Inter-House Sport
Last week saw our second inter house sport event of the year with fantastic levels of play in both the football and netball competitions across year 7-10 groups. Students enjoyed competing for their houses with many students writing out detailed team sheets and tactics ahead of each day. See the results on the link below and we look forward to our next inter house event in the spring term!
Extra-curricular programme
Please see below our extra-curricular sports programme for the upcoming Spring term. Other than swim club, students can attend on the day without signing up. You will also notice that we have an action packed Saturday fixture football card. Our key events in Athletics are the District Sportshall Athletics which we host. This will include around 20-25 of our Year 9 & 10 sports leaders running the event at Wodson, this will be a great experience for our students as well as the opportunity gain vital employability skills in the process. We also look forward to the District Indoor Athletics Championships on Monday 22nd January, where we will be attending with a strong team of Year 7-11 students. Lots to look forward too and please visit the sports pages for more information on upcoming fixtures – https://www.simonballe.herts.sch.uk/sport/
Football
Year 7 Boys went through to the last 32 of the National Cup. They were able to hold up against a very strong Woodlands academy side with the first 40 minutes of the game being end to end. Max F was then able to finally beat their keeper with 2 fantastic strikes at goal leading to a final result of 2-0. Now looking forward to the 6th round in the new year where we face one of either St Ivo’s or Northampton school for Boys.
The U14 girls played the third round of the county cup against a very tough side Ridgeway Academy. The girls conceded early on in the game but battled hard in the weather conditions to bring it to 2-2 at half time with goals from Emily and Tilly. With it all to play for in the second half the girls managed to get a last minute goal by Aidan to bring the game to 3-3. Unfortunately the girls lost 3-5 on penalties, but it was a performance to be proud of. We look forward to the District cup in the new year.
Y7 Girls before their County Cup game earlier this month
The Year 11 boy’s have had a fantastic start to the season showing real potential within the national cup however we came up against a very strong side from Kingsford Community School. After an 80 minute battle it only came down to 1 goal against us from a well drilled side. In the final minutes of the game we applied the pressure and had plenty of opportunities to equalise however their defensive line was very strong and able to hold us out. The side are now looking forward to the District cup starting in the new year.
Senior Boys victory
The senior boys football team are through to the quarter final of the county cup after beating Tring School 4-1. The whole team played really well but a special mention has to go to Ellis M for his hat trick from centre midfield. The other goal scored by Alfie P on his debut for the Senior team. The quarter final will be after Christmas against either Merchant Taylors or Beaumont school.
Hockey news
Hockey training has been well attended with the addition of boys training. We are looking forward to the boys fixtures beginning after Christmas and entering the county tournament again at the end of January.
Netball News
The year 8s have been working hard at training despite the cold, wet afternoons. The A team have been competing in the county cup and had a tough semi-final game against Presdales. The team showed excellent resilience and determination against the strong side. There were moments of brilliance in the through court attack, demonstrating good speed and timing. However it was an unfortunate loss which meant we were knocked out of the country cup league. The A and B team also played Presdales again in a friendly fixture. The A team showed excellent progression and narrowed the gap in the score line compared to the previous game. Maya T showed excellent composure and dominance in attack. The B team had a closely contested game. It was fantastic to see Lila T play GD and get numerous interceptions and tips, despite playing out of position.
We have had to rearrange our friendly fixture against Chauncy so we look forward to taking them on in the new year.
Rugby News
Over the past month Year 7 & Year 8 teams have performed very well on a weekly basis.
Last week both teams played against Haileybury College, with the Year 7 team winning convincingly, this being their 4th consecutive victory and now look forward to Herts and District competitions during the Spring term.
The Year 8 team came back from 4 tries to nil at half time to draw the game 20-20, with tries from Jack T, Maxwell R (2) & Ben H. It was a great performance from the team and a great end to their school rugby season.
Swimming News
We had our first friendly gala of this academic year last Friday and it was great to see some excellent swimming across the year groups from our Simon Balle students.
There were some excellent individual swims; Sadie won her freestyle and butterfly races. Toby won his butterfly race. Zara won her butterfly race and Rex won his butterfly event too. We had some 2nds in breaststroke and backstroke for Willow, Matilda in breaststroke, Lilia in breaststroke.
The year 9/10 girls team won their freestyle relay and the senior team won the medley relay with the year 7 and 8 girls and boys teams both coming 2nd. The teams were made up of the following students, a massive well done to you all:
Rex, Alfie, Owen, Emily, Lilia, Frez, Annabel, Olly, Harry, Charlie, Toby, Zara, Abi, Willow, Matilda, Sadie. We have the District galas coming up in March!
Swimming club for all abilities is on Monday mornings during term time 7:40am – please see Mrs Castle if you would like to attend.
Finally we wish you all a happy Christmas from the PE & Sport Department and we look forward to a sporting 2024.
