With the Spring term of sports well underway, Bristol Grammar School's netball, hockey and football teams have all enjoyed some competitive fixtures and secured some great results. There has also been success for our boys' and girls' badminton teams in the County finals.
In netball, matches against Dauntsey’s on the opening weekend of the season were well contested, and victories were evenly spread across the board. More recently, the Seniors dominated their encounters with Clifton College, winning all four games with strong team performances, whilst the younger teams also worked hard to put their training on court and achieved some close results.
In addition to the fixtures played so far, over forty players embraced the opportunity to watch live netball at the Nations Cup at Birmingham Arena last week. They saw Jamaica take on the mighty New Zealand team, and England achieve an exciting win over South Africa – perfect inspiration ahead of this weekend's local derby against Redmaids'.
On the hockey field, it’s been a great start to the boy’s hockey term. With forty fixtures already played – against Queen's Taunton, Sherborne, Millfield Prep, King's Gloucester and Rendcomb – eight teams currently still stand unbeaten including our First and Second XI, whilst our U12Bs currently lead the way as the School's top goal scorers, just ahead of the U14As.
In addition to Saturday block fixtures, cup hockey has begun. The U14s competed brilliantly in their County tournament this week, with the U12s and U13s to follow in the coming weeks. In the National knockout competition, the U13s lost out in their first round by the narrowest of margins – on penalty flicks – after an action packed 4–4 draw against Warminster. Our U15s progressed through to the second round with a convincing away win against King's Bruton and there was a degree of retribution as they defeated Warminster on penalty flicks to reach the third round.
Our footballers have also had a busy fixture list with games against QEH, Marlborough, Monmouth and King's Taunton. The senior sides played QEH in a wet and windy set of midweek fixtures. Having grabbed an equaliser the First XI conceded a late long-range effort to lose 2–1. The Second XI did better drawing 2–2 with goals from Perrera and Pykett, while the Third XI claimed a 2–0 victory.
In the same week, the U14s kicked off their season with a fine performance against a very strong Monmouth side, unfortunately finishing on the losing side, despite dominating large portions of the game.
The weekend fixtures against strong Marlborough sides were tough for the senior teams, the First XI losing 5–1 and the Third XI 3–1. The Second XI secured a well earned 3–3 draw with goals including a 30-yard effort from Montague.
Against King's Taunton the First XI controlled possession for much of the game and took an early lead from the penalty spot. However, another long range strike and a late winner led to another defeat. The Second XI recorded a convincing 4–1 win, with four different scorers and the Third XI won 3-0. The U14s came out 3–1 winners in their fixture, with a fine team performance including a fantastic solo goal from Gallagher. The U15As claimed a dogged 2–1 victory to make it a successful block for BGS.
At the badminton county finals at UWE last week, the boys’ team dispatched Chew Valley and Ralph Allen schools, but, having defeated regular rivals Gordano in the previous round, they had a frustrating loss to them to end up in the silver medal position. Meanwhile the girls’ team repeated their victory of the previous round over Gordano but found the Chew Valley team too strong and so also finished with silver medals, the best ever performance by a BGS Girls’ badminton team.
A huge thank you and well done to everyone who has represented the BGS so far this term on the sports fields and courts. For latest fixtures, teams and results, please see our dedicated sports site.