Sports Report – Summer 2006

Students have generally made good use of the many sporting opportunities that summer brings. The tennis courts, football field and sports hall have seen plenty of action these last few weeks, with most students enjoying the chance to take a break from their studies. Yet occasionally we still hear some people say, “Can I miss my club tonight? I’ve got so much homework on / a test tomorrow / a project that’s due in.” Although in most cases this is doubtless true, one can’t help thinking that with better time management, we wouldn’t need to skip on the constructive things that we do with our leisure time. Later in this report, we’ll be hearing more about students who do manage their time extremely well.

Firstly, a look at the inter-house scene where it’s hats off yet again to Atalanta. They won the tennis and rounders competitions and have now completed a year of inter-house sports undefeated. However, they didn’t have it all their own way. It’s usually been Diana who has pushed Atalanta close, but it was Minerva who forced them to share the athletics trophy after an excellent showing by their juniors in particular. Well done to all the sports captains who have worked very hard this year organising their teams. Keep giving them your support and let’s maintain our excellent tradition of inter-house competition. 

Students have enjoyed friendly fixtures in volleyball, football and tennis this term. At the formal competitions, there were many notable successes. Edward Pearce, Juliet Pearce, Chris Hutton, and Meriwether Beckwith all won individual medals at the ADISR swimming championships, the swim team doing so well that overall they walked away with four trophies out of eight, making St George’s by far the best swimming school in the region. In tennis, Adelaide Wood and Allison Schmidt made it to the semi-finals of the ADISR event, narrowly missing out on a bronze medal in their play-off game. Athletics, and again at the ADISR championships, several of our students put in strong performances to make it into the finals, with Dylan Pilarski earning a silver medal in the javelin. This presaged a first-rate inter-house athletics afternoon at which nearly half of you here took part. Chloe Anderson, Amelia White, Polina Borisova, Alex Dal Canto, Dylan Pilarski, Ruan Roux, Jethro Lawrence, André Sanchini and Atalanta’s senior relay team all broke records. With your help we will start compiling records in swimming too: swimmers should see Mr Hill this afternoon to make a start on this. St George’s internal tennis competitions saw Will Wood win the Years 7&8 category, Lauren Watson the Years 9&10 category and Adelaide Wood making it a family double by taking the open category whilst still only in Year 9. On a less serious note, or perhaps that should read “on a more serious note…”, student teams beat the staff both in a 4 x 400m relay race and in a football match to add to their victory in volleyball last term. With none of the teachers getting any younger, and perhaps one too many ageing has-beens amongst their number, the future looks good for the students in these fixtures.

There is a saying, “If you need something doing, ask a busy person to do it.” Busy people are often better at managing their time and therefore get more done. Chris Hutton, on top of his responsibilities as Head Boy, travels on the train to Lausanne three times a week for water polo practice; Juliet Pearce trains up to two hours every day in the pool; Dylan Pilarski and Allison Schmidt have a full programme of clubs both inside and outside of school; Francesca Jellicoe rehearsed every day for months for her part in the Vevey youth ballet. On top of these commitments, what do all the above-mentioned students, along with several others like them, have in common? The answer is, glowing academic reports! So clearly, combining your studies with extra-curricular interests is possible. Try to complete work ahead of schedule; be disciplined in how you organise your time; make room for physical recreation; save “down time”, time when you just do, well, pretty much nothing actually, for when you really need it; and hopefully you will feel that life becomes even more fulfilling.

Finally, following on from Brad, Ruan and Jethro’s impressive efforts with their 10-hour bike ride, we will be holding an inaugural St George’s Triathlon on the first weekend back after the holidays. If you don’t think you can manage the whole thing, you could just do small bits of it, maybe lend your support on the day or even just sponsor the competitors – all monies go to social services. Whether you decide to take part or not, why not organise your time and set yourself some activity goals anyway this summer. Because when, in years to come, you look back upon your school days, it would surely be better to do so from the stand-point of an ageing has-been reminiscing over past endeavours, than from the stand-point of a person who could never quite be bothered. Just ask any of staff. So the get out and get active this summer, and enjoy the holidays.

Mr Jan Hill