December Sports Round Up

20th December 2023Daire Brennan
It’s been quite an action packed month of sport with our second edition of Inter-House Sport taking place as well as competitions in Swimming, Football, Netball, Rugby and Netball. Please see below for an in depth look.

Inter-House Sport

Last week saw our second inter house sport event of the year with fantastic levels of play in both the football and netball competitions across year 7-10 groups. Students enjoyed competing for their houses with many students writing out detailed team sheets and tactics ahead of each day. See the results on the link below and we look forward to our next inter house event in the spring term!

Inter-House Sports_ Round 2

Extra-curricular programme

Please see below our extra-curricular sports programme for the upcoming Spring term. Other than swim club, students can attend on the day without signing up. You will also notice that we have an action packed Saturday fixture football card. Our key events in Athletics are the District Sportshall Athletics which we host. This will include around 20-25 of our Year 9 & 10 sports leaders running the event at Wodson, this will be a great experience for our students as well as the opportunity gain vital employability skills in the process. We also look forward to the District Indoor Athletics Championships on Monday 22nd January, where we will be attending with a strong team of Year 7-11 students. Lots to look forward too and please visit the sports pages for more information on upcoming fixtures – https://www.simonballe.herts.sch.uk/sport/

Football

Year 7 Boys went through to the last 32 of the National Cup. They were able to hold up against a very strong Woodlands academy side with the first 40 minutes of the game being end to end. Max F was then able to finally beat their keeper with 2 fantastic strikes at goal leading to a final result of 2-0. Now looking forward to the 6th round in the new year where we face one of either St Ivo’s or Northampton school for Boys.

The U14 girls played the third round of the county cup against a very tough side Ridgeway Academy. The girls conceded early on in the game but battled hard in the weather conditions to bring it to 2-2 at half time with goals from Emily and Tilly. With it all to play for in the second half the girls managed to get a last minute goal by Aidan to bring the game to 3-3. Unfortunately the girls lost 3-5 on penalties, but it was a performance to be proud of. We look forward to the District cup in the new year.

Y7 Girls before their County Cup game earlier this month

The Year 11 boy’s have had a fantastic start to the season showing real potential within the national cup however we came up against a very strong side from Kingsford Community School. After an 80 minute battle it only came down to 1 goal against us from a well drilled side. In the final minutes of the game we applied the pressure and had plenty of opportunities to equalise however their defensive line was very strong and able to hold us out. The side are now looking forward to the District cup starting in the new year. 

Senior Boys victory

The senior boys football team are through to the quarter final of the county cup after beating Tring School 4-1. The whole team played really well but a special mention has to go to Ellis M for his hat trick from centre midfield. The other goal scored by Alfie P on his debut for the Senior team. The quarter final will be after Christmas against either Merchant Taylors or Beaumont school. 

Hockey news

Hockey training has been well attended with the addition of boys training. We are looking forward to the boys fixtures beginning after Christmas and entering the county tournament again at the end of January.

Netball News

The year 8s have been working hard at training despite the cold, wet afternoons. The A team have been competing in the county cup and had a tough semi-final game against Presdales. The team showed excellent resilience and determination against the strong side. There were moments of brilliance in the through court attack, demonstrating good speed and timing. However it was an unfortunate loss which meant we were knocked out of the country cup league. The A and B team also played Presdales again in a friendly fixture. The A team showed excellent progression and narrowed the gap in the score line compared to the previous game. Maya T showed excellent composure and dominance in attack. The B team had a closely contested game. It was fantastic to see Lila T play GD and get numerous interceptions and tips, despite playing out of position.

We have had to rearrange our friendly fixture against Chauncy so we look forward to taking them on in the new year.

Rugby News

Over the past month Year 7 & Year 8 teams have performed very well on a weekly basis. 

Last week both teams played against Haileybury College, with the Year 7 team winning convincingly, this being their 4th consecutive victory and now look forward to Herts and District competitions during the Spring term.

The Year 8 team came back from 4 tries to nil at half time to draw the game 20-20, with tries from Jack T, Maxwell R (2) & Ben H. It was a great performance from the team and a great end to their school rugby season. 

Swimming News

We had our first friendly gala of this academic year last Friday and it was great to see some excellent swimming across the year groups from our Simon Balle students. 

There were some excellent individual swims; Sadie won her freestyle and butterfly races. Toby won his butterfly race. Zara won her butterfly race and Rex won his butterfly event too. We had some 2nds in breaststroke and backstroke for Willow, Matilda in breaststroke, Lilia in breaststroke. 

The year 9/10 girls team won their freestyle relay and the senior team won the medley relay with the year 7 and 8 girls and boys teams both coming 2nd. The teams were made up of the following students, a massive well done to you all:

Rex, Alfie, Owen, Emily, Lilia, Frez, Annabel, Olly, Harry, Charlie, Toby, Zara, Abi, Willow, Matilda, Sadie.  We have the District galas coming up in March! 

Swimming club for all abilities is on Monday mornings during term time 7:40am – please see Mrs Castle if you would like to attend. 

Finally we wish you all a happy Christmas from the PE & Sport Department and we look forward to a sporting 2024.

October’s Sports News

13th October 2023Benjamin Moses

Inter-House Sport

Next week, our first instalment of Inter House Sport takes place for Year 7-13 students, with students very excited about representing their House in competitive sport fixtures.

The sports will be as follows:

  • Y7 – touch rugby
  • Y8-11 girls – netball touch rugby
  • Y8-11 boys – touch rugby
  • Y12/13 – Football

The schedule of matches are as follows;

  • Y7 – Thursday Period 5 + Friday Period 2
  • Y8 – Monday  Period 1 + Monday  Period 4
  • Y9 – Monday  Period 5 + Wednesday Period 4
  • Y10 – Wednesday Period 1 + Friday Period 3
  • Y11 – Friday Period 1 + Friday Period 4
  • Y12/13 – Weds – 3.30 – 4.30pm

October Round-up

It’s been a busy October so far with a wide range of sports catered for as well as Simon Balle being represented across many competitions, including, National, County and District participation. In Football we are competing across National and County level and have made some long journeys into London and across to Bedford. We have also competed in Netball, Hockey, Cross Country, Basketball and Rugby. 

Football

In the National Cup the Year 9 Boys lost to Parmiters but are through to the next round of the County Cup after a 5-0 win against Katherine Warrington. 3rd round fixture against Dame Alice Owens on Monday 16th. 

The Senior football team were knocked out of the National Cup by Hemel School. A 3-1 loss but a game that could have been won without a few sloppy mistakes. In the County Cup the Senior team showed great courage to come from 1 down to beat Parmiters 5-1. We now play Tring or Townsend School in the last 16.

U14 Girls had a great opening to their County Cup run, winning 6-0 vs Adeyfield. Their next match is round 2 of the National Cup on Thursday 18th October.

The Year 8 Boys play the Grange Free Academy next Wednesday in the County cup. 

Year 11’s have had a fantastic start to the County Cup beating Dame Alice Owens 5-2 after a highly competitive first half we were able to control the game during the second half. After excellent demonstrations of pace from our wide players leading to Jack scoring 3 and getting an assist. Similarly after getting a bye in the first round of the National Cup the team had to travel an hour towards our first fixture where we maintained our positive play from the county game leading to a 9-0 win against Chiltern Hills  Academy. Looking forward to seeing how far the team can go in both competitions.

Year 7 boy’s football team had a tough first game of the national cup against Hab’s boys school. With the score staying 0-0 into the full time whistle after our boys held the majority of possession during the game. By the end of extra time the score had not been settled. We then needed to settle the game through penalties. The game finished 5-4 with Alfie making 2 great saves during the shoot out.

Cross Country League

The Cross Country League has taken place over the past 3 weeks this season and as always has attracted big fields of athletes with tough competition throughout the age-groups. On Wednesday this week, Simon Balle hosted the District League finals across our school fields. In the Senior race KG, in his first race of the season finished a strong 6th and looks forward to the Inter Boys race at the upcoming Championships. 

ID and MF have been battling it out in the Year 7 Boys competition this year, however due to I ID completing all 3 races, he finished in the top 5 overall. The team finished in 3rd place, a great achievement and one of our highest placings in recent years for a Year 7 Boys team.

Our Y8/9 Girls performed very well with CN winning the overall league title with 3 wins out of 3, a phenomenal achievement from a Year 8 student competing against Year 8 & 9 students. The team finished 2nd overall just behind a strong Presdales team. 

The Year 7 Girls won the overall team title by a big margin ahead of John Warner School in second place. Top performer from Simon Balle over the series was LW. 

Netball

Year 7 have had a great start to the year and it’s great to see so many students attending training! Year 7 have their first game on the 19/10 which they’re all very excited for.

The year 8s made a fantastic start to the county cup winning 26-0 against Goffs Churchgate. The team has massively progressed since year 7 and I look forward to seeing them continue to grow as a team throughout the year. We have a friendly game against Broxbourne this week which will be a challenging match.

The Y9s have had a very positive start to the year with around 30 students attending extra-curricular netball club. The students have had their first friendly fixture vs Chauncy with the A team narrowly losing and the B team winning 11-9. We look forward to building on this fantastic start at our next 2 fixtures in the coming weeks against Freman college and Presdales School.

The Year 10 team have had some mixed results in their opening fixtures. The A team faced Stags in the county cup for their first game and unfortunately were knocked out. We then travelled to Chauncy with both the A and B team to take part in a close fought match. Despite taking an early lead the A team just missed out on victory. However the B team took control early on and built up a strong lead with Chauncy unable to put much pressure on the defence. We then travelled to Freman College and our practice paid off, despite a close first half the A team pulled away with a convincing lead to win and the B team, with some new additions playing their first game never looked in any doubt working hard throughout to achieve a convincing win.

County League

The U16 team are competing in the County competition. Their first game was against Dame Alice Owens which we knew was going to be a challenging match. The year 10’s and 11’s have combined to create a team and this was the first time they played together. Dame Alice Owens took an early lead but Simon Balle students showed excellent resilience. In the second half, connections made in attack and defence were fearless, which resulted in Simon Balle winning the second half, however this unfortunately was not enough to take the win overall. Poppy was the player of the match.

Our second game was against STAGs. Simon Balle students showed excellent versatility during the match and great resilience against tough opponents. Player of the match was Ella. 

Hockey

In September we entered the County Hockey Championship with our U16 team. The girls have come on so much since last year, playing some fantastic hockey throughout the day. They finished in 3rd place. Last week they took on Freman College in a friendly fixture winning 8-0. A great start for the team!

Basketball

The Year 10 Boys Basketball team played against Samuel Ryder this week in their first Basketball fixture of the season. After an excellent start by the boys, Samuel Ryder played a storming second quarter to close the gap to 4 points. However with outstanding performances from GG and player of the match LN, the team pulled away in the fourth quarter to win by 10 points. The team now look forward to competitive basketball at both County and District level over the next few months.