QES_Sports_Bulletin_March_2022

FEATURED IN THIS EDITION: PREVIEWING THE 46TH QUEEN ELIZABETH’S RUGBY SEVENS HOME TEAMS READY FOR SEVENS ACTION SENIOR SWIMMING SWANSONG – BUT THE YOUNGER BOYS ARE COMING UP FAST

WATER POLO STRENGTH IN THE DEPTHS

SPRING TERM, 2022

FOCUS ON FIVES

Looking forward to

A FEAST OF RUGBY WELCOME BACK! Previewing the 46th Queen Elizabeth’s School Rugby Sevens WHEN AND WHERE: Sunday 13th March 2022, from 11am.

Matches at the School and Barnet Elizabethans RFC at the end of Byng Road. 11am games include QE U16s on pitch 2, right in front of Main Building.

Entry is free: no tickets required.

Excitement is ramping up as the 46th QE Rugby Sevens approaches – the first since 2019, with the pandemic forcing cancellation of the tournament in the past two years.

The country’s second-largest school rugby sevens tournament, QE Sevens is highly valued by schools, not least because it comes in the run-up to the biggest of them all – the Rosslyn Park National Sevens.

SPRING TERM, 2022

Accordingly, many of the leading rugby schools in the south of England compete, thus providing a great opportunity for QE’s U14 and U16 squads to test themselves against high-quality opposition.

The list of internationals who have played at QE Sevens in their youth – in some cases in tournament-winning sides – is long, including, for example, England’s current star fly-half, Marcus Smith.

Director of Sport Jon Hart said: “While we would certainly encourage home spectators to support our own boys, we also urge everyone just to enjoy a great festival of rugby – and keep an eye out for the stars of the future!”

The tournament is an Elizabethan community effort. Set 1 rugby boys from Years 7 & 8 help out on the day, as do some prefects and Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s volunteers, supporting the School’s caterers.

Seven from the Rugby Sevens 1 14-minute games: seven minutes each way.

2 64 teams in the draw: 32 each at U14 and U16.

3 28 schools fielding teams at both U14 and U16 this year.

4 Nine pitches used.

5 Double wins, at U14 and U16: Eltham College in 1986 and Wellington College in 2017.

6 Sole consecutive win: St Paul’s School at U14 in 2003 and 2004.

7 Past five QE Sevens: 1,128 games, 320 teams, 65 schools.

Turn to p2 for more on the QE Sevens

NEXT

BACK TO CONTENTS

‘A big part of what we do’: home teams are ready for action “Playing sevens is a big part of what we do at QE, especially with the tournament that we host.

We feel tremendous pride in representing the School, which in turn makes us try harder to be successful.”

U14 Captain Zain Ahmed, Year 9

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION including fixtures and results from the day, go to the dedicated QE Sevens microsite.

Head of Rugby, James Clarke (OE 1999–2004), who organises the tournament, says QE’s own teams are well-prepared for their big home event: “They have put in the hard work, including after-school training and warm-up tournaments. The U16s played in one at Norwich School and the U14s at Habs; they were competitive in both.”

QE Sevens, in fact, comes part-way through one of the most exciting stretches of the rugby season, with all year groups up to U16 playing in sevens tournament across this half-term.

“It’s high-intensity, high-action rugby, with so much more space than in the full-sided games. Matches are short, but it is still a big test of fitness, because of the pace of the game and the ground you need to cover,” Mr Clarke said.

U16 captain, Year 11’s Keir Parker-Delves, added: “We are really looking forward to the challenge of the tournament, where we get to play against some of the top schools in the country. We’ve been on a long journey together as an age group and this is one of the last times we’ll get to play as a team on our home soil.”

(In the Sixth Form, year groups are mixed.)

Aquatics: SWIMMING Senior swimming swansong – but the younger boys are coming up fast All three QE swimming teams qualified for the county finals held this month at Haberdashers’ Boys’ School, which meant that pupils from Year 8 to Year 13 were able to compete against some of the best swimmers in the country.

Races were held in all four strokes, and there were medleys and relays as well.

The teams qualified by accruing points at other meets during the season, with the scores thus reflecting consistency of attendance and performance. QE’s intermediate team (‘inters’ – Years 9 & 10) had qualified in second place for these finals.

SPRING TERM, 2022

The inters then duly impressed on the night, placing second overall, with outstanding wins for Rocco Giustiniani (butterfly, Year 10) and William Fawcett (front crawl/freestyle, Year 9), and a personal best time for Suryansh Sarangi, of Year 10, in the backstroke.

The junior team not only acquitted themselves well in the individual competitions, but also won the medley relay – a thrilling victory by the closest of margins.

It was also sadly the last event for some of QE’s senior swimmers, who have represented the School for seven years.

Current captain Yuto Watanabe, of Year

13, said the finals represented “a proud moment for me”, adding that he is excited to see what QE can achieve next year, having been impressed with the attitude and commitment of the rising generation.

A great deal of swimming training is done through water polo, where there is a large overlap in participants. However, there is also a Friday lunchtime programme for swim team practice, involving coached sessions delivered by the PE department, where the focus is on areas such as technique and achieving best times.

There is also an early-morning Élite Swimming Club, which runs twice a week as an extra-curricular option.

BACK / NEXT

BACK TO CONTENTS

Aquatics: WATER POLO

Strength in the depths

With few boys having any experience of water polo before they come to QE, there is always much to be done to turn swimmers into players. The rules of the game have to be taught, drills and tactics learned, and, using techniques such as the eggbeater kick*, the skills needed not only to move but also to stay still in the water must be mastered.

Thanks to the thoroughness of this training and to the quality of facilities available here – there are very few double deep-end pools that can host national-level water polo, and the Martin Pool is the envy of many – QE’s water polo programme has kicked back strongly from the disruption caused to fixtures by the pandemic.

These achievements place QE in the top ten teams in the country at each age group and give us the opportunity to qualify for the finals, open to the top six schools.

Our U13 and U15 teams will not have to travel for their semi-finals, with QE invited to host the semis for these age groups (U15 on 10th March; U13 on 15th March). The U18s will play at Northampton in their semi-finals.

The semi-finals involve QE’s teams playing a number of fixtures: • U18s compete against: Northampton; City of London; Trinity (Croydon); and Bolton • U15s face: King Edward VI, Birmingham; Trinity (Croydon); and Whitgift • U13s play: Warwick; Bedford; and Habs.

* a style of treading water where the swimmer’s legs alternate one-legged breaststroke kicks.

It allows the swimmer to remain stable in the water.

It is now producing great success.

All three of the age groups that compete in National Schools Water Polo competitions (U13, U15 and U18) have reached the semi-final stages.

The U18s won three of their four matches at Northampton, while the U15s secured first place in their QE-hosted competition, with two wins and a draw.

SPRING TERM, 2022

BACK / NEXT

BACK TO CONTENTS

Focus on Fives QE is certainly punching above its weight in Eton Fives, and is gaining plaudits from many in the wider Fives community along the way. The sport is increasingly popular at the School, which is seeing more and more success in competitions, despite the challenge of QE having only one court at present.

Fives has a long history at QE, with the first courts opened at the old Wood Street premises as early as 1880, following a £10 grant from the Governors and a special fund-raising concert. Although the sport languished for a period after the School moved to Queen’s Road in 1932, the rebuilding programme of 1951-52 brought plans for a new court. By 1954, the court was complete; QE was affiliated to the Eton Fives Association, entering the Public Schools Championships in 1955.

Today the boys benefit from the expertise of PE teacher Oliver O’Gorman, who has helped bring through a number of highly capable and promising players. There is also external coaching twice per week, which has been hugely beneficial over recent years. Boys are fully introduced to the sport as of Year 9, although trials are being held with the current Year 8s to identify potential players.

This term has seen further progress, with U14, U15 and Senior pairs all now competing to win places in the Eton Fives Association’s (EFA) National Schools’ Championships being held at Eton College later this month.

The U15s travelled to Harrow School for the nationals qualifying round, where seven pairs represented the School.

All seven finished either first, second or third in their groups, which meant they progressed into the main competition.

Pairs 1 and 3 were then handed byes to Round 3, as they had won their groups.

Of the remaining pairs, 2, 4 and 5 progressed through Round 2.

SPRING TERM, 2022

In Round 3, pairs 1 and 3 won, meaning they reached the day’s quarter-finals, which was the criterion for reaching the national finals. Pair 1 comprises Rishabh Bhatt and Dinuk Dissanayake, and pair 3, Yathoosan Suthash and Abhay Halyal, all of Year 10. Pair 1 went on to even greater success on the day, besting Aldenham School in the quarter-final and Ipswich in the semi, before losing to Mill Hill in the final.

Fives Facts Eton Fives is a hand-ball game developed in the late 19th century at Eton College.

It is played only as ‘doubles’ (i.e. by two pairs of players); there is no official ‘singles’ version of the game.

The ball may only hit the floor once, but may bounce off the walls and ledges any number of times. Games are generally played up to a score of 12, with a pair only scoring when it is their serve.

The ball, which is a little larger than a golf-ball and made of cork and rubber, is quite hard. Players wear padded leather gloves.

Like all Eton Fives courts, QE’s, shown here, has only three sides, and is open at the back. It includes architectural features of the Eton College chapel, including a protruding buttress.

BACK