A fantastic celebration of team and individual sporting achievement for our U15’s upwards was held on Friday 20th May inJubilee Hall as we welcomed families to our annual Sportswomen’s Dinner.  

Amongst good food, excellent company and friendly discussion, captains of our Hockey, Netball, Equestrian, Cricket, Tennis, Volleyball and Cross Country teams shared their season reports and awards were presented to outstanding players.  This is shared below. 

The pinnacle of the evening was the presentation of our Sports Development Cup,  always awarded to the one student who we think has made outstanding progress in the year.  This year, we were delighted to award the Sports Development Cup to Megan Rosendale for being a valued member of both the U15 Volleyball and Indoor Cricket Squad and always showing a desire to improve in every single sport she has participated in. 

Nine students with exceptional individual sporting successes were also celebrated: Imogen Wolff (Cycling), Hollie Bott (Volleyball), Leah Davis (Hockey), Isobel McAndrew (Figure Skating), Millie Wood and Charlie Grant (Dance), Molly Robinson (Tennis), Abbie Grafton (Gymnastics) and Suzie Brook (Cross Country). Their achievements are shared below. 

SEASON REPORTS & AWARDS BY TEAM

Our Hockey Teams were celebrated with an U15 report from Lucy Holland and Henny Gibson, an U16 report from Lucy Crook and an U18 report from captain Leah Davis. This season, the teams have had an enjoyable, challenging and rewarding season of hockey. Composed of seasoned players as well as those picking their sticks back up again for the first time in a few years, gave the perfect combination of skill and enthusiasm to enable Wakefield Girls’  to progress through the season. Hard work and dedication to the hockey teams left everyone in good spirits for next year, looking ahead to another great season. 

Awards were presented:

• The Celia Abbot Trophy for excellence at U15 level – Alice Morrison
• The U15 Players’ Player Cup -Ellie Tingle & Katy Sanderson 
• The U16 Players’ Player Cup -Ruby Kirton 
• The Jane Mellor Award for excellence and commitment to Hockey at senior level – Jess Morrison
• The Pru Smithies Cup for endeavor at senior level – Lucy Blanchard
• The U18 Players’ Player Cup – Katie Browning & Leah Davis
• Intermediate Colours were awarded to:Alice Morrison, Ellie Tingle, Jemima Otter, Olivia Kelly, Lucy Holland,  Henny Gibson, Molly Robinson, Emelia Batty, Maya Langley, Leina Tordoff, lucia Partridge, Katy Sanderson, Lucy Crook, Maryam Khan, Ruby Kirton, Charissa Bechani, Bayan Yousif, Evie Pickles, Holly Bestwick, Aaliyah Syeda, Emily Northern, Grace Kitching, Lucy Dimbylow, Ruby Shone, Khadijah Sarwar, Megan Rees.
• Senior Colours  were awarded today to:Hollie Bott, Katie Browning, Martha Crook, Suzie Brooke, Melissa Lambert, Isabella Rust, Leah Davis, Jessica Morrison, Sofija Opacic, Zoe Partridge, Laura Roberts, Lucy Blanchard, Ruby Carter, Lucy Harding, Mia Sedwick

In Indoor Hockey, both our U16 and U18 teams entered the National Schools Competition. The U16 team faced strong sides from Bradford Grammar School, Yarm, Scarborough, Hymers and RGS Newcastle and were unlucky not to proceed to the next round.   The U18’s successfully faced Queen Ethleburgas, Yarm, Hymers and RGS to go through to nationals. Unfortunately Covid hit our small squad meaning we faced squads almost twice the size of ours at Repton, Framlingham, Godolphin and Latymer and The Grange in the group stages and Great Marlow school in the playoffs. Jessica Blanchard read the Indoor Hockey report commenting on notable play from Zoe Partridge, Sofija Opacic, Jessica Morrison and Lucy Blanchard and how everyone came away with big smiles on our faces having had a great time. That’s success.

Awards were presented:

• The Indoor Hockey Cup was awarded this year to: Leah Davis & Jess Morrison 
• Intermediate Colours are already held by Leah Davis, Katie Browning & Lucy Blanchard and were awarded to: Alice Morrison, Lucy Crook, Henny Gibson & Lucy Holland
• Senior Colours to: Zoe Partridge, Lucy Blanchard, Jess Morrison, Leah Davis, Hollie Bott & Sofiya Opacic

Our Netball Teams reflected on the challenges they faced returning to competitive Netball after a lengthy time away due to Covid. Hard fought victories were celebrated in a report by Katy Sanderson for the U15 Netball Team who commented upon how well the U15 squad have improved, building assorted high standard players into a highly functioning team. The U16 report was presented by Ruby Shone, celebrating the wins of all matches played following a first match loss and the U18 report was delivered by Ella Shaw who praised the excellent standards of play from squad members in very limited time.

Awards were presented:

• The Upper School Netball Cup for endeavor- Widad Abubakar
• U15 Players’ Player Cup – Maddy Patel 
• U16 Players Player Cup – Emily Northern 
• U18 Coaches’ Player Cup – Ella Shaw
• Intermediate Colours to: Ruby Shone, Mia Crecraft, Megan Rees, Holly Bestwick, Lucy Crook, Lucy Dimbylow, Abbie Grafton, Evie Pickles, Emily Northern, Ellie Tingle, Eve Patel, Katy Sanderson, Lucy Holland, Maya Langley, Emelia Batty, Madison Ducker, Lillie Wightman, Widad Abubakar, Maddy Patel, Molly Robinson
• Senior Colours to;Ella Shaw, Antonia Maddan, Nell Poppleton, Yasmin Kumar, Anna Benton, Lucy Apperley

Imogen Williams reported for our Equestrian Team who have had some very successful results and shown excellent teamwork and perseverance. Their first competition, showjumping at Northallerton, had its ups and downs, as always, but excellent resilience from all team members was shown and some fab results came out of it, including Isobel Wood in Year 10 coming third on Squire’s Whisper in the 80cm, and Florence Smith in Year 8 coming fifth On Gilly in the 70cm.

The second competition was right in the middle of storm Dudley, but the team showed excellent bravery riding in less than perfect conditions, to say the least. The first prelim test produced excellent results, with Tilly Smith in Year 10 coming 1st and Isobel Wood, also in Year 10, coming second. The prelim 14 was also impressive, with Grace Hunt, Tilly Smith, Florence Smith and Isobel Wood coming 6th, 7th, 9th, and 10th respectively in a large class. The team as a whole came 3rd. Fantastic results, Well done!

The third show, a showjumping at Bishop Burton produced some similarly fab results, with the team winning their 70cm class overall! Well done also to Florence Smith and Grace Hunt, who came 2nd and 5th individually in the 85cm

Awards were presented:

• The Equestrian Cup was awarded to: Isobel Wood
• Intermediate Colours to: Tilly Smith & Isobel Wood
• Senior Colours to: Imogen Williams

Our Senior Tennis Team has also had some wonderful performances this season. Betty Chamberlain’s report included notable participation in the Yorkshire League section of the LTA National Championships where the team won all sets against Hymers and 8 out of 10 sets against St Peters through to a match with South Hunsley which unfortunately closely ended with an unsuccessful tie break for the team. . 

Awards were presented:

• The Richard Barrass Trophy for outstanding play – Molly Robinson
• Intermediate Colours to: Maddy Patel & Molly Robinson
• Senior Colours to: Amelia Wormald, Luchia Shaw, Betty Chamberlain & Holly Bestwick

Our Cricket Team enjoyed being crowned  Yorkshire champions this year and went through to the North of England finals. This year we have had many new students attending cricket which has been very encouraging for the team who have thoroughly enjoyed the Lady Taverners competition. The season report was presented by Ellie Tingle and Maddy Patel who commented on how proud everyone was of their achievements and how happy they were to do it as a team. 

Awards were presented:

• The Jan Woolley Cup for excellence in Cricket – Ellie Tingle
• Intermediate Colours to: Grace Morley, Henny Gibson, Jemima Otter, Lucy Holland, Alice Morrison, Maddy Patel, Molly Robinson, Ellie Tingle, Annabel Simpson & Megan Rosendale

This year we played our first Volleyball Tournament, the Grand Prix Series in Cheshire. Holly Bott’s report celebrated the U15 team ranking 5th out of 8 teams that entered. As this was their first ever experience of competition and were playing against club teams, they did amazingly well !   The teams are looking forward to playing in the Bridlington Beach Volleyball 4-aside tournament. 

Awards were presented:

• The William G Morgan Cup for the most valued volleyball player – Hollie Bott
• The Volleyball Cup for the most improved player – Maya Banas & Charlotte McKinlay
• Intermediate Colours to: Hollie Bott, Nell Poppleton, Maja Banjas, Charlotte McKinlay, Yasmin Kumar, Lucy Blanchard, Sofija Opacic, Leah Davis, Catherine Miller, Jess Morrison, Evie Woodhead, Makenna Tomlinson, Molly-Ann Pritchard Ellie Tingle, Megan Rosendale, Phoebe Vincent, Alice Feetham, Sophia Tolson, Lucy Holland
• Senior Colours to: Hollie Bott, Nell Poppleton, Itohan Emovon, Maja Banjas, Charlotte McKinlay, Yasmin Kumar, Lucy Blanchard, Emerson Jackson, Kate Lawrenson, Sofija Opacic, Leah Davis

The evening also celebrated Cross Country and the return of the Wakefield League this year.  The team –  Suzie Brooke, Freya Gatenby, Libby Cree, Alice McKinley-Smith, Claudia Bowen, Millie Wroe, Imogen Wolff  –  successfully qualified to represent Wakefield in the West Yorkshire Championships.  Against unfavourable weather conditions, Libby (finished 3rd), Imogen (finished 5th) and Suzie (finished 6th), qualifying for the national finals.  Other sporting commitments unfortunately prevented Libby and Imogen while Suzie played her part in West Yorkshire finishing second team overall nationally. 

Awards were presented:

• Intermediate colours to: Millie Wroe, Imogen Wolff & Claudia Bowen
• Senior Colours to: Suzie Brooke

INDIVIDUAL SPORTING SUCCESS

Imogen Wolff – Cycling 

Imogen has been competing at a very high level during the past year and has achieved some exceptional results throughout all of her races. Alongside her training events in January she finished 2nd in the Crawley National Cyclocross Championships and also came 2nd in the National cyclocross trophy R6. Building on this success, in March she won the Newport National Youth Omnium and then competed for Yorkshire in the Youth Tour of Scotland. Her last race to date was at the end of April where she also finished 1st overall in the Halesowen Omnium. 

Hollie Bott – Volleyball

Hollie has been nominated for England Volleyball trials on 2 separate occasions – having just started playing this sport 3 years ago! She has been an integral part of the Senior Volleyball team and has learnt a great deal from her competitors. During her trials she has gained experience in match play and a valuable insight into the importance of each position on the court. 

Leah Davis – Hockey

Last season Leah was invited to attend U18 Hockey trials at Lilleshall Hall, in Newport at the National Sports Centre. Here she had to trial alongside 60 other girls, many of whom were a year older than her, who were all competing for a place in the squad. Although on this occasion she was not successful she was selected for the U17 Pennine Pumas to compete in the Futures Cup.  She has spent this season playing for Wakefield Ladies 1st team in the National League where she has been an integral part of this successful squad. 

Isobel McAndrew – Figure Skating

Isobel competes in ice skating competitions across the country, has won the North East Opens and has qualified to compete in the British Championships. She has achieved a specific score which allows her to also compete at elite level. Her most notable achievement was representing U18’s Great Britain and competing in Slovenia. 

Millie Wood – Dance 

Following her IDTA intermediate ballet and modern dance exams where she gained excellent results Millie has been nominated for the 2023 IDTA Theatre Dance Awards. She has been a part of the Stagebox Leeds Elite team for 6 years and has continued training weekly with them this year as well as attending week long intensives in the school holidays. Furthermore she has been offered another year of training with stagebox, in the senior leeds elite team for the next academic year (2022-23). In addition to this she has an upcoming audition for the Renaissance Arts, Scholars programme, an elite training programme providing core training in Ballet and Jazz. She has also been offered a place at CAPA college on the musical theatre course where she will further her  training in all types of dance and other aspects of performing arts.

Charlie Grant – Dance 

Last year Charlie auditioned for the Phoenix Dance Theatre and after a year of training with the Junior Youth Academy dance training programme she has now moved up into the Seniors and became a soloist within a year of training with them. Alongside this Charlie has also successfully passed both Grade 6 ISTD Modern & Tap exams with Distinctions at SLP Junior Academy in February and March and is currently being coached for her forthcoming G6 RAD Ballet exam. Furthermore Charlie also plans to attend Can You Dance? as a competitor in Liverpool on May 29th.

Molly Robinson – Tennis

Following on from a very successful summer last year where she had an unbeaten run of 24 wins and qualified for the main draw of the U14 National Championships Molly had to re-group and focus on qualifying for her first Junior ITF events and gain points in the Women’s British Tour competitions. To date she has reached the quarter finals in the British Women’s tour in Scotland and after wins in several Junior ITF events in both her singles and doubles has now achieved her first tennis federation junior world ranking. In April she qualified for both the U16 & U18 Grade 1 National Championships and most recently won the U16 doubles in the Grade 2 National Championships as well as reaching the semifinals in the U18 singles. 

Suzie Brooke – Cross Country 

With the exception of last year she has qualified to represent Wakefield schools in the West Yorkshire round of the Championships every year since she started her senior school career in Year 7. She has continued to build on her past success in this event and in February she qualified to run in the English Schools Cross Country Championships. As part of the West Yorkshire team they finished 2nd overall and Suzie finished 96th out of 278 runners. 

Abbie Grafton – Gymnastics

Abbie has achieved the individual gold all around medal in the British Classic Challenge Gymnastics Championships. She also achieved several medals in her individual apparatus events, notably gold in the vault and bronze on the bars. She was also given a special award for the most memorable floor routine at these championships. 

Lots of fantastic achievements, the very best of luck to all students in your future events and with thanks to our PE staff who have given all their time and support to our teams.