Hampton Academy opened its door to students for the first time in September 2010 and it has been an action packed first year for the Hampton Academy Sports teams. The students were quick out of the blocks in year one, but saved the best ‘til last by winning the year 7&8 Richmond Borough Cricket league in the summer term. Mr Crossan guided the cricketers to the championship as well as coaching the Tennis team that placed third in the Borough festival. Well done to the boys year 8 Tennis team Harkaran Matharu-Randwwa and Matthew Bryant. Alongside this, Hampton Academy competed in the Borough Athletics at Kingsmeadow and the girls completed a full season of Rounders. Mr Finch took a Hampton Academy team to the Richmond inclusive sports day, with two students being invited to a South London talent identification event. Congratulations to Isaac Prakash and Thomas Duncan for being selected.
However, arguably, the highlight of the Hampton Academy sporting calendar was the school sports day where Conrad college faced Wordsworth College for the lower school honours and the Kipling College students made an attempt on the school Athletics records. The winning teams were- 7CN; 8CO; 9WA and 10KM. Conrad College took the overall winners trophy on the day, much to the delight of Mr Collins and the other College staff. Although, not content to rest on his laurels, Mr Collins then led the charge in the staff relay event.
Throughout the rest of its debut year, the Academy notched up lots of other successes too. Hampton Academy entered the Richmond borough boys Football leagues at every age group in autumn 2010 and the headline success was the year 9 boys. The boys finished the North league championship with an unbeaten record and progressed to the borough Grand Final.
The Hampton Academy boy’s year 10 Volleyball team picked up in January, right where they left off in 2010. They competed in the South London Volleyball Championships after progressing through their pool and Borough final. The year 8 & 9 combined teams had to wait until after February half term to show off their Volleyball skills, and Mr Crossan’s girl’s Volleyball team proved they were up to the task by taking silver in the Richmond Borough Championship.
In the very same week, Mr Mayfield took the Key-Stage 3 Trampolining teams to the Richmond Festival and brought back the boy’s team gold. Well done to everyone that competed in the Borough Trampolining and congratulations to Thomas Goggin, Josh Dillon, Louie Grace and George Dietrich, who lifted the trophy. Boys and girls from the upper school both entered the local Badminton competitions, but it was Ms Nuttall’s girls that walked away with the silver medals. Well done to the girls Badminton players Mafuza Siddique, Holly Cronin, Danielle Rooney and Maisie Selwood.
Meanwhile, the year 7 and 8 boys Rugby League teams entered the Harlequins RL schools merit league, and Hampton Academy competed in competitive school Rugby fixtures for the first time. As Mr Giblin’s Rugby sessions went from strength to strength, the girl’s team got in on the action as well by entering the Richmond Champion Schools Competitions at year 7 and 9. Mr Giblin, took these complete novice girl’s teams and developed them to defend fiercely, score tries, compete and win games. Hampton Academy’s newly formed Rugby League players were so impressive that two boys players were Talent Identified by the RFL in Autumn and were invited to attend a talent training camp. Congratulations to Keegan Stewart and Harry Chapman. Additionally, over a dozen more boys were invited to join local Rugby League club- Richmond Warriors and the entire girls squad were invited to join the local girls team- West London Jets.
Aside from the sports fields, Hampton Academy had lots of new sports clubs for students in the spring term. Brentford FC delivered Futsal and Boxercise classes, year 10 boys began a weight lifting club and for the first time, Hampton Academy offered a Karate club for students interested in martial arts. Mrs Day also launched her Friday night Badminton club. Additionally, all students from all of the surrounding primary schools were invited to sports events at Hampton Academy, to check out the impressive facilities for themselves and play sports fixtures against their rival schools. Look out for more primary school activity around the Academy in the future.
Hampton Academy was one of the first schools in the Richmond Borough to join the Olympic Get Set network and again led the way with the Olympic celebrations. Izzy Humphrey and Matthew Gibson were nominated to be the Olympic Ambassadors for the Academy. They created an Olympic Hub at Hampton Academy, met Lord Seb Coe and visited the Olympic Site. Students and staff also held an Olympic Learning day and were allowed to come to school in a sports themed uniform and took part in some sporting challenges to raise funds for their very own sports kits. Hampton Academy also invited two local GB athletes to challenge students and raise awareness of the academy’s link to the 2012 Olympics.
The pride in sport at Hampton Academy was so great, that three students contributed their Jack Petchey prize money towards the kit fund. These funds, along with a very generous contribution from Hampton Academy Association, allowed Hampton Academy to purchase our very own sports kits for the new school sport season. Josh Dillon, Shefali Pandhi and Charlotte Gildersleve will have their initials on the shirts to recognise their valuable contribution.
Congratulations to all students that represented Hampton Academy in our first year. The bar has been set high for future years to improve upon. Finally, a special thank you goes to all the dedicated Hampton Academy PE staff and teachers from other departments that made these fantastic successes possible.
James Giblin
School Sport Co-ordinator
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