Sports Report

SPORT

It 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.

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

major Interhouse competitions in the shape of House Football and Netball and it was fantastic to see so many pupils return back to playing sport properly.

Once the Summer Term arrived, it would not be out of place to say that it was uniquely something of a one-off: we not only saw inter-school fixtures return with the usual summer sports of Athletics, Cricket and Tennis, all for both boys and girls, but we also saw some Friday night Rugby fixtures, and it we were delighted to have the Third Form girls take to the Hockey pitch and Netball court for the first time for Wellington, even if it was a couple of terms late.

Unfortunately, COVID had one last surprise for us: local area COVID restrictions saw inter-school sport restricted in the closing weeks of the term, but this did then provide the chance instead to see a House Water Polo competition and a Lower Sixth Boys vs Girls Hockey fixture, which will arguably have been one of the most entertaining and hotly contested fixtures of the summer.

Despite all the disruptions to the year, an Interhouse competition was still completed, and we congratulate the Hopetoun in the Senior Girls, the Combermere in the Junior Girls, and the Beresford in both the Senior and Junior Boys.

As ever – but in such a challenging year even more so – we congratulate and thank everyone for their commitment to the Sports Programme, be they pupils, staff, or parents. It should not be overlooked that there have been a number of pupils who have still been able to excel in their sporting fields and we wish these pupils in particular the best of luck moving forwards, whether that be in Olympic sports such as Gymnastics; moving to US Universities in Hockey; stepping up to professional contracts in Rugby, Cricket and Polo; and all those achieving National success or trialling nationally in Athletics, Equestrian disciplines, Golf, Netball, Skiing, Target Shooting, Triathlon and Water Polo.

Finally, we once again end the academic year, as was the case in the summer of 2020, looking forward to what we hope will be a more stable sporting landscape from September 2021, not only in terms of interschool fixtures but also in terms of indoor sporting capacities and seeing spectators return in full to the wonderful sports arena that is Wellington.

Dan Pratt Director of Sport July 2021