The week in sport

Sports Review

Published Friday 7th July 2023

Jill Rastall’s Final Sports round-up, summer 2023.

Again it has been a hectic whirlwind of a summer term, and I can not believe another academic year has passed. Where has the time gone?

A big thank you to all who have supported the girls this term. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the groundsmen who keep our facilities looking wonderful, the catering department who keep us fed and watered and Mr Allison for his dedication and support - without him, the department would be lost.

Some highlights from the summer term

Trip to London to watch GB Hockey take on Belgium in the Pro League at Lee Valley Hockey Stadium.
U13 Tennis team for reaching the final 32 in the LTA Youth Schools tournament - well done Isobel B, Francesca B, Poppy Rand Celia S.
U14 Runners up at St Peter’s Tennis festival.
A full complement of Tennis fixtures for all girls U12 x U18, with a large number of girls playing their first-ever Tennis fixture. Well done all.
Parents and Daughters Tennis tournament which this year included the closely contested Rounders and Cricket tournament. A fabulous afternoon of family and community fun in a summer fête atmosphere.
Year 7&8, 9&10 LTA Youth National Schools competitions of singles and doubles.
U15B won Year 9/19 Division 2 LTA Youth Schools group stage and will compete in the knockout stages in September.
U15 & U19 ISTA Championship at Eton. Our two pairs at each age group competed against specialist Tennis schools and those much larger than Queen Margaret’s playing the likes of Millfield and Queenswood. A fantastic opportunity, but also an inspiration for our girls to see both girls’ and boys’ tennis at its best.
Emilia R has been crowned the York & Selby Year 7 800m Champion - her time would have also resulted in her placing in the top three at Year 8 & 9 level also.
Isabella Sui competing throughout Europe with her horses - aiming for qualification for the Endurance World Cup for Young Riders in September.
Freya Pinwill Price competed at the world-renowned Badminton Estate for the Grassroot Eventing finals and finished in a very respectable 50th position. A great achievement for being the youngest competitor there.
All Years I, II and III contributed to their team total of 5km in the Swimathon Challenge with some outstanding individual contributions.
The squeals and the sounds of happiness as many of the girls ‘bombed’ their way into the outdoor pool.
Sports Day - the annual event that brings the QM community together in competitive spirit - well done to School House for winning.

Training continues

There are a number of girls who will be training hard throughout the summer holiday, either in preparation for trials or for forthcoming national competitions and world cups.

Freya PP and her horse for the Northern Region U18 Eventing team
Isabella S obtained her qualification and practice prior to the FEI Young Endurance Riders World Cup in September
Sisters Elsa and Celia S will be training hard with Scotland Lacrosse
Isobel B and Isobel R will be attending Regional Lacrosse England Talent Pathway training
Francesca B will be refining her Hockey skills for U16 Hockey age group assessments for the Talent Academy
Florence S has been selected to play in the Futures Cup England Hockey Tournament
Mr Jamie Costa is climbing the coaching ladder and will be one of the youngest coaches to achieve his Level 4 Tennis coaching qualification

South Africa

Looking ahead to the new academic year in September, the Senior Sports tourists are very excited about their end-of-summer holiday tour to South Africa when they depart at the end of August to experience a fabulous opportunity to play both hockey and netball against South African schools as well as exploring cultural differences while creating memories that will last a lifetime. Please keep an eye on our QM Sports Twitter feed as well as our blog.

Back in September

Our fixture calendar is looking very busy for the terms ahead with many National school competitions and knock-out competitions quickly upon us in September. It is vitally important that all girls are available for Saturday fixtures as this really does have an impact on the progress our girls can make as both teams but more importantly as individuals.

Training will take place in the enrichment slot after school throughout the week and attendance at this is key to success. Pre Season Hockey & Lacrosse Training will take place on Thursday 31 August and Friday 1 September - please sign up on the Google form.

Thank you

Thank you to all the department and QM staff who support, help and enable us as a department to provide opportunities for your daughters. A special thanks to Miss Grundy who became Mrs Broadway during her year in the department. I know her hard work and dedication have been appreciated by not only us as a department but the girls who have been inspired and seen personal development over this past year. A huge thanks and I know her lacrosse knowledge and expertise will be hugely missed. We wish her well in her future.

And finally...

On a personal note, I would like to thank you for your support over the last 15 months as I stepped up to Acting Director of Sport when sadly Anne Davies was sick. I hope you feel I have supported your daughters throughout this period by implementing new directions to both the delivery of curriculum lessons and Enrichment opportunities whether within the school day or through further opportunities and trips for the girls to participate and enhance their sporting drive. I will be returning back to part-time when the new Director of Sport Rachel Hildreth takes up her role.

Have a fabulous summer and enjoy the sunshine wherever you may be, but remember to keep active and ready to return in full fitness for the demanding Autumn term ahead.

Jill Rastall

Eton Tennis

On Saturday 1st July, the team of Lauren N (UVI), Bonnie H (UVI), Kitty D (LVI), Florence F (LVI), Francesca B (Year III), Celia S (Year III), Poppy R (Year III) and Isabel B (Year III) travelled to London to compete in the ISTA Tennis Championships 2023 at Eton College.

This event is a doubles-only competition and is our national event in tennis. Over 300 independent schools were at Eton, which had over 44 tennis courts for the competitions. We competed in the Loveband Trophy (U18) and Asbury - Bailey Trophy (U15) over the three days and our students played excellently throughout.

It was a pleasure to watch them grow in confidence against some of the top 10 players in Great Britain. A superb experience for all with some trips to Windsor and Eton College too.

Thank you to all our supporters travelling down to cheer our teams on. Our girls were a credit to our school and Mrs Rastall and I were proud to be there amongst the best tennis schools.

Karen Mitchell

Kitty & Flossie

This weekend we took part in the Eton tennis tournament as the U19 Queen Margaret’s 2nd pair. It was such a great opportunity to play against schools we’d never played before, as well as to meet lots of new people. Playing 7 matches on Sunday definitely tested us, with some more competitive matches than others, coming out with 3 wins and 4 close losses.

We had such a fun weekend in Eton, walking around Windsor Castle, getting ice creams by the river and having some very well-deserved suppers at Pizza Express, Wagamama and Bill's.

Overall, it was such a great opportunity to be involved in, and we both definitely feel that our tennis has improved throughout the competition. During the matches, we had some very close deuces and some very competitive games. We both had a lot of fun on and off the pitch as it was such a friendly buzzy atmosphere.

Thank you so much, Mrs Mitchell and Mrs Rastall, for supporting us throughout the competition and being great company!

Francesca and Celia

Celia and I played very well considering we had very good competition. On Sunday our first match was against Queenswood 1, who are now going on to the final. We lost 6-0. Then we played Yarm - we lost 6-2 but we could have done better.

After that we played Surbiton 2 (lost 6-2) then Downe House (lost 6-3), but it was very close at the beginning as we were drawing, but they got it at the end.

That morning didn’t go as well as we thought it would, but in the afternoon we thought we were finished but turned out we had to play more matches so in the afternoon we played St Peter’s 2 (6-3 win) then Epson (won 6-1). Sadly we lost against St Swithun's 6-2.

We could have made it through to the next round but Swinton just beat us by a couple of games. On Monday we didn’t play any matches, we just watched others play and had a bit of practice with each other on the practice courts, and then we went into Windsor for dinner.

It was an amazing experience for us in Year III as we are the year below everyone, but we still won a few matches. Now, as we have already experienced it, we will be able to do a lot better next year. Thank you very much to Mrs Rastall and Mrs Mitchell for making it such a fun and amazing time.

Isabel B and Poppy R

Isabel and I had our first match at 09:00 on Sunday morning. We played against Cranleigh 1st pair which was an extremely close match. It was 5-5, sudden death deuce, but unfortunately, we did not win the match point, making it a 6-5 loss.

That was followed by a very tough game against Surbiton, and then a close match against RGS Newcastle which we won!

We played a few more matches in the morning and then we had a long break. We played 2 matches in the afternoon, one of which was incredible. Against Rugby 1, it was first to 8, and it did not start off very well. We were losing 5-0 and then we won 2 consecutive games making it 5-2. They then won another two games, making it 7-2, but we did not let our heads drop! We put in all our effort and brought the score to 7-6, after winning four games in a row! Unfortunately, we just lost it making the final score 8-6 to Rugby.

Although we didn’t win all of our games, we still really enjoyed the day and learned a lot from it. We had the opportunity to practise with other schools during our breaks and we made lots of new friends! We went out for a meal at Wagamamas which was a great way to end the day.

On Monday, we went to Eton to watch some more tennis and play a bit with our friends. Then we went out for a lovely dinner at Bill's in Windsor. Both Isabel and I had a wonderful time this weekend, and can’t wait to hopefully do it all again next year!

Sports and Physical Education Enrichment

At QM, we have a huge range of enrichment activities for sports and physical education. From lacrosse to hockey, netball, running club, football, swimming, lifeguarding, and much more.

Click below to see the 2022/23 activities you can get involved in.

Sports Enrichment at QM - 2022/23

Click here to see the archive of past Sports Reviews.

Your Sporting Stories

If you have any summer sporting success stories we would love to hear them. There is so much talent at QM and we love to celebrate your achievements outside school with the QM Family. Be sure to share your news with the Sports Department or email marketing@queenmargarets.com.