Arete Partnership Sports Day

The Inaugural Arête Partnership Sports Day took place at Gordons School on 20th May. Gordon’s, Robert May’s, Blenheim High School and Woking High School students competed in a wide variety of sport activities and were a credit to their schools, showing excellent enthusiasm, teamwork and sportsmanship.

Rounders

The tournament structure included two innings per match with several lively and fast-paced contests between the teams. The atmosphere was filled with excitement as teammates cheered each other on.

Cycling

Mountain biking - This was an excellent opportunity for cyclists to perform a variety of relays amongst their year groups and as a whole school. This consisted of laps around a large field before entering the trail through the woods which tested their cycling skills on different terrains and jumps before being competing in time trials and positions. The event ended in a skills balance competition of last person standing where by each group had to balance on their bike in an ever decreasing space.

Indoor Rowing

A team relay event to see which school could row the furthest in the set time. Each team member had two minutes of high intensity rowing before swapping with another team member to carry on the row. All team members rotated round for a total of 45 minutes for each competition. The transitions between each rower was critical as the faster the transition, the more time rowing and more distance being covered. The girls competition started first followed by the boys and it was a fast and furious experience. Excellent cardiovascular endurance and muscular endurance on display and excellent teamwork and motivation from all team members making it truly inclusive.

Badminton

Both girls and boys competed in a singles and doubles tournament with matches of first to 15 points. There was a high level of energy and focus throughout with some fast pace shots and tactics on show. Players improved their skills and tactics in using shot selection and trying to movie their opponents out of position by hitting into space. Doubles matches added a different dynamic with players communicating on court and working together.

Tennis

The Tennis tournament was run on the outdoor astro and Tennis courts and both singles and doubles matches and tournaments were played. Players also umpired on their courts demonstrating good knowledge of the scoring system and made it fair to all players. This was a great dynamic and shared responsibility of an officiating role.

Dodgeball

A round robin style tournament of mixed girls and boys from each school competed across three innings each to gain points which would feed into the overall scores. Students used power, coordination and agility and kept up the high energy across all matches.

The day was a huge success and all schools are looking forward to next year's event already.

Poppy "It was a brilliant day but very tiring. I loved the team work in rowing".

Layla "Cycling was good fun and I want all my friends to do it too".

Annie "I will encourage my friends to come along as cycling was great fun".

Ben W "It was good fun with lots of friendly competition which made it an enjoyable day". Alvin "It was really fun as I could play badminton with my friends against other schools. I would like even more sports added next time".

Sam M " A fun and enjoyable experience".

Adam "When the rowing gets tough, the tough get rowing!"