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Sport
driven the parent support groups for hockey and rowing
respectively.
As ever, a big thank you as well should go to Ray and
his site team for the maintenance and care of the sports
grounds and facilities we have at the school. I would also
like to thank our outgoing Sports Prefects Noah Sharples
and Sian Douglass for their hard work throughout the year
as well as all the individual team captains from years 7 to
VI form. Pupil leadership is an essential ingredient to the
success of sport at the school and I look forward to warmly
welcoming next year’s Sports Prefects Alicia Povey and
Robbie Stewart. I hope you enjoy the sports articles in this
year’s Borlasian and are inspired to play harder next year.
Mr Robertson
Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School’s Olympic Evening of Hockey
Thursday 14
th
March 2013
This year, Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School hosted an evening graced with a selection of Hockey Heroes from the
London 2012 Olympics.
The evening opened with three of the School’s current Junior England Hockey Internationals, Noah Sharples, Livy Paige
and Jack Clee, participating in a Q&A session led by the School’s Senior Hockey Coach Kevin Chappell. The session set the
scene by revealing details about the training structure that the U16 and U18 National Age Group Squads have to follow,
covering nutrition, pre- and post-match activities and match analysis.
The evening’s entertainment unfolded and encompassed all aspects of hockey with Emma Batchelor, physiotherapist to
the GB women’s hockey team, who spoke of her physiotherapy journey and her “incredible experience” in helping the
Great Britain women’s hockey team to a bronze medal at the London Olympics and Frances Block who was one of only
4 GB hockey umpires at the 2012 Olympics, and the only female GB umpire.
The evening culminated with an incredibly motivational and moving talk from Olympic Bronze Medallist, Alex Danson,
who shared her experiences from school hockey to representing Great Britain, as well as missing out on the ultimate
goal, the Olympic Gold.
Much of what was said by the three guests referred back to the words of the Junior Internationals, which clearly
demonstrated to the assembly that there is a recurrent theme no matter what level of hockey is played, and that it all
starts with grassroots participation.
Craig Robertson, Head of PE at the School, said of the evening; “With so many young pupils present I am certain they will
have left and dreamed the dream. I certainly did!” Other comments included, “What an engaging night. It could have
gone on for another hour and kept the audience on the edge of their seats.”
With the embers of the London 2012 Olympic flame so long extinguished, the event clearly demonstrated that the
Olympic Legacy is still very much alive, kicking and thriving.
Alex Clee
