On Saturday, 2nd July, six of our pupils went to represent the school in the Annual Six-a-side Girls Football Competition. This is a competition aimed at Year 6 pupils but is open to all age groups and school sizes. Some large schools in the competition have around 90 girls to choose from to make their team. We were very much minnows in a pond full of sharks.
Our first match was against Alban City School. The girls fought hard with Ruby stepping up to take the goalkeeper role. She may be in Year 4, but Aoilbhe was not going to be pushed around whilst older sister Keeva ( our captain) marshalled the defence. Maddison was up and down the pitch shutting down opponents or supporting the attack. I thought we had signed Fred Astaire for a moment when I looked at wonderful, beguiling footwork from Jess. This was a really tight match but not as tight as the intricate angle with which Lara, teased home the winner ( one nil to St Adrian’s).
Our next match was against Samuel Ryder Academy. This is a much larger School and it showed. The girls fought valiantly, none more so than Lara, whose goalkeeping kept us in the game against the Ryder onslaught. We were two nil down but Ruby gave us a glimmer of hope when her rocket from the edge of the box could not , in spite of last ditched effort by the a Ryder defender, be kept from bulging the net. Alas 2 – 1 is how the score finished.
Our final game was against another large school and tournament favourites, Fleetville. Not only is this school bigger, but also, fielding year 6 girls, they were physically bigger as well and put us to the sword.
Our girls did us proud and , against the odds, managed to come third in our group. I couldn’t ask any more of them.
District Sports
This Tuesday and Thursday was the district sports. Pupils fromYears, 3,4,5 and 6 took part in a mixture of track and field events.
Year 5 Netball
This week, our Year 5 netball team played against a Year 6 team from Bowman’s Green and came 2nd.
Year 5 and Year 6 Football Finals
Football Reports
Aidan and Patrick reporting – The Road to Colney Heath
Year 5 Six-a- Side Tournament (The Preliminaries)
Match report 1
St Adrians FC Vs Maple FC
St Adrian’s 2 – Maple 0
Kick Off
Aidan took the kick off passing out to Leo who later passed to Patrick ,whilst Aidan made a run through the middle but when the pass came, Aidan miss touched it. Moments later, Luca had a nice shot to make it 1-0. Maple took the kick off. Moments later Leo took the ball off the player and made a quick pass to Aidan who accidentally kicked the ground.
Half time
Substitutions: Melville – Dara and Michael – Luca
Straight away, Maple took a quick break away. But it was defended by Patrick’s great defending. Soon Patrick made a great ball to Aidan who shot but it was saved but not caught, so Leo could get the rebound to make it 2-0. Full time came just after Leonardo’s one in a million save to keep it 2–0.
Pundits preview
Hello Aidan, how do you feel about the game?
I think attacking is not that great but defending is brilliant because everyone is making an effort to keep a clean sheet. So overall a great performance by both sides.
Michael, do you think we can play better football?
Yes,maybe a bit more shots on target and also midfield need to drop a bit more.
Thank you Patrick reporting.
Match report 2
St Adrians Vs Colney Heath
7-0
Kick off
Michael passed it to Leo whilst Luca was running down the line to make an option for Leo. Then he made the pass to Luca who played it to Michael who had a clear open shot on goal to make it 1-0.
Colney Heath took the kick off ,Michael won it minutes later out-skilling the defenders to make it 2-0 .to St Adrian’s .
Once again Colney Heath took the kick off and ran clear but Patrick used his strength to knock him off the ball. Later Patrick played a great ball to Luca who had a smashing shot that could have broken the back of the net to make it 3-0.
Then 4-0. Then Melville scored a great bottom corner goal for 5-0
Half time
Substitutions
Aidan-Leo
Melville-Patrick
Straight away Aidan scored a goal through the keepers legs for 6-0
Then he hit the post to get the rebound to make it a whopping 7-0
Ouch that must of hurt for Colney Heath.
Pundits preview
What do you think about the game?
We’re through, come on! Yay.
By Aidan,Patrick and Michael
The road to Colney Heath
The Final Tournament Year 5 Six-a-side Tournament (The Finals)
We all thought we were going to win the 6 A Side Tournament because of our performance on wednesday but we didn’t realize that these teams have been training for years.
The first game unfortunately we lost 4-0 to Garden Fields.
But we didn’t give up. Then in the next game, Luca scored , but then they come back 1,1.
Then Michael scored the winner to win the game to make it 2-1.
In the 3rd game we drew 1,1 with a late equalizer and we all thought we deserved it. For us, we were quite unfortunate. We lost 2,0 to Killigrew and I think we stopped playing well as soon as we lost 4,0 to Garden fields. But this was the first tournament we have played and we think most of the schools have played a lot of tournaments before. We came 7th out of 10 teams but, if we won the first match, we could have come first place or at least 4th place. But our passing was a little bit bad at the first match and we were all doing our own thing and we did not have a plan. But we got better throughout the matches. We have very good players on our team but we didn’t work as a team but we will be better next time .
By Dara, Luca and Melville
The St Albans City Cup Semi Final and Final (Year 6)
The game had kicked off with Bowmans Green starting with intensity and giving us an indication of their style of football.It was going to be a tough match.
It was a balanced game,both sides having their share of chances and within the first five minutes Bowmans Green scored the opener.An exquisite threaded pass from the central midfielder to play the left winger in through on goal. 1 v 1 who would come out on top? Dylan,the great goalkeeper or number nine the wonderful winger?It was a brilliant finish and a well crafted goal from Bowmans Green. The crowd cheered loudly,leaping and jumping in exultation.
Not long after, Bowmans Green scored a second it was going to be tough to come back from this.The colossal central defender played a remarkable pass which went beyond everyone and perfectly dropped to number nine who took the ball astoundingly round our main goalkeeper James and shot as one of our solid defenders,Joe, desperately tried to stop the goalbound shot with a last ditch slide but was unable to keep it from out of the net.2- 0.
After half time Luke did some magical footwork, got round all the defenders and calmly slotted the ball past the Bowmans Green goalkeeper.It was a sensational goal! Some minutes had passed and some beautiful football from Paolo and Luke created a goal scoring opportunity which Paolo hammered in the net.2-2! We could win this
Extra time was a game of tennis back and forth but still no winner. Who would win? Penalties came along and St adrians took the first penalty. Paolo up first, to put St adrians in the lead, and he scored a world class penalty 1-0.Bowmans Green scored a decent penalty, unsavable for James.Next was our star sticker Luke who thumped his penalty into the back of the net. Bowmans Green missed their second penalty -unfortunate for them. Up next was Dylan to put us in the lead. A good penalty but a better save from the keeper.How did he keep that out?
2-2.Bowmans Green’s next pen was fantastically saved by James so it was still 2-2- this game was up for grabs.Theo took next and placed his penalty into the top right corner. It was 3-2 St Adrians.We could win.Bowmans Green scored their next penalty which made the score 3-3.Lewis up next to send St Adrians to the final of the district cup smashed his penalty into the side netting of the bottom left corner. St adrians to the final of the district cup!
It was an astonishing, neck – in – neck football match but St Adrains came out on top! Next is St Columbas in the final.Can we win that too?
Report by Theo.
The St Albans City Cup Final St Adrian’s V St Columba’s
We kicked off knowing what our job was. After a slow start from both teams, St Columba’s showed us what they’re made of and scored the opener 1-0 .
Then St. Columbus scored another goal ( 2 – 0 ). We really had to come back from this one now but it won’t be easy but we thought we could do it when Sonny ( our centre-back) scored a free kick from in line with the centre circle to make it 2-1. St. Columba’s scored another one when a former St Adrian’s student put the ball in the net with the very last kick of the game.
Report by Joe
Final Score St Columba’s 3 – St SAdrian’s 1
Our Year 6 Heroes showing their medals.
Kate Grey Visits St Adrian’s
At Assembly on Monday, as part of our role as Sports Ambassadors, we gave a talk to the school about the Daily Mile and upcoming visit from Paralympian , Kate Grey, on Thursday. When the big day arrived, the whole school was very excited to do the Daily Mile and hear the inspirational talk from Kate.
Kate was very kind and told us all about her life growing up after losing her arm to a sausage machine on her parents’ farm. She was only two years old at the time.
Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she said she saw it as a new challenge and did all sorts of sports and activities. In fact, the only thing she couldn’t do, was the monkey bars. When she went swimming for the first time at the age of 4, she found it difficult but was determined to get better while along the way, learning some important life skills and making new friends. She became so good that she represented GB at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics and won a Silver & Bronze medal in the World Championships in swimming. At the end of her talk, we then asked her all sorts of questions about her life journey.
She said how physical exercise had really helped her and that being active every day brings all sorts of benefits. She then led a warm up in the hall which was tiring but fun. Then the whole school went outside to run the Daily Mile (8 laps of our field) .
This week, schools all over Hertfordshire have been encouraged to do the Daily Mile. Quite a few of us realised that it is not as easy as we thought to run a mile but we are determined to get better with practice.
Kate helped us realise next time we have a challenge or think we can’t do something, we should remember what she said and never give up.
On behalf of St Adrian’s, we want to say thank you for coming to our school Kate Grey.
The Sports Ambassadors
Game on!
This week St Adrian’s were represented brilliantly by the girls’ football team at Skyswood. Both teams played with skill and great sportsmanship, with the final score 3-1 to Skyswood. Well done to the whole team.
Tuesday saw St Adrian’s attending the Oaklands Quicksticks Hockey event, for the first time. Two teams represented the school: the “Compete” team played 9 games and the “Aspire” team 8 games so it was a full day. Every child who attended showed energy, commitment, excellent sportsmanship and good humour. Not only did they all enjoy the hockey itself, it was also great fun to meet friends from other schools, compete against them and also compete against the schools’ neighbours, namely Mandeville and Prae Wood. Well done, all the year five pupils who attended. We are all very proud of the way you tried something new and represented your school so well.
