A roundup of the weekend's matches from the Sports Department.

Netball
It was a tough day for our netball teams on Saturday playing against a very strong Kingswood School. The senior teams in particular were very impressive and although our girls played some of their best netball we were beaten into second place in all 4 matches.

The 1^st VII took a while to warm up and although they won the final quarter 13-8, they lost overall 30 goals to 52. Pandora and Harriet, in defence, gained the Players of the Match for the way they never gave up against an outstanding Kingswood attack.

The 2^nd VII started well, and again played very well but struggled to keep up as Kingswood gained momentum, and lost 27-14, with Rosie as Player of the Match.

The 3^rds finished with a score of 10 goals to 29, and it felt as though this was not a true reflection of the game, they moved the ball well, and defended well but could not convert their goals well enough. A great game for the team though with Player of the Match going to Daisy for her hard work in defence.  

The 4^ths played some of the best netball of their season this Saturday despite facing well drilled and highly skilled opponents, the 4^ths kept up their pace, defending extremely well. Nevertheless, they couldn’t quite match the accuracy of the opposition’s amazing shooters and lost 11 to 24. Player of the Match was Amelia.

The U14A and B teams started off the afternoon at home with 2 incredible wins though – really showing how strong our 3^rd Form are and how exciting the future is. The As won 25 -14 and the Bs won 14 goals to 7 with Molly, Georgina and Tia as Players of the Match. Unfortunately the 15As couldn’t quite keep this winning streak going and narrowly lost 24-18 with Tilly earning Player of the Match and finally the Bs had a tough defeat 21-5, Player of the Match was Charlotte.

Team of the week – the U14s.

Bethany Griffiths - Netball Coach

Hockey
It was a busy week of hockey with cup action and a block fixture with KES Bath. On Thursday afternoon, the 1^st XI hosted a good Monkton Combe side in Round 3 of the National Cup. Despite going behind early on, the boys played themselves into the game, controlling possession and creating some good chances. A very well taken Sam goal and a creative Leonard finish saw King’s go into half time 2-1 in the lead. Monkton hit back early in the second half as they equalised through a well taken penalty corner, however another smart finish from Leonard restored King’s lead. An excellent Theo strike on the final whistle secured an impressive 4-2 victory with Toby being named Man of the Match following some outstanding saves. They now look forward to hosting a talented King’s Gloucester team in the last 16.

On Saturday afternoon, King’s faced KES Bath in what was a very enjoyable block. The 1^st XI started brightly, however a poor 5 minute spell saw KES take a 2-0 lead as a couple of King’s mistakes were punished. However, to their credit, the boys kept playing and got themselves back into the game just before half time as Captain Peter scored from a penalty corner. The second half saw King’s dominate proceedings and Man of the Match Leonard equalised with a very smart finish. Despite having chances to win the game, King’s settled for a 2-2 draw, which from being 2-0 down showed great strength of character. The 2^nd XI drew 0-0 against a capable KES Bath side. The opposition created the better of the chances in the first half with Ollie making a string of good saves to keep it goalless. King’s began to take control in the second half and played some attractive hockey, but unfortunately, were also unable to break the deadlock. In the end a draw was a fair result. Man of the match was Luke.

The 3^rd XI  won 6-0 after an excellent performance which saw the team dominate KES. Simple passing and pace were used effectively with goals coming from Alex, Ollie, Archie, Rowan and Felix. Man of the Match was Felix for his strong work down the right flank. It demonstrated the strength of King’s hockey that the 4^th XI were able to put out a team and loan KES 5 players for half a game. In the first half King’s started slowly and lacked discipline as they found it hard to play against their team mates. But a well worked goal meant the half time score was 1-0. In the second half King’s 4^th XI played the full KES 3^rd XI and performed to a much higher standard and a greater intensity. Two fantastic goals and some strong defence from Will and Rory  meant that the 4^th XI won 3-1.

The U15As put out a superb team performance showing their potential. The game was end to end, with some great attacking play from the team. The score ended 3-3 with all 3 goals being scored by Aled. It was a fantastic to see the boys play some really outstanding hockey with notable mentions to Oscar, Seamus and Aled and Player of the Match being Kit, who controlled the game with ease. The U15bs lost 2 -0. Sadly, they were a little shapeless but there was no shortage of fight. Despite not having the ball for long periods of time, KES found it hard to score such was the terrier like tenacity of the team. The KES second goal was a very flukey one and Man of the Match was Elih. The U14As played their best hockey of the season against a strong KES side. They went 1-0 down early on in the first half as they left 6 KES players unmarked on a counter attack and they ended up with a 2 v 1 against the goalkeeper which they executed well. However, King’s were not disturbed by this and carried on playing a style of hockey which eventually resulted in a strong attack finished off nicely with a clinical finish from Will, leaving the final score 1-1.

Special mentions go to Will, Ruben, Charlie, Oscar and Ollie but the Man of the Match was Captain Hugo who wouldn’t have looked out of place in the 1^st XI. Finally, the U14Bs were involved in a thrilling game which was an interesting match played against a more physical and determined team. Despite being 4-1 down at half time, King’s managed to claw it back to 3-4, but two lapses in concentration meant a 6-3 loss. Unfortunately, it was a simple case of not marking your man. However, King’s showed great spirit throughout. Well done to Players of the Match Alvaro and Ned.

Henry Eriksson - Director of Hockey