Islington Primary Sportshall Athletics

With memories of last years’ close finish where we came 2nd by the narrowest of margins still in our minds, the children head off to the Sobell Centre determined to go one better. Despite a couple schools dropping out the main players were still there, with Tufnell Park Primary who had won for the last three years, St Joan of Arc Primary reigning outdoor champions and Canonbury Primary who are always a force to be reckoned with in any sporting event all present and ready for action.Sportshall Athletics is most definitely one of the most enjoyable competitions but easily the toughest to win, as the final result is not reliant on one or two children but every single member of the team.

There are 6 track events and 6 field where the boys and girls compete separately but then the scores are added together to give each school a combined total. In regards to events one child can only take part in a maximum of two track and two field events, so again the emphasis on a whole team effort is evident here. Points are awarded on the number of schools taking part. So if you win an event you score 2 x the amount of schools so in this case 13 schools, so 26 points if you win!

The morning saw the girls take to the track and boys on the field events. On the track we had a good start in the 1 + 1 as Jodie and Thora finished winners, and then Henrietta and Millie continued the good start with a 2nd place finish in the 2 + 2. Another 2nd place in the Paarluuf (a race where the two runners have to run 6 laps between themselves) from Millie and Thora, gave us valuable points. Following that 5th and 6th placings in the Obstacle race (Ella, Sophia, Bella and Mae) and Over and Under (Sophia, Bella, Matilda and Mae) kept the points column ticking over. The final race for the girls was the 4 x 1 and the quartet of Matilda, Ella, Henrietta and Jodie added another excellent runner up placing to end their morning session.

On the field the boys were firing in the points with some excellent performances. Sid, Harry and Cameron combined to win the Soft Javelin with Sid throwing a whopping 20.80metres, and then Han, Diago and Beta finished runners up in the Speed Bounce with a score of 142. Han and Diago combined again along with Olawarju to finish 2nd in the Vertical Jump, and then onto the jumps, saw us finish 2nd in the Standing Triple Jump (Cameron, Stephane and Kayvon) and 4th in the (Stephane, Kayvon and Beta). To round the morning off Amir, Harry and Sid took second place in the Chest Push.

After lunch the groups swapped and the boys hit the track with 5th place in the Obstacle relay (Archie, Cameron, Beta and Diago) and 6th in the Over and Under (Archie, Beta, Kayvon and Diago). The 1 + 1 (8th) followed and saw Harry and Caleb up against some very good sprinters. Cameron and Han paired up in the Paarluuf to finish 3rd and then it was the turn of our trump card pairing of Han and Stephane, in the 2+2. The duo, made short work of the opposition coming in a blistering time of 52.38 which was 6 seconds quicker than Gillespie who came 2nd in the race. The final race was the 4 x 1 and another runner up place for Harry, Caleb, Stephane and Kayvon.

Meanwhile the girls were steadily going about their business and recording some excellent results. First place finishes in the Vertical Jump (Jodie, Thora and Iva), with Iva recording the highest individual jump of the competitors in the event, Chest Push (Jodie, Ella and Henrietta), and Standing Triple Jump, (Millie, Mae and Layla) were followed by Millie, Ella and Matilda taking coming 2nd in the Standing Long Jump and the trio of Sophia, Bella and Layla finishing 2nd in the Speed Bounce. The final result was that of the Soft Javelin where Mae, Layla and Henrietta came 5th.

So with the events all over it was time to wait for the results. How well had we done, well lots of schools were telling us we looked like the winners, but it was hard to assess against the other schools notably Tufnell Park and St Joan of Arc who were also performing really well.Then it was time for the results, which were read out in descending order. As we got down to the final four we had still not been called. Then Tufnell Park were read out as third place with 486 points. So we knew it was out of us and SJOA. The wait for the second place seemed like an eternity, and then the name of SJOA came out who had 496 points and we knew we were winners! Amongst all the noise I had no idea how many points we had, but it was confirmed we finished with 544, an excellent total and quite a comprehensive victory, which is quite rare.

The feeling of winning is always nice, but this was one victory that made me really proud and excited. I targeted this event at the beginning of the year and was determined we did well in it. I told the children the competition would be won in the field events and the 5 weeks practice the children had put in was worth it. They have come in before school, and at lunchtime to improve their skills and it paid off, with the results greatly improved from last year, and they can rightly claim to be the best having the won same competition when in year 4.

So what next, well a trip to the Copper Box Arena beckons on February 22nd where the school will represent Islington at the London Youth Games.

Finally, a huge thank you to Jorg (Han’s dad) for all his support and help during the day, it was really appreciated by us all.

Squad: - Han (captain), Stephane, Kayvon, Sid, Amir, Beta, Harry, Cameron, Archie, Diago, Olawarju, Thora, Millie, Matilda, Henrietta, Jodie, Sophia, Ella, Iva, Layla, Mae and Bella.