We have had an extremely busy summer term of sport and we would like to celebrate all our pupils who have participated and had great successes.  This past week we have also been involved in a cricket final and the ISTA tennis tournament held at Eton. Please see below for how we did in these competitions.  Thanks to everyone who has participated, trained and competed across the year in various sports too!

Cricket:

This term in cricket the students have been competing against other schools in hard and softball competitions across the 3rds to U4. The pupils have been developing their cricket skills to progress to hard ball cricket, with many having their first experiences this year.

Schools Cricket Association of Middlesex 

On Monday, the U13A cricket team played in the Schools Cricket Association of Middlesex against Notting Hill and Ealing High School. The team, led by co-captains Nyra S and Tara S, took the field to have a bowl. The team worked hard in the field to keep the ball from crossing the boundary and limiting the opposition to running singles and twos. Excellent batting from the first three batters got Notting Hill and Ealing to 158-1. The score, although high, would be out of the teams reach for a chase. The team battled hard and took their chances to keep the score board ticking over. Special mention to our last two batters Cecilia G and Rosy C who made a brilliant last stand but ultimately the team were bowled out for 93. The team can be proud of their progression and achievements this season. It has been the schools first foray into school cricket cup competitions and the future looks very bright. Well done to all.

We are also able to celebrate pupils in the 3rds, L4, U4 and L6 who are representing Middlesex and Surrey in their cricket and well done to those students.

The progress made across the year groups is a positive sign that cricket at LEH will go from strength to strength. We very much look forward to next season.

Tennis:

It has been a great term for tennis. We entered teams for the U13 and U15 Middlesex County division 1 and 2 competitions. There were some excellent competitive matches across all the age teams. In division 1, both age groups were placed 3^rd overall and our division 2 teams were placed 2^nd having only lost 1 game all season. Congratulations to the teams who were:

Division 1

U15 - Amelia, Anya, Monica, Camilla, Camilla,

U13 – Sofia, Isabella, Brischelle, Emily

Division 2

U15 - Sophie, Amelia, Isla, Emily, Isobel, Carla

U13 – Cecilia, Aurelia, Arianna, Lara, Lara, Mahzala

We also had some friendly matches against various schools which enabled those who attended tennis club the opportunity to represent school. We won 6 and narrowly lost 3. Well done to all those who took part.

ISTA tennis - Eton

At the weekend, 5 tennis pairs attended the ISTA Tennis Championships held at Eton College. This Championship comprises of over 60 Independent schools from all over the country who come and stay for the 4-day championship. This includes LTA specialist schools as you can imagine it is highly competitive with top level tennis being played by all those who attend.

On Saturday, we started our campaign bright and early with our U15’s playing in the first round of the Ashbury-Bailey Cup. The initial stage of the cup was run as a round-robin playing one set. Our first pair faced St Georges Weybridge 1, Claremont 1, St Helens and St Katherines 1, Queen Anne’s 1 and St Swithun’s 2. We finished 3^rd in our group which meant we would go into Sunday in the plate competition. Our second pair faced, Wycombe Abbey 1, Downe House, Claremont 2, Queen Anne’s 2, St Helen’s and St Katherine’s 2 and St Swithun’s 1. At the end of our first day, we were placed 5^th placing us in the plate competition.

On Sunday, our U15’s played again in a round robin format and the winners of each box would go through to a knock-out. There was a total of 8 boxes with 5 schools in each. Our first pair played against Claremont 2, Marlborough 2, Loughborough 1 and Tudor Hall. At the end of all matches they were placed 1^st winning all their matches. This put them through to the knockout on the Monday. Our second pair met Claremont 1, Leicester, Yarm and Cranleigh. After playing excellent tennis we narrowly lost out and were placed 2^nd which meant this was the end of the tournament for them.

On Monday, our U15 first first pair met St Swithun’s in the quarter finals and it went to a nail biting 3 setter, and we won in the tie break. We then met St George’s which again was a nail-biting tie break at the end of the first set, which we unfortunately, lost. After fighting valiantly, we were beaten. Congratulations to our first team of Monica and Anya and our second pair of Camilla and Camilla.

Our U19 pair of Amelia and Karissa also started their campaign in the Loveband on the Sunday. The top 2 teams progress onto the Loveband knock-out, the other teams progress onto the Loveband Plate. The first round of matches was a round robin format of 1 set. We faced extremely tough opponents of Prior Park Bath, Leicester, Clifton 1 and Bradfield College. At the end of the morning, we were placed 3^rd in our group. This led to a second pool of matches in the afternoon to qualify us for the knockout stages being held on Monday. In the afternoon we comfortably went on to win all our matches against, Kings College Wimbledon, Hymers and Clifton.

Monday morning, they played a strong Kings College Wimbledon in the quarter finals. Unfortunately, we lost both sets after some epic points being played. Well done Amelia and Karissa.

Our U13’s also, started their campaign in a round robin format in the Ralph Cake Trophy. The top two in each box progress onto the knock-out, the other teams go through to the plate. Our first pair met Bradford 1, New Hall, Kingston Grammar 2, Stamford. There were some fantastic matches and at the end of the round robin we were placed 2^nd putting us through to the cup competition being played on Tuesday. On Tuesday we met Wimbledon High 1, Kingston Grammar 1 and Prior Park. Unfortunately, after our matches we were placed 4^th and did not progress into the knockout. Well done to Brischelle and Emily who played some fantastic tennis.

Our second pair of Sofia and Isabella met Queenswood 1, St George’s 2, St Mary’s Calne, St Helen’s and St Katherine’s 1. They played brilliantly but narrowly missed out on second place and ended up third in their pool. This put them through to the plate. On Tuesday, Sofia and Isabella met Berkhampstead, Stamford, St Teresa’s 2, Kingston Grammar 2, Queen Anne’s 2, they played brilliantly and ended up 2^nd in their pool placing them into the knock-out. In the quarter finals we faced Sevenoaks unfortunately we lost 6-5.

Congratulations to all team members, we are so proud of your achievements.

Wimbledon tennis

We had the pleasure of attending Wimbledon on Monday with 8 of our 3rds and L4 tennis players. We had a fabulous day watching top seed players, including Jasmine Paolini, as well as Lulu Sun, both winning their matches. It was a lovely day and the pupils enjoyed their strawberries and cream and a good walk around the grounds.

Athletics:

We have had some outstanding performances in both individual and team athletic events this term. Our year started with our junior girls track and field cup team comfortably winning their county round and our inter-girls team coming an impressive 2^nd. Both teams qualified for the regional championships in Watford where our Junior girls team performed brilliantly and missed out on qualifying for nationals by just 11 points! Our team success continued with a number of our 3rds being selected to represent the Borough of Richmond in the Middlesex County championships and our athletes helped Richmond finish 1^st out of the 8 boroughs. The final athletics event of the season was the Richmond borough athletics competition - congratulations to our 3rds and L5s who finished 2^nd and can we have a big round of applause for our U4s who finished 1^st!

As well as our impressive team results, I would like to mention and congratulate the following athletes for their outstanding performances this year:

• Ella A finished 3^rd in the long jump at the individual Middlesex Championships and was then selected to represent Middlesex in the southern inter counties were she finished 5^th. She also won the Y8 county championships whilst representing Richmond and finished 2^nd in the London school games.
• Aishnavi in javelin and Holly T in the 300m, congratulations on finishing 3^rd in the Middlesex Championships
• Isla won the 800m at boroughs and broke the borough record in the process!
• Yasmin has had a fantastic year running in the 70m hurdles, she is currently ranked 12^th in the UK and is Middlesex champion. Congratulations on also winning the borough 70m hurdles in a record winning time!
• And finally, Maya (3rds) - congratulations on your fantastic high jump performances. Maya is Y7 Middlesex champion and County record holder as well as the borough champion and record holder.

We would also like to wish Yolande (L6) the best of luck at the lacrosse Euros this summer in Portugal. She has been selected to represent Spain at the competition and we look forward to hearing all about her experiences!