Over the course of the summer a number of tours, trips and activities took place on Epsom soil and on foreign shores.
Hockey Pre-Season Tour
Twenty-nine girls travelled to Scotland for their pre-season tour. The girls were divided into a first team and a development squad, each carrying a wide array of talent from the Upper Fourth to Sixth Form. Across the five days, the two teams managed to play three matches each and carry out four training sessions.
The first match saw the girls meet George Watson’s School, the largest Independent School in the UK. The 1st XI drew 3-3, and there was an unlucky loss for the development side.
The following day both teams gained victories against Dollar Academy with the 1st XI winning 2-1 and the development squad achieving a great score of 4-3, having trailed 3-1.
Despite tired legs, both teams finished with a win, completing a clean sweep against Dundee High School.
The touring party also managed to visit the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh and to take in a tour of the University of Edinburgh.
Thanks go to Michael Johnson for leading this successful tour and also to David Beckett, Fi Drinkall and Helen Keevil for assisting with this foray across the Scottish border.
Rugby pre-season tours.
U15 – Northampton Saints
The U15 rugby squad visited Northampton Saints for a training session with the Saints’ coaches. They also played against Northampton Brigade Old Boys and visited Twickenham for a guided tour of the Stadium.
Colts – Northampton Saints
The Colts pre-season at Northampton Saints enabled the squad to train alongside the Northampton first XV, on the next pitch down. The team also witnessed an academy triangular tournament with Saracens, Worcester Warriors and the Saints, plus an open training Session held by the Northampton first XV at Franklin’s Gardens.
Seniors – Munster
A senior rugby squad of 37 players led by Mr Paul Burke, and accompanied by Mr Alex Thompson, Mr Chris Bates and Mr Fabian Pearce headed over to Munster for a week’s intensive training. The squad stayed at the University of Limerick, the outstanding training facility of Munster rugby. The packed programme included early morning runs, field sessions, individual and unit skill workshops and a number of team meetings.
Away from the training pitch, the squad visited the world famous Thomond Park, the home of Munster Rugby. Watched the Munster squad train and were given a guided tour of their new high performance centre, followed by an informative Q&A session with their Academy Director.
Two competitive matches were played during the week, providing valuable game time for everyone. A comprehensive win against St Munchin’s College 62-7, and a remarkable comeback against Crescent College, scoring 31 unanswered points to win 38-34, rounded off a hugely successful preseason tour.
Bisley: Target Rifle Shooting
Schools’ Meeting
The Schools’ Meeting kicked off on 16 July, with 16 pupils representing Epsom with much success. Max Palmer was placed fourth in the aggregate, George Greenbury won the Schools’ Staff title; Michael Larcombe was placed second in the Schools’ Hundred, and won both the Old Elizabethan Can (600 yards aggregate), and the Victoria Tankard. In the Ashburton, the Epsom College VIII put in excellent scores at both 300 yards and 500 yards, but unravelled at 600 yards, ultimately placing eighth.
Imperial Meeting
Ten pupils and students stayed on at Bisley for the Imperial Meeting. Over this period, the team saw a number of strong performances in various individual elements.
Sarah Gould made the second stage of St George’s. Michael Larcombe was selected to represent UK Cadets in the Inter-Services Long Range and the Inter-Services Short Range. Max Palmer was selected to represent England in the Cadet International Match. Michael Larcombe and Sarah Gould represented the Great Britain Under 19 team again, beating the touring South African team on the Saturday morning.
Canice Screene’s successful summer
Golfer Canice Screene (Wh) enjoyed a successful summer, with highlights including a win as part of Surrey’s First Team at the county competition in July. Surrey had a clean sweep, beating all the other counties throughout the week. They now head to the National Final in Devon later this month. She also captained Surrey Juniors to victory in August, with another clean sweep, beating all other counties.
Other achievements include representing Leinster, the winning team who won the Irish Inter-Provincials in July. Canice was low qualifier at the Irish Girls Close tournament in Ireland, missing the number one spot on countback. However, due to this great finish, she has made the World Amateur Golf Ranking list.
Finally, with rounds of 67 and 75, Canice won the under 18 South Regional Scratch Championship in August.
A record year for Holiday Sports Courses.
Across the summer, 270 pupils attended one of the sports courses offered at the College. Courses ran across a range of sports, including multisport, cricket, netball and hockey. Coaching was at a very high level with a number of the current staff leading the courses.
Paul McGinley Golf Competition.
The Paul McGinley Golf Competition takes place in early August every year, with around 100 juniors competing in age groups from U10 to U21. This year’s tournament took place over two rounds on the Quinta do Lago North and South courses, both of which are Championship courses, with the North hosting the Daily Telegraph junior final in October, and the South course being a former venue for the Portuguese Open.
Lower School pupil, Oscar Lent, played in the U12 category competing with 26 other boys from European countries. He shot a gross score of 75 around the North course and followed up with a gross 74 on the South to leave him 5 over par for his two rounds, 2 shots clear of second place.
Epsom’s Head of Netball Performance celebrating recent success with Surrey Storm
As well as coaching at Epsom Beverley is also part of the coaching team for U17 and U15 Surrey Storm, the local Vitality Superleague team. July saw Storm’s U17 head to Nottingham for the annual NPL (National Performance League) Tournament. The NPL Tournament is a four day event featuring the most talented young netball players in the UK and includes the teams from the Vitality Netball Superleague franchises, home nations and other high performance programmes. Following some incredible performances they qualified for the gold medal match. They faced an extremely strong Manchester Thunder who took an early lead. Storm were unable to get back the deficit but did incredibly well to finish 2nd overall, winning the silver medal. The result was even more impressive as in 2017 the Storm team had finished last.
In August Beverley travelled to Loughborough with Storm’s U15 to take part in the School Sports Games. This multi-sport event is held annually for the UK’s top young elite athletes competing across 11 sports. It was the first time that netball had been included. Storm faced teams from the other Superleague franchises, Northern Ireland and Scotland across the four days. The talented team improved with each match to finish in the bronze medal position, having just missed out on the gold medal match by goal difference.
Beverley will continue to work with Surrey Storm during the forthcoming season, alongside her work at Epsom and coaching for the Surrey Satellite Academy.
‘Beverley’s success is thoroughly deserved. She is a dedicated coach , passionate about netball, who as well as having considerable expertise, instils an enjoyment of the sport amongst the girls at Epsom’ said Sue Church-Jones, Head of Girls’ Games.
