Abingdon News No. 60

16 April 2022 Abingdon Sport National Success for Abingdon Squash Abingdon’s KS4 team took a great stride forward in the National Schools Championships this term. Having previously qualified for the second stage of the championships, the team stepped up to play their best tournament yet, winning each match overall by three games to two to come top of the group. They have now qualified for the National Finals having earned their place as one of the top eight squash schools in the country. Over a weekend in March, seven students competed in the B-league at Cardiff University Canoe Polo tournament. This two day event started with a round robin and then went into a knockout competition. Our team came third in their group and then, subsequently, won one of their two additional games. It was also nice to see lots of OAs competing for Bath, Southampton, Bristol, Durham and Lancaster Universities. Colston’s Sevens In March, the 1st VII’s team headed to Bristol for the Colston’s Sevens Tournament. Up against some very talented opposition, it was to be a challenging tournament, with some good lessons learned in preparation for other tournaments to come. In the first game against hosts, Colston’s, their strong team and the vastness of the pitch tested our endurance and a yellow card resulted in a 21-7 loss for Abingdon. Our second match against Exeter College (and on a smaller pitch) proved more positive, ending 24-12 to Abingdon. We went on to face Monkton in which much of our training was enacted and our defence was (mostly) formidable to reach another victory of 28-14 and coming 2nd in our pool. In order to progress to the Cup Final, we had to face Bristol Grammar - a notoriously strong side. After disadvantages including two yellow cards, we found it too difficult to claim the win with the score 14-35. The Abingdon Water Polo team have been increasingly dedicated in training to try and improve in advance of their next round of ESSA national competitions and it certainly paid off in their first 2022 fixture against Stowe with a final score of 21-5 to Abingdon. Goals were scored by: Can Tugcetin - 5, Zach Cooper - 4, Johnny James - 3, Will d’Arcy - 3, Alex Cooper Marcos - 3, Chris Skelton - 2, Rob Smith - 1. Canoe polo Water polo First Football Fixture for Two Years It was really brilliant to kick off the New Year with a football fixture - the first for a couple of years! Played at Haileybury, the day was typically wet and windy, however, there was some great football on display with both the Abingdon and Haileybury teams battling well in the tough conditions and Abingdon lucky enough to see some great goals scored!!