The High School was delighted to host the GDST Autumn Rally on Tuesday 12 October, with over 400 students from across 21 GDST schools traveling to Northampton to compete in three sports, in the first Rally since the pandemic.
This signaled a return to the norm and proved to be a most memorable day for all involved. The sports included U18 Senior Hockey, U15 Football, and U14 Netball, with match reports from our staff and students listed below:
Senior Hockey: On 12 October, the 1st XI Hockey team took part in the GDST Northern Rally, which was held at Northampton High. The girls did really well to get to the next stage of the Rally, as all we had to do was drive to Nottingham and back. This meant the next time we faced the other GDST schools we would have a home advantage.
Our first challenge that we were faced before starting the tournament, was who should be our goalie. Due to our limited choice of goalkeepers, we settled on Poppy M–C who debuted for 3 matches. We were all set to take on Oxford High; the whole team came together with strong passes, good movements, and many opportunities to score, however, we were unable to find the back of the net. Unfortunately, Oxford scored in the last two minutes of the game, which we couldn’t replicate. Although it was our first loss of the day, as a team we were very proud of how we played and our aim for the tournament was to practise working together and understanding how each of us plays. Following on from this we played against Shrewsbury, where we were unlucky to lose. To complete the hattrick of losses we played against Norwich. Although we didn’t get out of the pool we had one more match to play, against Nottingham, which we bounced back with a 2-1 win with a goal from Lili T and a new goalie Eloise H.
Well done to the whole of the Hockey team and I hope to carry on the final win with our other games. Molly RC
U15 Football: On Tuesday, the U15 Football team played their first fixture of the year at the GDST Rally. The group stages began versus a challenging team of experienced players, Oxford High School, who played impressively to defeat us 6-0.
The team rallied to win their next three games versus Belvedere academy (2-0), Shrewsbury (4-0), and South Hampstead (3-2). This put us through to the quarter-final where we faced a strong side from Putney High. The teams were well matched and at the final whistle, the score was 0-0. The team agreed to go all out for the win in the 4 minutes of extra time but unfortunately conceded, the game finishing 1-0 to Putney. Overall an excellent performance from the Northampton players, many of whom were playing their first football fixture for the school. Miss Wall
U14 Netball: After many months without a match, the U14 Netball team competed in the GDST Autumn Rally. Teams had traveled from around the country providing Northampton High with some tough and varied competition.
The opening game was against a very good Norwich team. Play started fairly evenly matched, however, Norwich soon pushed ahead to take the win. Some of the results were close, others not so, however, the High School girls were able to try a variety of positions with some players swapping from attack to defence. Plenty of shooting opportunities throughout the morning and many different combinations in the circle were explored. The team has a lot of potential for the coming season and with hard work at training the girls should go from strength to strength.
Players’ Player of the Tournament went to Hattie and Tanishqua. Coaches Player went to Kirsten, as a defender and Tanishqua as an attacking player. Well done, everyone. Mrs Jennings
