Pop Lacrosse

On Saturday 19th March, thirteen girls from BGS joined with girls from other schools to celebrate Harrogate Ladies’ College Lacrosse Centenary. We were playing POP lacrosse which is not a new game for our children but was for some of the other participants. All the girls were divided into teams. The afternoon started with a coaching session. Each team then played every other team in a tournament. Two of our girls, Lexie Murray and Evelyn Wright were in the winning team and came away with medals. The afternoon finished with a hot tea for all the competitors. The following day the celebrations carried on with an ‘Old Girls’ v First Xll match. It was lovely to see ‘Old Girls’ from this school represented on both teams.

National POP Lacrosse Championships 2010

Last Saturday Annabelle Fuller, Isobel Higginbotham, Emma King, Emma Tomlinson, Hugo Tasker, Robert Wilmore, Eli and Freddie Wright travelled to Hatfield, with several parents and Mr Andrews, in preparation for the matches on Sunday. Teams have travelled from all over the country and the standard is incredibly high. Three of the team played last year and they still remember how they were amazed by the speed of the opposition in the first match. They were determined that they were not going to be outplayed this time. It is quite a nerve wracking time watching the matches whilst waiting to play as they all look brilliant and unbeatable. Our first opposition was Cuffley, a school from Hertfordshire. We started well and quickly took the lead and everybody was pleased with the 11-3 win. Lochmaben the Scottish representatives were next. Confidence was high and the game closer , though we beat them 9-6. The third game was against Heathbrook, London. We had seen them narrowly lose earlier on in the morning and they looked good. We suddenly found it harder to score goals and when the whistle went we were 3-9 down. With many of the results in we knew we had a place in the afternoon session even if we lost the last match. Warren Wood, Stockport, who had beaten Heathbrook (8-6), was our final opposition of the morning. We started well and just kept going. The substitutes rolled on and off and every member of our team was a crucial part in our 9-5 win. Robert Wilmore deserves a special mention for his defensive play. We now had to wait for the results to come in to see where we were placed. Heathbrook had lost to Lochmaben which had left Warren Wood and our team both on 16 points. They counted goals and we were the winners of the pool on goal difference. We had qualified for the main Championship for the first time. The children were excited but looked tired. Hale Prep. School, who were in the same hotel as us, were a tough opposition. Emma Tomlinson was given free throw after free throw but was unable to score a goal whilst surrounded by three players. The match was extremely close but we got knocked out after the 3-5 result. The score line was low because both teams were defending really well. Although it was disappointing to be out of the competition we had reached the quarter finals which means we were in the top eight in the country. The children were a credit to the school and should be proud of their achievements.