Sports

The U13 Ashfold Tournament

We were approaching the tournament as we do for everything else, confident and determined to win. But we were all definitely feeling the heat, especially after seeing the rest of the teams warm up. It was very cold and slippery on court but that would definitely not stand as an excuse to let our standard of play fall. We knew we were in a tough section so we decided to take it one game at a time. Our first match was against Akeley Wood; we were excited and very nervous at the same time. We got off to a slow start and by the time we started getting into the flow it was half time. We eventually won the match 12-0. We went on to play our second match against Lord Williams’s with great confidence; our aim was to play our best from the very beginning and believe me it isn’t as easy as it sounds. We did manage to win the match. We knew that we only needed to win one more match to get into the semi-finals so we were incredibly excited and hyped up. Unfortunately seven incredibly hyped up girls does not make for the best netball, but in the second half we got our act together and we managed to win the match. We wanted to get a full house so that meant we had to win the final match in our group and that was against Waddesdon. We had never played against this team so we had no idea how they played but we went with our minds set on the prize and we came up triumphant winning 10-0. We were all very happy with our play especially our individual defence, as we did not let any goals in for the first four matches. We were all waiting to see who we would be playing in the semi-finals. and we were to meet the reigning champions Ashfold school themselves. We were nervous as we had heard how well they could play. We came in for our team talk and with new found confidence we swapped sides and started to play. The end result came up in our favour and we managed to win 10-4. Off we headed to the final against the strong Spratton Hall. The match was close, we were missing one of our players. We scored and they scored and this repeated itself until one of our players intercepted the ball and we managed to use it to get ourselves one goal up. Then the whistle went for full time, never have I been so glad for a netball match to finish. This did mean we were the winners. Not only did we get an incredibly shiny trophy for our merits but we won the best defenders award and our reward was a brand new match ball. It was a great end to a great day.

Written by Charithra Chandran (8O)
(Captain)

U15 VII GDST Netball Tournament

Very early on Wednesday 3rd February, the U15 netball team travelled to Bromley High School in Kent for the GDST Trust Rally. In the group stage, OHS were up against some strong competition, with their first match against Wimbledon. It was a slow start resulting in a 5-9 loss but all was forgotten when they next played Notting Hill, who they beat 10-8. The toughest game of the group stage was against Sheffield which was extremely close (and needless to say nerve-wracking for the substitutes!) which ended in a well deserved 7-5 win for Oxford. Some many needed goals were scored during the last game of the morning versus Blackheath, which was won 21-0.

Once all of the group matches had been played, Oxford was announced the winner of their group (on goal difference) and then went on to play in the main draw, for the GDST Cup. Bromley was the next match with another win, after extra time, of 11 goals to 9. Having got into the semi-finals, OHS were up against Newcastle, a notoriously good team. It was a tough match with everyone playing to their best ability but in the end Oxford missed out on the final and were beaten by Newcastle 12-6. It was an enjoyable day, despite the cold weather, with a high standard of netball and a great result of 3rd out of 22 teams from the U15 netballers.

Written by Georgia Cahill (10S)
(Captain)

U15 VII Netball County Tournament

On Monday 16th November, the U15 VII travelled to St. Helen's and St. Katherine's for the annual county netball tournament. They won their group by winning their first three matches against St, Edward's, Tudor Hall B and King Alfred's and then drawing against Lord William's. In the semi-finals versus Tudor Hall A, they won 7-5 and later in the final, went on to face St. Edward's again and emeged as county champions after beating them 8-5. It was an excellent day with high quality netball and good effort on behalf of both the OHS A and B teams.

U16 XI Regional Hockey Success

After a fantastic victory in the Oxfordshire County Tournament the Oxford High School U16XI arrived at Wellington College for the heats of their Regional tournament with a fair amount of trepidation in their hearts. These events, known throughout the school for their stiff competition, had rarely ever produced a qualification place for the next stage however this time we were ready to turn that conception on its head.

However, in our first match we came up against the toughest opposition of the day and went down 3-0 despite playing some very good hockey. However determined to still get that second qualifying place we went on to win out next match 1-0 and lined up to face local rivals Stowe School in the third game. After a goal from the opposition quickly following half time a late show of composure and mental strength was needed and a promising attack lead to a stunning short corner conversion to bring things level. With three matches to go we were all aware that to go through to the semi-final stage we needed to win each one and that there were no second chances. However the pressure did not get to the team and we managed to come out of the next two matches with 1-0 wins. Our last match of the day was one of toughest with the fatigue really taking its toll but a truly stunning, last minute run by Charlotte Burrows (10H) put us in the lead and with the final whistle we knew we had a place in the regional finals.

The following Wednesday we once again travelled to Wellington College to face an opposition we knew to be well drilled and fearsome. St George’s were a very strong team and though we lost we learnt a great. So with our heads held high we returned to Oxford High School knowing we had played to the best of our ability and represented the school and ourselves well.

Written by Beth Warne (11S) Captain.

1st VII Netball Win

Congratulations to the 1st VII Netball team who won the GDST Plate.

On a cold and blustery day in Nottingham there were wins against Shrewsbury, Belvedere, Northampton, Sutton, Sydenham, Portsmouth and in the final, Heathfield.

The team were as follows:
THALIA ILSEN NUNN
SOPHIE STOWELL
HELEN MORGAN
MADELENE BANGHAM
RACHEL BLAKEY
JESSICA CREAK
ALICE VAUGHAN FOWLER
BRYONY O’NEILL
ALEX BRODEY
ISOBEL KNAPP (Captain)

1st XI GDST Trust Hockey Rally - 8th October 2009

A very early morning (which was actually only 8’oclock!) saw the bleary eyed 1st XI team travel to Tilsley Park for the GDST Hockey Tournament that they will be unlikely to forget.

The early games saw Oxford High School in the group stages with four games of 12 minutes and despite drawing the first game against Newcastle the side went on to beat Sutton, Howells ands Nottingham and in winning the last game topped the group.

In the Quarter-Final Oxford High School beat Northampton on penalty strokes after the game finished 1-1 (Beth Warne) and when Rosie Nagle had scored her flick for Oxford, goal keeper Rachel Spiro saved the next Northampton stroke to send Oxford High School into the semi-finals against Bromley.

In the semi-final Oxford played their best hockey of the day and early pressure resulted in Oxford scoring two early goals and despite a late consolation from Bromley Oxford did not let them back into the game and went into the final against an impressive Wimbledon side.

In the final, once again Oxford got off to a good start and took the lead when a cross to the top of the ‘D’ was put home but it was Wimbledon who had the better of the later stages of the first half and only some excellent defending from Rachel Blakey stopped Wimbledon from grabbing an equaliser.

However, in the second half Wimbledon scored straight away after a goal mouth scramble and then with time running out Oxford forced a short corner and after the initial shot had been saved Izzy Craft was on hand to lob the ball over the keeper and into the back of the net.

Wimbledon had time for one more attack but the Oxford defence stood firm and took the title.

Congratulations go to everyone on a tremendous victory.

Esmie Warne (Captain)

U16 Oxfordshire County Tournament

On Tuesday 20th October the Oxford High School U16 hockey team set off to Cokethorpe for their Oxfordshire County Tournament. In the first group match Oxford High beat Rye St. Antony with goals from Beth Warne (4), Charlotte Burrows (1) and Ellie Gilje (1).

Our next game was against St Edwards, our well respected rivals and once more the team rose to the occasion magnificently. With some fantastic defending from Faye Culpin and Imogen Vessey we were able to see off their early attacks and with Charlotte Burrow’s amazing shot into the top corner of the goal we had the lead going into half time. With great composure on the post Alex Brodey made the score 2-0 and a further short corner strike from Beth Warne made the final score a 3-0 victory.

As we went into our next match against Tudor Hall we were very nervous as we knew this to be our main opposition in the Tournament. Despite some fantastic saves from goalkeeper Lucy McIvor and great clearances we went 2-0 down by half time. Though a strong strike from Charlotte Burrows put us back in the game a late goal from Tudor put the final score at a 3-1 defeat.

Despite this we were still through to the semi-finals and we drew against the hosting team, Cokethorpe. With great pressure form Ema Stojanovic and Molly Warne we were able to keep the ball within their D for the majority of the match with Ellie Alberts opening the scoring with a great strike followed by two more extraordinary goals from Charlotte Burrows and finishing with a goal from Beth Warne to make it 4-0.

We were through to the final to face Tudor Hall, the team we had lost to in the group stages. Determined to make sure this was not a repeat of the morning’s encounter we went out extremely strong and Gabi Mabon found Charlotte Burrows in the ‘D’ and her shot made it 1-0 to Oxford. With Beth Warne converting another short corner we went into half time with a 2-0 lead.

However in the second half Tudor came out with a vengeance and despite some extraordinary defending from Franny Hurden at the back the score became level at 2-2 with only ten minutes to play. Rosie Van Oss saved shots again and again to keep them from taking the lead and with only 5 minutes left to play we broke into attack and won a short corner. A fantastic push out from Charlotte Hobbs went to Beth Warne at the top of the D who slipped the ball to Charlotte Burrows on her right. She hit it hard back to Hobbs on the post who coolly touched it into the back of the net. With very little time left to play there was nothing Tudor Hall could do and Oxford High School was crowned Oxfordshire County Champions.

Congratulations to everyone who played and a massive thank you to our coach Mrs Irvine.

Match Report by Beth Warne (captain)

Junior Golf

Imogen Vessey in 11H is a keen member of the Oxfordshire Girls’ Golf squad, and a junior member of the Chipping Norton golf team. Earlier in September she was part of the team which won the Oxfordshire League North Division for the second year in a row. They will go forward to play the South Division’s winning team, in a bid to retain the Oxfordshire title. Congratulations to Imogen.

Congratulations to our Tennis Players

Congratulations to Olivia Jagger (8H), Jess Oakhill (9O), Bea Beckerman (9O), Georgia Perkins (8O) and Sophie McIvor (9O) (U14 V1) and to Georgina Todd (10O), Charlotte Burrows (10H), Nell Boxall (11G) Hattie Freeman (11S) and Georgia Stevenson (11O), (U16 V1), Oxfordshire Champions in both age groups, for beating Bedford High School, Bedfordshire Champions, in the Regional knock out stages of the AEGON Team Tennis Schools National Competition.