29th September 2016

On Sunday 25th

September SBSJ were

invited to take part in the Liverpool

and District Water Polo Club

tournament. Our team comprised of a

mixture of boys and girls from year 8

who came a respectable 4th

place out

of 6. We knew the standard would be

very high for this tournament and

were expect ing some tough

opposition. The students were

fantastic in their attitude and

behaviour and I was very proud in the

way they approached the tournament

to which we played some fantastic

Water Polo for large parts of the

matches played. Naturally the team

were a little bit downhearted with their position as they felt they could have at least got

to the final which is explained in a little more detail in the match reports. However we

can all learn and grow from the experiences gained and move forward and hopefully

become stronger for it. Well done to all involved!

The first game saw us take a victory which was fully deserved from our first half

performance alone. Jastin Barrientos managed to score 4 goals in this match with

Matthew Sowden scoring the other, all of which were in the first half. Bridgefield who

have a strong tradition of Water Polo at National Level proved to be a difficult opponent

to beat with a determined comeback in the second half and if not for some resolute

defending as a team, as well as some brilliant saves from goal keeper and ‘player of the

match’ Daniel Justovics it could have seen the win slip away.

With having just played the first match, SBSJ had to play again without any rest which

showed in the first few minutes of the game conceding a couple of sloppy goals early

on. However we soon responded with Jastin using his strength and power to add

another to his tally which gave us the confidence to push on. Niamh Dolan-Baines and

Matthew Sowden got one a piece to make the half time score 3 – 3. Our form then

carried on early into the second half with a goal from Ella ‘Speedster’ Stabler breaking

through the opposition defence to put us in front for the first time in the match, which

was short lived with a controversial goal from the opposition. The team were

determined to get another win with good attacking link-up play from Lydia King which

helped Jastin and Amelia Fullerton to add another one each to make the score 6 – 4.

With plenty of time still remaining Chester were relentless in their attacking play and it

took some good strong defending from trio captain Sara Steinberg, Emily Taylor and

‘player of the match’ Charlie Watson. The final whistle went and the entire team were

overjoyed to come away with two victories sending us through to the semi-final.

The semi-final was upon us and the first half of the match was no different to how we

had played in the first two matches. We defended well as a team and created plenty of

chances to which Ella and Matthew both got on the score sheet. Chester showed their

quality in front of goal by pulling two back in quick succession but SBSJ were quickly

back in front with Emily adding her name to the list of goal scorers. The only thing we

could have done better in the first half is put more of our chances away. The second

half begun with SBSJ winning 3 – 2 and we started pretty well and we had a few

opportunities to score and really put the game to bed. However we just seemed to lose

that cutting edge in front of goal which we showed in the previous matches which then

give the opposition the opportunity to get back into the game. A combination of

tiredness creeping in, perhaps a lack of experience and a bit of bad luck saw a little

spell where everything that could have gone against us, did. Chester could sense this

and really went for the jugular, killing any chance of reaching the final. Matthew

Sowden was awarded the ‘player of the match’ for his contribution the goals as well his

effort in getting back to defend.

Our final match was to determine whether we finished the day 3rd

or 4th

. With the

natural disappointment of losing our last match as well as all the team ‘running on

fumes’ saw a slow and sloppy start. Bridgefield who we had played and beaten in our

first match got an early goal and it was a downward spiral from there. The team to their

credit tried their upmost to get back into the game but unfortunately it was too much

and saw a half time score of 8 – 0 to the opposition. We regrouped at half time and

determined to finish the match with some dignity and played a very good second half

scoring 3 goals, one from Charlie and another two from ‘top goal scorer’ and ‘player of

the match’ Jastin. Not only did our attack improve but also defended a lot better as we

had done for most of the day. The final

score was 12 – 3 to Bridgefield and at

the final whistle we all showed great

sportsmanship led by Captain Sara

Steinberg by giving a loud and

respectful 3 cheers to the opposition.

Ella Stabler was awarded the overall

‘player of the tournament’ who led by

example in all the matches with her

unwavering determination and quality

in the way she played.

Sara Steinberg 8D (Captain)

Ella Stabler 8C (Player of the tournament)

Amelia Fullerton 8C

Niamh Dolan-Baines 8E

Lydia King 8H

Emily Taylor 8B

Matthew Sowden 8I

Jastin Barrientos 8I (SBSJ top goal scorer with

8)

Charlie Watson 8I

Daniel Justovics 8I

Thursday 22nd September saw the Year 9 Football

team get their season under way in the Bradford

Schools league. We travelled to Queensbury in a game

that was fairly tight last season.

After a successful trial Taylen Siree, Joel Crawford and

James Nyali all made debuts.

The SBSJ boys started brightly and after Jake Larvin

opened the scoring, the SBSJ boys dominated

proceedings from start to finish. The boys won their

opening game of the season 11 - 1. SBSJ played a new

formation that seemed to suite Darwin King, who

played in midfield. Darwin (who won Man of the

match) controlled the game, ably assisted by the rest

of the team.

Goals from Jake Larvin (2), Darwin King, James Nyali (2), Louis Fielding (2), Jacob Slater

& Jacob McLoughlin (3) meant that the team put an excellent marker down for the rest

of the season. Captain Ikenna Obassi was pleased with the boys performance and

spoke about being proud to be a part of our school after the game.

Next up is Temple Moor School, Leeds in the national cup.

Wednesday 28th September our

open age and U15 netball teams

travelled to Thornton to play their

first evening of fixtures. The evening provided some outstanding plays and teamwork

and these were reflected in the match results. This was the first time our U15 team had

played together and they certainly showed great potential to be a formidable team in

the future.

All the girls represented the school to an excellent level and I was very proud to be with

them.

Thornton senior team 3 v 14 SBSJ

Dixons Academy 4 v 6 SBSJ

Thornton Junior 3 v 9 SBSJ

Queensbury A 5 v 6 SBSJ

Thornton 8 v 5 SBSJ

Taylor Siree

Ikenna Obassi ©

Harvey Weston-Beyer

Sam Chewins

Joel Crawford

Jake Larvin

Darwin King (MOM)

Alfie Barker

Louis Fialdini,

Jacob McLoughlin

Jacob Slater

James Nyali

Tom Doyle