Sports News Our new Director of Sport, Karen Andrew, joined the College last year as Head of Academic PE. Having recently been appointed Director of Sport, Karen now oversees the whole Sports programme at the College. We asked Karen about her plans and vision for the future. What is so special about sport at Lancing? Sport at Lancing is for everyone and we continually strive to ensure that our programme is exciting, challenging and accessible to all; we encourage participation and we push our elite. We have a real sense of community which is enhanced by our sport provision. This also involves our prep schools in Hove and Worthing through the development of the Prep School Academy. We are proud to see our community growing and the three schools coming together as one. I feel that all our Sport teams do exceptionally well against other schools – we seem to punch above our weight, which is great. In sports like swimming, basketball, badminton and tennis we do very well and compete at the highest level. We are fortunate to have a number of elite coaches working at the school and our students all benefit from their input. Last but not least, we get to play on such fantastic grounds. I don’t think you can ever take for granted our beautifully manicured pitches with the backdrop of the Chapel or the South Downs. It is just wonderful and something I am sure our pupils will cherish forever. Why is sport so important in people’s life? Sport is very important for a number of reasons: it helps with overall physical and mental health and development, whilst also increasing self-esteem, and helping develop teamwork and leadership skills. It also teaches to communicate and follow rules and guidelines. Most importantly for me it helps us deal with and overcome failure, and build a resilience. I believe that a successful games programme can support and enhance better academic progress. Sport promotes analytical thinking and helps athletes to be organised and focused. These are very important skills for young people when growing up, and vital to us at Lancing. Sport is compulsory for all pupils at Lancing; can you name other activities offered in addition to the more traditional sports? There are so many sports on offer at the College and students are able to be active every day of the week in a whole host of sports and activities. For example, we have a recently formed equestrian team which is hugely successful and competing regularly; we have a also group of fencers with a Fourth Former placed within the top 20 épéeists in the country. Shooting and climbing have grown in popularity and several students train weekly and compete at various levels. Metafit, volleyball, dance, squash and badminton are all available, and students can either play on a recreational basis or take it more seriously to develop their skillset under the guidance of our experienced coaches.
24
The Quad • Lent 2020
How do you encourage pupils to get involved every week? Sport is compulsory at Lancing and so it should be at every age, but we don’t want it to be something tagged on to the timetable. We are building a sporting culture where people want to represent their school and are proud to do so. We need to ensure that the coaching, facilities and matches all feed into this culture. I would hope that the majority of students at Lancing realise the importance of sport and want to be out on a games afternoon or relish the opportunity to put on the team shirt and represent the College on a Saturday. Culture is important. Can you tell us about any exciting projects or plans coming up for Lancing sport? We are constantly talking and sharing ideas about how we can improve sport at Lancing. We want to develop the Prep School Academy sessions that take place on Saturday mornings and also continue to assist with local schools on a more frequent basis. We want to increase the number of students, particularly in the youngest year groups, playing team sports and representing the school very week. The team in the Uniform Shop has been working hard to update the PE kit worn by the students, adding to our image and sporting culture. Our long list of short- and long-term plans also includes, for example, working on a more cohesive programme of Sports tours, and further developments of the programme for our elite sportsmen and sportswomen.
