SPOTLIGHT Sport

It has been an excellent return to School sport. A new Head of Rugby, Jamie Lennard, started in Michaelmas Term 2021, joining four new Resident Assistant Sports Coaches. A successful pre-season cricket tour to Barbados in March was a fitting way to kick-start a return to overseas sports trips.

A recent focus on developing performance pathway links through formal partnerships with Northampton Saints Rugby, Loughborough Lightning Netball, England Hockey National Talent Academy and Northants Cricket is creating exciting opportunities for Oundle’s talented and committed sportsmen and women. Development of the Dedicated Athlete Programme alongside the Sports Scholarship Scheme has been key to this success, with representative honours being achieved in athletics, cricket, cross country, equestrianism, hockey, netball, rugby and swimming.

One of the key challenges is balancing equitable sporting opportunities for boys and girls with the drive for success in all the traditional sports. Nick Beasant, Director of Sport, offers a few thoughts.

How do you balance offering increased choice with the traditional sporting programme?

In the First to Third Form, pupils partake in team sports on a termly basis, where we have the infrastructure, resources and opportunities for every pupil to play team sport and represent both House and School. From Fourth Form, it is equally important to ensure that not only can pupils still have the opportunity to compete and represent Oundle, but that we are equipping them for an active physical life long after they leave School. With that comes choice and the opportunity to try new sports outside the traditional sporting offer, something at which we excel. With choice, of course, comes challenges. Talented athletes will often move from one sport to another before finding their niche. At Oundle, we have seen this result in burgeoning success in football and girls’ rugby, for example. For those pupils who are passionate about their sport, committed to playing at a high level and hungry to succeed, giving them a range of opportunities in order to achieve this is important. I strongly believe that each pupil’s sporting commitment should be meaningful and beneficial to both the pupil and the School, not one or the other.

So how do you maintain participation levels in the core sports at Oundle?

This is where being a full boarding school with a commitment to a strong co-curricular programme is so beneficial. A school can only offer so much within a traditional fixture list and therefore creating bespoke coaching and year-round playing opportunities is essential. We now have a year-round approach which is delivered through pre-season training and electives, as well as through our Sport Scholarship Scheme and Dedicated Athlete Programme. As a result, pupils can practise and be coached in their chosen sport over the year, gaining vital contact and development time. We are also focused on pathway opportunities through partnerships, which are brilliant for supporting the most aspirational and committed pupils to take their sport beyond School level.

Where does that leave traditional block fixtures?

We have a fixture list that is driven by ensuring we play other independent schools who can field similar numbers of teams as us. There needs to be strong, healthy competition across the core School sports and we wish to maintain our offering, with pupils able to represent the School at all levels and age groups. We have seen particular success in this in the Summer Term, where we have a healthy boys’ and girls’ cricket offering and continued success in both boys’ and girls’ tennis. However we also need to balance our traditional offering with new sports and new opportunities. Our aim is that week in, week out, we have an overall programme which is meaningful and competitive across all the year groups and across all teams. This does mean that we must also consider the comparative strength, focus and approach of opposing schools.

It is worth noting too that the landscape is changing significantly. For example, we now have highly competitive teams in girls’ rugby, football and cricket. Rugby is also facing significant change, whether it’s around the question of compulsion to play, injury management or which format of the game should be played. At Oundle, we remain fully committed to having a rugby union programme for boys and girls, but we accept that flexibility and adapting will be key to help sustain the game and allow it to flourish.

How do you measure success?

The measure of success is often focused at first team level, which is of course an important barometer and still seen by many as the ultimate guide of sporting strength and prowess. However, I believe there is much more of a balance to be had in celebrating both participation and the success of the range of teams within a single sport. That is not to say we should not aim to win at the top level, and indeed improve our standing in some key sports, but our focus also should be on bringing through sporting talent during their time at Oundle. The biggest challenge is the arms race that exists around Sports Scholarships. Our approach is to invest in how we develop our own talent and pathways for pupils. This is where the strength of our coaching infrastructure and facilities comes to the fore as it enables us to make the very best of the talent that we have, whilst being able to showcase the opportunities that Oundle can offer prospective sporting pupils.

Representative honours and success

● Five girls were selected for the England Hockey Performance Centre Pathway

● Two girls were selected for the Loughborough Lightning Netball Academy Hub

● Nine boys and six girls were selected for county cricket pathways

● 10 boys were selected for the Northampton Saints Developing Player Programme

● Three boys were selected for the Northampton Saints Elite Academy

● Three boys were selected for the U18 National Lambs Rugby

● Two girls were selected for the Great Britain Equestrian Performance Pathway

● Three pupils represented Northamptonshire in the ESAA National Schools Finals

● One OO currently plays for Northampton Saints while two others continue to be capped for England A further OO represents Leeds Rhinos in the Vitality Netball Super League.

Participation levels

● Over 30 cricket teams played regular fixtures, with a 65%+ win ratio

● 36 tennis squads, ranging from U12s to U18s, recorded a win ratio of 85%

● Across the School, 220 teams played over 1,160 fixtures, with a minimum of 75% participation rate across each year group.

ACROSS THE TRADITIONAL SPORTS, WE FIELDED 44 HOCKEY TEAMS, 33 CRICKET TEAMS, 32 TENNIS TEAMS, 31 RUGBY TEAMS AND 24 NETBALL TEAMS. WE’RE ALSO PROUD TO OFFER SPORTING OPPORTUNITIES IN ATHLETICS, BADMINTON, BASKETBALL, CLIMBING, CROSS COUNTRY, CYCLING, FIVES, GOLF, HEALTH & FITNESS, KAYAKING, ROWING, SAILING, SHOOTING, SQUASH, SWIMMING AND WATERPOLO.”