Football

Year 9 National Small Schools Cup Final – Blacon High v Ibstock Palace School at Madejski Stadium, Reading FC – 21^st May 2014

Blacon High School lost 3-2 in a fantastic U14 final against Ibstock at Reading FC. The match, held in a professional football stadium, proved to be an outstanding game between two very evenly matched teams, with Blacon unfortunate to lose the final. The PE department and SLT accompanied 120 students to Reading to cheer the lads on and the squad had close family and friends in the stands showing their support. Mr Sabri and assistant Mr Stroyd travelled down the day before the final, kitted out in new Prostar tracksuits and polo tops to prepare for the biggest game of the season. In a new Playstation sponsored black and white team strip, the team looked the part before taking on Ibstock School from London. Skipper Brandon Burrows walked out with team mascot, Archie Sabri - the manager’s son, and he seemed to enjoy the incredible occasion. The lads were punished for a slow start to the game with Ibstock going 2-0 up after five minutes. We responded well with Harley Bennion playing in to Calyn Barlow who fired past the oncoming keeper. Blacon grew into the game and Calyn got his second goal of the game, heading in a free kick from Brandon Burrows. The lads went in 2-2 at half time and showed great character from being 2-0 down.

The second half saw Ibstock take the lead again, this time through a bicycle kick into the top corner as we failed to clear a corner kick. The lads dug deep, Kieran Ball had a shot saved and their keeper somehow saved a Kyle John effort with his outstretched leg. Kyle John was denied a penalty kick after being wiped out by the keeper and Calyn Barlow had a well struck shot blocked inside the 6 yard box. Brandon Burrows, who was outstanding all game was pulling the strings in midfield and got us on the attack with his accurate passes and driving runs forward with the ball. Harley Bennion had an effort cleared away and we had a header just wide towards the end as Ibstock held on to win a close game 3-2 with Blacon finishing the stronger team.

Blacon manager Dave Sabri was extremely proud of his team as they have come so far and so close in this special cup competition and remained upbeat as the squad thanked the travelling school, family and friends for their memorable support at the Madejski stadium.

Handball

Blacon girls and boys under 13’s Handball team played a round robin tournament at Tarporley High School to determine Chester’s representative at the Cheshire and Warrington Summer games.  Both teams played fixtures against Tarporley, Christleton and Upton High School. The tournament was played in good spirits with all teams playing decent attacking and defensive Handball. The girls lost all three close matches with Ellie May Challinor and Hollie Burrows threatening in attack. The boy’s team finished third and lost close games to Tarporley (3-1) and Christleton (5-2) with Charlie Cottis and Marcel Aziamale scoring powerful goals. Blacon did put in the performance of the night and beat a strong Upton High School team 3-0 with Marcel, Charlie and Cameron Eymond scoring the crucial goals and Jamie Jones excellent in goal.

Cricket

The Year 7 team played their first game of pairs Cricket against Abbeygate in the sports hall and bowled well with Cameron Eymond and Bradley Broadbent getting their first batsmen out. Captain Mason Cree was decent in bat and scored some boundaries but we eventually lost by 35 runs to a strong Abbeygate team.

The Crash ‘N’ Bash Cricket season started for our under 13 and under 15 cricket teams. Both lost their opening fixture to Heber , the under 13 team scored 43 runs in 8 overs thanks to good batting by Ethan Parker and Cameron Eymond. Heber responded well and scored an impressive 70 to win the match and Logan Moore made an impressive catch to get one of their batters out. Against Abbeygate, the under 15’s fielded well to keep Abbeygate to 72 runs. Wicketkeeper Scott Dixon made an impressive catch at slip and Tyler Dalton got his deserved wicket when bowling. We collapsed with the bat against accurate fast bowlers but enjoyed playing on their fantastic wicket and playing surface. The under 13 team kept Abbeygate to 62 runs with Charlie Cottis and Marcel Aziamale bowling well with Jack Lockley and Tom Burns impressive in the field. Blacon scored some impressive runs but inconsistency when batting cost the team as we were bowled out for 43. Both teams have matches against Christleton and Bishops Bluecoat as we aim for our first win of the season.

Rounders

The girls’ Rounders teams have practiced hard and performed well to beat Upton High School Year 9 and 10 teams with Shannon Watson and Kayleigh Spencer excellent in bat. Both teams went on to beat the Queens School and the Year 7 and 8 teams won their first games against Queens Park High School. Blacon hosted friendly matches against Bishops Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 teams and everyone apart from the Year 8 team recorded victories. The under 15s reached the next stage of their district tournament with Skyla Spencer, Clare Jones and  Kayleigh Spencer influential in winning their group games.

Star Players:

Year 7 – Sophie Jones

Year 8 – Beth Irvine

Year 9 – Shannon Watson

Year 10 – Kayleigh Spencer

Since securing funding from Sport Cheshire for a Community Rounders Club and girls’ Rounders League, 16 girls completed the Rounders Leader qualification and 12 girls became Level  1 umpires. During May Half term, 8 girls will become Level 1 qualified Rounders Coaches to ensure Rounders becomes a summer sport for girls to access in Blacon outside school. The community club has been a huge success with school workers, ex pupils and mums playing friendly games weekly. The four team Rounders league started 15^th May and has attracted up to 50 girls during its first round of fixtures last week. The teacher team looks like the team to beat and all girls are encouraged to take part 4.30pm every Thursday.

Fitness

Mr Cairns took 12 Year 9 and 10 students to Zone Fitness in Neston to carry out a 50 minute Gladiator Circuits training session. The workout was built around resistance and body weight exercises working core muscles. It was a challenging and intense workout and the students used a lot of different apparatus such as tyres, ropes, sledgehammers and kettlebells.

BEV PE

Within the BEV PE, Miss Flynn, Mr Cairns, Mr Forbes and Mrs Carr have delivered high quality PE lessons to local BEV primary schools and the PE department hosted the Year 5 and Year 6 girls and boys Kwick Cricket competition, which was a huge success, with the aim of boys and girls playing proper cricket to showcase their fielding, batting and bowling skills. It was enjoyed by all schools, staff and pupils and the boys’ competition was won by St Theresa’s and the girls’ competition was won by JH Godwin.

The BEV PE teaching team hosted a Uni Hockey tournament for our Year 3 and Year 4 pupils with the aim of giving younger pupils the chance to experience competition in an enjoyable team game. The tournament was officiated by Mr Forbes and Mr Cairns and all teams demonstrated excellent team work and improved every game they played. The Arches were the winners and Dee Point were runners up in another excellent competition held by the BEV PE teaching team.