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t would be an understatement to say that the 2020/21 academic year was a disrupted one on the sports front, but there were still many successful moments and initiatives to reflect on. The Michaelmas Term started with a hybrid of Winter and Summer sports offered, the first time this has ever been the case and only made possible due to the stunning efforts of the College Grounds Staff. Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions nearly all interschool fixtures were lost, excluding a handful of Cricket, Football and Golf matches, but the College was still hugely privileged and lucky to be able to continue offering what was largely a full training and internal sports programme, albeit with significant changes seen in terms of year group bubbles, capacity limits for in indoor activities and the ever present need for scrupulous attention to hygiene.
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The Michaelmas Term restrictions on interschool competitive fixtures, this provided the opportunity to create an internal competition, ‘The Wellington Premier League.’ This allowed the provision of competitive internal fixtures in Football, Hockey and Rugby and appeared to be a well-received concept. The second National Lockdown in December 2021 also provided a chance for the College to collaborate with the Health & Fitness Centre to provide all year groups with increased access to the gym and pool, and for the first time in the College’s history, we were able to offer Group Exercise Classes on a regular basis, such as Spinning, Pilates and Yoga, all of which contributed to the pupils being able to maintain an active lifestyle, albeit with reduced competitive sport. After finishing the Michaelmas Term on something of a sporting high, the Lent Term began with the
disappointment of being back in the virtual world. Nevertheless, we saw activities offered such as online fitness classes, home based workouts and sports specific webinars and podcasts offered. The virtual sporting highlight of the term likely came from ‘The 2021 Challenge’, a remote House-based fitness challenge where the aim was for pupils within Houses to complete at least 2021 kilometres of exercise, such as running or cycling – but with the ultimate aim of completing the greatest distance possible. There were some fantastic efforts from across the College community, but in the end the winning House was the Wellesley covering nearly 6,000 kilometres. Thankfully, the Lent Term was not forced to finish with a virtual sporting offering, as we were able to return for the final few weeks of term, which provided an opportunity to return to some physical sport. This saw the chance to run two
