Students continue to thrive in fantastic sports season!

Congratulations to Abhijay Chawda (4FOX) who recently captained West Cheshire & Wirral Junior Academy Centre (JAC) squad as they were crowned North Champions.

Having finished in the top two in the North West whilst competing against other JAC squads, Abhijay and the team qualified to play the North East/Yorkshire equivalent in Leeds. Following a fantastic day of Hockey, West Cheshire & Wirral prevailed thus securing their title as North Champions. This is a hugely impressive achievement as the JAC squads act as feeder for the higher level Regional Performance Centres in what is the official England Hockey representative pathway. We wish Abhijay the very best and hope to see him feature alongside Paul Kroeze (4WAL) in the Regional Performance Centres in the near future.

We were also delighted to find out that several Senior School students have been involved with the parallel ‘Tensworth’ (NW) Hockey squads either at or in preparation for their UK tournaments. Jacob Popplewell (SHGRO) played for the Tensworth team which won the Boys event, going on to be selected for the UK Lions group as a result, with Alex Starling (SHDUT) also competing for the Wales team at Nottingham. Barnaby Wallis (RMNG), Ben Kroeze (RMDR), Joe Osborne (RMDR) and Theo Irvine (RMMW) also played for other Tensworth squads at the tournament. In July, the girls take the stage with Izzy Whittlestone (SHGRO), Willow Waggott (SHWAL), Kate Braley (SHWER), Millie Webb (SHBRD) and Lydia Bills (SHGLA) all selected after recent Tensworth training sessions. 

Further successes include King’s 1st team Hockey Captain Aled Bennett (L6GRO) crowning a fine season with his first involvement with the Wales Mens’ Senior squad in Cardiff. Having played in junior age groups, and captaining the U19 squad, training with the squad who have just returned from the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games was a great honour. Aled missed part of the season with a broken wrist, so to bounce back in this way is hugely commendable, and the feedback received indicates that he will be retained in the training squad for future sessions. King’s now has both 1st team captains in the Senior Wales squad activity following Izzie Howell’s inclusion in the Commonwealth Games squad in Australia where she won her first senior caps.

Finally, congratulations to Izzy Whittlestone, Jess Sedman (SHWAL), Elinor Fotheringham (SHLES) and Lydia Bills who recently won both the Cheshire U13 League and the Manchester Reddish League with Chester Netball Club following a mammoth 22 game season. These leagues include an array of the best Netball teams in the North West, making the girls’ achievements even more impressive.