It was great to see the School once again get U14B and U15B teams out and although they found the going tough against much more experienced teams. They will only get better as they gained much needed match experience ready for next season. Our small numbers will always make it tricky against the much bigger schools as their depth is always going to go much deeper than us. The U14Bs did however get two rare victories this season, with an emphatic 38-3 win over Duke of York’s and a 40-21 win against Tonbridge. It’s great to see the depth developing at such a young age, which is rare in such a small school as ours. Kirby rugby has presented challenges over the last couple of years with smaller cohorts coming through, but this has not detracted from their hard working attitude and willingness to keep improving. Although victories were hard to come by it was generally the case that both teams would come up against one or two huge boys that would go on to dominate games through sheer physicality and not skill. It is frustrating for the boys but they should be content in the fact that when they catch up physically they will have much higher skillsets, which is often the case as the boys move through the School. The current U14s and U15s are clear evidence of this fact now they are beating teams that beat them convincingly in Year 7.
It has been my absolute pleasure to run the rugby at St Lawrence College for the last 13 years and I hope I depart with it in an excellent place. I would like to wish everyone the best of luck and hope they continue to enjoy the game that I love for years to come.
Mr A Izzard, Director of Sport
CRICKET
WINTER TRAINING PROGRAMME We had another very successful year within the Sports Excellence Cricket Programme (SEP) and we continue to make huge strides across all ages. Cricket does not just begin in the Summer Term as we had a very busy winter training programme which started upon return in September. We returned in the new academic year with a bang with several Sports Excellence cricket matches which were a great way of offering opportunities to younger and developing cricketers which proved to be
It was great to see the new additions to the programme get stuck in and quite literally throw themselves around! From September through to April, all the SEP cricketers were involved in various training programmes from Early Bird sessions, Twilight training sessions, 1-on-1’s, group nets, batting and bowling clinics and the School’s Cricket Academy. As you can see, we keep our cricketers busy and is one of the reasons why we have been accepted into the Top 100 cricket schools in the country for now a fourth year running!
of huge benefit. As always, the batting and bowling was rotated every game to provide data for the winter programme and it was great to see the new joiners mix amongst older and more experienced cricketers. These matches enable us to see potential trialists for the 1st XI for the approaching cricket season as well as extend the season post club fixtures. After our last cricket match the Sports Excellence cricketers moved onto a six week fitness programme to begin athletic improvements for the summer. Judo, jujitsu, military fitness, x-country, stage combat and cricket related fitness helped to develop key components of fitness such as endurance, footwork, balance, reaction time and strength.
LAWRENTIAN 2023
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