Indoor Athletics success

Last week we took a strong team to the District Indoor Athletics Championships and they certainly delivered. 12 students won individual events as well as winning 3 of the overall team events. This was our best performance since entering the competition nearly 12 years ago. The performer of the day was Emily W, who ran an excellent 300m in the Junior girls breaking the District record with a time of 46.0 secs, a phenomenal time which certainly puts her as one of the fastest athletes in the County. Other excellent female performances came from Caitlin B winning the Triple Jump (Junior, 8.65m), Amelia L winning the Long Jump (Inter – 4.15m), Elizabeth K winning the High Jump (Inter, 1.50m), Naomi P winning the 300m (Inter, 46.2secs), Eve R winning the 800m in 2.47 (Minor) and the Year 10/11 (Inter) girls won the 4 x 200m relay quite convincingly. 

Overall our Girls team finished 2nd out 13 schools competing, only 8 points off first place. The following are the age group overall positions; 

Year 7 Girls (Minor) – 1st

Year 8/9 Girls (Junior) – 3rd

Year 10/11 Girls (Inter) – 2nd

In the boys competition we had similar success with the following winning individual titles;

Mason K winning the 60m (Minor, 8.5secs), Oliver B winning the 300m (Junior, 41.4secs), Max F winning the 200m (Minor, 30.2 secs), Oliver P winning the High Jump (Inter, 1.60m) and the Year 7 Boys 4 x 200m Relay were victorious. As well as these winners, there were so many other excellent performances which culminated in the Boys team winning the overall competition, the first time we have won this competition and really shows the depth of athletics talent that we have at Simon Balle. The following were the age group overall positions;

Year 7 Boys (Minor) – 1st

Year 8/9 Boys (Junior) – 7th

Year 10/11 Boys (Inter) – 3rd

Well done to everyone who competed and now we look forward with anticipation to a very exciting outdoor athletics season with the following competitions coming up;

• Herts County Athletics League – 7 meetings
• Herts schools Athletics Championships
• District Athletics Championships
• And many more opportunities. 

Our next big event takes place this Saturday in St. Albans where our students will be competing in the County Cross Country Championships, all hoping to make the Nationals in March. Good luck to all those competing and will update you on our social media platforms. 

Sportshall Athletics

Last Wednesday we again hosted and organised the prestigious District Sportshall Athletics League. This year we have a record entry of 9 schools making this one of the most competitive leagues in recent times. Each school will compete over 2 rounds with the teams with the most points winning overall. In the Year 7 competition,the winning schools will go forward to the County schools competition in March. 

On the night we had over 20 Year 9 and Year 10 Sports Leaders who did an excellent job allowing the competition to run very smoothly, the overall results for Simon Balle on the night were;

Year 7 Girls – 3rd

Year 7 Boys – 1st

Year 8 Girls – 3rd

Year 8 Boys – 4th

Our next competition takes place this coming Wednesday at Wodson Park with a 4pm start. 

Football News

Year 7 Boys go close to reaching the last 16

A few weeks ago the Year 7 boys played Northampton school for boys in a closely contested game. Simon Balle were the stronger team over the first 10-15 mins when Northampton took control with 2 goals in quick succession from outside the box. After half time, the boys came out strongly with lots of attacking intent and managed to score early in the second half with a spectacular goal from Mason K from outside the box. In the final 5mins Simon Balle through everything they had at Northampton Boys but just fell short losing out 2-1. It was a very spirited performance from all, displaying lots of resilience and courage. The boys now look forward to competing in the District cup, where after their exploits in the National cup stand a good chance of success. 

Year 8 Boys update 

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity for some of our Year 8 boys to play against Chauncy in a friendly match, for some this was the first time they had played for the school. In a closely contested match, Simon Balle went 2-0 with a great opening goal for Jacob L. In the second half, Chauncy came back to score 3 goals without reply to win 3-2. Well done to the team on a great performance and especially to the many debutants. Player of the match was Lui N. 

Last Saturday we had our first block fixture against Sandringham School. Over 70 boys had the opportunity to represent our school across Year 7-10. The results from Saturday were as follows; 

Year 7A – 5-0 win

Year 7B – 3-5 loss

Year 8 – 6-1 win

Year 9 – 0-3 loss

Year 10 – 0-2 loss

The Year 10 Boys Football team have had a successful month, especially in the District cup, beating Richard Hale 4-1 to reach the District Football semi final, with goals from Sam B (2), Olly S and James W.

Senior Boys update

Senior boys football county cup quarter final vs Merchant Taylors to take place on Wednesday 7th February.

Our upcoming Saturday football fixtures are as follows; 

10/02 v Katherine Warrington

02/03 v Roundwood School

16/03 v John Warner

23/03 v Sir John Lawes

 

Girls Football Report

We have a great run of fixtures for the girls this month! The U14 Girls have played 2 District Cup games winning one and narrowly missing out on a win with the other. Two strong performances from the girls and we await to see if we have done enough to progress into the next round. The U12 and U13 Girls have had a successful week with two back to back wins. On Tuesday 30th the U13’s had a successful 5-0 win against Longdean in the ESFA National Cup, securing their place in round 2. Their next game is against South Hampstead on the 8th February. POTM Lola Wildig. On Wednesday 31st the U12’s had a tough battle against Goffs Academy in the District Cup, winning 5-2. POTM Darcy B.

Netball News

On Wednesday 31st the year 10 team travelled to Sherrardswood School to compete in the semi-final of the County Plate. Injuries to the squad led to a call up for year 9 student Olive M. The girls started off nervously with goals being scored by both teams but towards the end of the first quarter the nerves settled and the girls had a 12-6 lead. The second quarter saw them extend their lead slightly with excellent play all over the court. The second half saw Simon Balle putting in a dominant display taking control of the game and working hard for each other to maintain possession. After an excellent performance the score finished 41-26 to Simon Balle who now await to see who we will face in the final! Well done to Annie B, Scarlett B, Laurel S, Lottie O, Chloe G, Carline C, Sophie G, Olive M and team manager Emma K.

Hockey News

Well done to the U13 boys hockey team for their first fixture against Haileybury. The boys really settled into the game and had periods of excellent game play. Player of the match went to Matt N who had an outstanding game in goal. We look forward to building on this at the County tournament next week.

Basketball News

Well done to the Year 8 team who have so far played JWS and Broxbourne schools in the District league, displaying fantastic levels of resilience across both games.