at our goal. We quickly adapted and made some tactical changes to combat their threats. It was pleasing to see that we kept our attacking presence whilst having the balance to deal with their 3 strikers in the latter stages. A special mention to Lucy F for making a brilliant save in the final 5 minutes with her legs from a 1 on 1 with their striker denying the goal and only conceding a corner! What a save it was! We continued to counterattack and defend as a unit until the final whistle.

It was a fiercely contested battle from both teams throughout the game. Chapel gave us a brilliant match for the entire 90 minutes with little time to lose concentration. They remained a constant threat. However, our girls did superb to stay organised and communicate to limit the spaces for Chapel to exploit. A special mention also to Sophie H for taking on the responsibility as Captain and showing amazing leadership and positional discipline throughout. After a tense final few minutes, the final score finished with us being victorious in a 1-0 win to progress into the SEMI FINAL of the County Cup! A huge credit to Chapel though who never gave up and who gave us a very difficult game. This is the first time in the history of Highfields girls football that we have reached this late stage. A huge achievement which we should celebrate!

Brilliant work girls! I am so proud of each and every one of you who played in the squad yesterday or in any of the previous rounds to get us to this stage! It is a pleasure to coach you. Your continued desire, commitment and teamwork this year has been immense! Keep up the great work! You continue to represent Highfields in the highest regard. On to the next round! Well done.

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