followed by a poor home performance against Harrow. More resilient defending was required to support their positive attacking play. The team then went on a six-game unbeaten run, drawing three and beating Ardingly, Hailey- bury and Epsom, demonstrating adaptability and char- acter to come back from spiralling form. The wins over Ardingly and Epsom saw the team reach the London Cup final against Forest School. In a thrilling game both teams gave their all and after a tight first half, Forest pulled away in the second half to take a deserved victory.
flawless day saw him successfully defend his title, winning the gold medal for the second year in a row. On day two, Lorenzo Roselli competed in the Boys’ Senior Epee against a field of over 100 fencers, and fought his way to a hard- earned eleventh place. Day three saw the sabre events take place, with Lawrence Vautier (Year 13) and Robin Samuel (Year 11) competing in the Boys’ Senior and Boys’ Junior Sabre competitions respectively. Robin fought valiantly to finish a very competitive seventeenth, with Lawrence finishing twenty-fifth in an extremely strong field. Outside of the College, Sameer saw further success at international level, representing both Wales and Great Britain in numerous competitions.
The U16A team played some football that was wonderful to watch, winning seven of their nine games. Unfortunate losses at the wrong times meant they narrowly missed the league title, but many have bright futures in the senior sides next season. The U16B team showed great resil- ience and were hard to break down. It was encouraging to see them kick on and finish the season strongly, winning three of their last four games. The U16C and D teams were goal-scoring machines, with an attacking style of football that is a delight to watch, and strong wins over Tonbridge and Epsom demonstrated the strength in depth of the year group.
(Year 11) and Henry Gooderham (Year 11) were selected to play for the U14, U15 and U16 ISFA England squads throughout the season, attending training camps and playing in national and academy fixtures. Jack Hibbert (Year 9) was selected for the development squad at U14, and Seth Ridgeon (Year 9) (in photograph above) was selected to play for the England
U15 squad in the recent Pinatar Cup, playing against USA, Japan and Spain. For so many to be playing at the highest national level of independent schools football is a fantastic achievement. Overall, it has been another fantastic season of football – a national title, a national final, a London Cup final and more pupils than ever playing the sport. Well done to everyone who has donned the black and blue shirt this year. With the introduction of the new 3G training pitch and the continued efforts from the players and staff to- wards training, the future looks bright indeed for Dulwich football.
Basketball James Faiers
Basketball continues to be a popular sport in the Senior School, and it has been great to see so many students represent the College in the LISBA (London Independent Schools Basketball Association) league and cup as well as the National Cup, for the first time since the pandemic. The sports hall is regularly full of pupils looking to improve
The 2nd XI started slowly but came into their own in a comeback victory on penalties over Whitgift in the London Cup. Their league form picked up with wins over Harrow and St Paul’s, but in the cup competitions they ended up with penalty shootouts. Losses to Reigate Grammar and Bede’s saw two quarter-final losses, but the team fought back and ended the season on a high, with a win over Epsom. The 3rd and 4th XIs both had mixed seasons with some good performances that lacked the goals needed to translate into victories. The 5th XI had an excellent season, winning eight of their nine games, and only losing to the league winners, Tonbridge. It is wonderful to see so many pupils playing football in the Upper School and it is our hope many will continue to play as they head off to university, or for the OAs, in the coming years. Thank you all for your commitment to the sport over the past seven years, and good luck for the future. Pupils playing representative football Outside of school, we have had our biggest number of pupils playing representative football. Mylo Bernard, Dylan Healey and Kwame Appau Twumasi (Year 8) all represented the South East region at the U13 ISFA representative festival over Easter, playing fixtures against all other regions. Reuben Gokah (Year 9), Roan Kennedy (Year 9), Chib Okoro-Felix (Year 10), Sam Ketteley
Fencing Steve Kelly
Dulwich College enjoyed another fantastic year on the pistes. Marco, our fencing head coach, led a phenomenal training programme, resulting in considerable success at both individual and team level. Plenty of friendly competitions throughout the first two terms foreshadowed the main competition season. The first major event came on 4 March, when a College side of Sameer Sunder-Rajan (Year 11), Lorenzo Roselli (Year 12) and Ethan Hui (Year 12) entered the British School Team Championships in Rickmansworth. A hard-fought competition against some fierce opponents resulted in Dulwich taking home the gold, defeating RGS Guildford in a thrilling one-point victory. A week and a half later it was time for the Public Schools’ Fencing Championships, held over three days at Lee Valley Athletics Centre. Day one saw Ethan Hui compete in the Boys’ Senior Foil, where a valiant effort gave him a well-deserved twenty-fourth place from over 100 com- petitors. Sameer competed in the Boys’ Junior Epee. A
Upper School In the Upper School this year we had high levels of partic- ipation, with nine teams representing the College across the two year groups. After the successful tour to Barce- lona, the players came into the new term well prepared. The 1st XI got off to a strong start with a 2–1 win over Abingdon, a 2–0 win over Hampton and a comeback 3–2 victory over Whitgift in the London Cup. An extra-time defeat to Tonbridge saw their ISFA Trophy run come to a close, before they continued the good form into half-term with a 2–0 victory over Berkhamsted. Following the half- term break, form dropped, and a loss to Brentwood was
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THE ALLEYNIAN 711
SPORTS
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