Week Ending 25th March 

Colts A & B Hockey
Colts A had probably their best game of the season against a strong Skippers Hill Team. We moved the ball a lot quicker around the pitch, which created a number of opportunities. Yoshi C scored two and Henry C scored the other in a 3-1 victory. Special mention to Alex D, who again was superb in goal. The B team’s result may not have gone our way, however, boosted by a few A team players, the boys play a much better match and showed more urgency. Final score 0-3.  Well done to both teams for their efforts this season.
Z.Attwood
Colts C & D Hockey
On a glorious sunny afternoon, the Colts C & D teams fought valiantly against two skilful Skippers Hill teams. Play flicked between the D’s at a rapid pace, with both sides creating a number of chances. Special mention must go to Max P who played brilliantly in goal and must have made over fifty saves during both games. Not the results we may have wanted for the last games of the season, but it was so pleasing to see the improvement made by all the boys this term and I look forward to seeing them in action in 2023!

M.McKinnon

3rd Team Netball 
On a beautiful sunny afternoon, the girls travelled away to Skippers Hill School for their last game of the season. All the girls contributed to an excellent display of netball culminating in a 12-2 victory. The defence worked hard to limit the shots at goal by Skippers and the D work for Vinehall was impressive. Both Elsie B and Paula P.R scored freely.  Paula P.R  was our Vinehall P.O.M.
J.Newman
Senior Girls 1st team v Skippers Hill (Won 20-8)
These girls have had a fantastic netball season and it was the perfect ending to finish their final netball match for Vinehall with a confident win. It was a lovely match against a lovely team. It was a really hot day but the girls coped brilliantly and played very well. Imogen W was awarded player of the match which is a lovely way for her to finish off the season as captain. I am proud of every player in this team, they are a special bunch of girls and they have been great fun to coach.
Mrs Percy-White
2nds Vs Skippers Hill – Won (18-3) 
Sadly, for some of the year 8 girls in the seconds this was the last ever netball match that they would play at Vinehall. Nonetheless, this game was in no doubt the best match to end the season. For the first time in a while, we had all eight of our players! The sun was shining and the girls were ready to take home victory! The first quarter started evenly with the girls managing to get the majority of possession, we began slowly but quickly began to settle into our rhythm! The girls began to independently realise that as the majority of their opponents were taller than overhead passes were not working. After they corrected this error we managed to gain the lead and finish the first quarter 5-2 in favour of Vinehall. After taking the lead the second quarter did not go as well for the girls, although we managed to remain in the lead we started playing to the energy of the other team and at their skill set. This meant that we were not playing to the best of our ability and started making errors such as footwork. We then lost our pattern and our reactions began to delay as well as this, our passes became weak which meant that Skippers Hill managed to gain a lot of possession through interception. During half time, where the score stood at 7-3 we discussed why we were not making the progress we could and how we needed to resort to the skill set we knew.
The third and best quarter went smoothly, our shooters Polly and Elizabeth H stepped up and managed to score an amazing total of 8 goals in just 7 minutes! In the final quarter, Elizabeth H kindly agreed to step off to ensure all the year 8s got to play the final quarter, which meant we were a shooter down which collectively we thought was a good idea to allow Skippers Hill the chance to play a more even match and so that our amazing defenders Summer, Elizabeth O, Rosie and India could get more play! Due to this switch, Iciar stepped into GA and despite not being a shooter worked well with Polly! The last quarter was friendly and fun ending in 18-3, an amazing win for Vinehall! A special mention to Matilda who despite the heat kept up the same stamina throughout the entire game while playing C. Polly was the captain of the match and was also rightfully awarded player of the match, a great way to end her netball career at Vinehall. A massive well done to the entire team and what a great end to the season! Well done Girls!
Naomi Sinclair

ISGA 4 Piece Gymnastics Championships
Last weekend the U13 team May A, India A, Rosie D, Isla H, Elizabeth H & Imogen W competed in the 2022 National ISGA 4 Piece Championships held at Haberdashers’ School in Hertfordshire. The standard of gymnastics was extremely high. Our gymnasts did a fantastic job and gave very confident performances in each discipline. Elizabeth did particularly well and was awarded a 5th place medal in the individual competition with the highest score for the Vinehall team on set floor and set vault. Imogen was the top scorer on the voluntary vault with May in the top position on the voluntary floor.

Vinehall finished in 3rd place overall in the team event and were absolutely delighted when they were presented with their medals.

Very well done Girls fantastic achievement!
N. Towner

 

Gymnastic Displays

The U10 gymnasts put on a lovely gymnastics display for parents, pupils & staff on Monday. They were unable to attend a recent competition they had been training for, so it was a good opportunity for them to perform in front of an audience. Isla B, Issy DD, Honor H, Alara K & Frankie F each performed their individual floor routines and voluntary vault with great confidence and style. The group sequence was the highlight of the display for the gymnasts, they really love working together on this routine. A very big well done to you all, your performances were absolutely fantastic!

N.Towner

 

Senior Boys’ Hockey v. Skipper’s Hill (a.)
A hot, fine and generally stunning afternoon lit up the SH arena with its breathtaking views over The Weald. The A team played their first half, then the B team; then each resuming after that. The SH teams were skilful and good, with the As, in particular, being adept at defending their D and feeding their wings for an attack. Although tired, the players went for it from the start. Pressure mounted on the opposition goalkeeper and the team learned the value of rebounds..! Support play and communication improved, too and there was only one goal difference in both matches both matches. End-to-end, exciting hockey again, and a fantastic note on which to end the season.
E.Gilsenan

Week Ending 18th March 

Colts B Hockey v Dulwich Colts C
The B team played their best hockey of the season against a very strong and organised Dulwich C team. We lost the game 0-2, but the performance and determination shown by the team was a step up to what they have produced so far this season. A highlight of the game was Monty P’s save using his chest, after a fiercely struck ball by the opposition striker!
M. McKinnon
Colts B Hockey v Dulwich Colts E

What a game! End to end for most of it, all six boys worked their socks off. Before the game I had asked for effort and boy did they put some effort in. There were fantastic strikes, goal-line saves and some wonderful dribbling on display. Although the score was 2-3 in favour of the opposition, the entire team can hold their heads up high and be proud of their performance this afternoon!

M. McKinnon

Senior 1st Netball Team v St Ronan’s (Drew 17-17)
A slow start and a few mistakes saw the girls fall behind after the first quarter. However, they worked hard to claw their way back into the match. It was a closely contested match and the score could have gone either way; both teams had the opportunity to take the lead. A draw was the right result and well done to May A for being awarded player of the match.

L. Percy-White

Girls 3rds vs Saint Ronans – Netball, (Lost 11-1)
Unfortunately, we only had five members of our team to play due to illness and injury but thankfully Saint Ronan’s kindly let us use two of their players so that we could play the seven aside traditional netball match. The game started well, both teams were competitive and enthusiastic. As the game progressed Saint Ronan’s took a small lead as we began to lose our players and hide behind our opponents. At quarter time the score stood at 3-1. As a team, we discussed how we needed to balance the court more in order to allow us to drive forward into space for the ball as our opposition were too tall to receive the ball via an overhead pass. This tactic seemed to work as in our second quarter the opponents only managed to get two goals in through our hard-working defence team which included Ysabel who managed some impressive interceptions.

For the third quarter, I swapped our usual WA Berta with Isla in C in order to let Isla have a bit of a rest from running the entire court. This dynamic worked well and the girls worked effectively as a team, none the less we still did not manage to get any goals in from our shooters Paula and Elsie who struggled to find space in the D or get close enough to shoot. With one quarter left the score was 7-1 and although the girls were not hopeful for a win they were ambitious to try and close the gap between the score. But as the game progressed to an end the girls became overtired and began to fall back into bad habits. Despite this, I was still proud of every Vinehall girl’s performance on the court and look forward to helping with their next netball match which for many of them will be the year 8s, staff and parent tournament!

N. Sinclair

 

U10/U11 Girls Football v Bede’s
A change of sport this week for the Year 5 &6 girls as we took a squad of 20 away to Bede’s to play Football, where they joined forces to play two matches. Honours were even as Vinehall won one game 3-1 with Theodora G, Arleta D and Mia G our goalscorers. In the other match, we just fell short going down 2-1 with Isobel F scoring for Vinehall. All the girls contributed to a fun afternoon with a special mention for Allessandra K who defended resolutely repelling the Bede’s strikers to Skye R who looked as if she had been wearing those Goalie gloves forever and Isobel F and Theodora G for their tireless running throughout the games.

J. Newman

 

Colts A Hockey v Dulwich Prep
The Colts A hockey team played a very competitive match against Dulwich Prep. They drew 1-1 and it was a very high-quality entertaining match. Henry C with a solo goal for Vinehall. All the boys played very well with Harrison W playing his best match of the season. A big well done for Kingsley N who made his colts A debut and did very well.Well done boys another very impressive performance.M.McKinnon
U8/U9 Hockey v Marlborough House
The boys and three girls who kindly joined our ranks enjoyed a fantastic afternoon of hockey. Playing four, 4 a-side games, the teams acquitted themselves brilliantly. It is clear to see that our stick skills have improved over the last few weeks, with the ball being moved around the pitches with confidence. There are still going to be a few bruised toes, but not nearly as many as week one.

M. Mckinnon

 

Senior Boys’ Hockey v. Dulwich College Prep School (a. at The Russets, Marden)
A beautiful afternoon at The Russets heralded the anticipation of a tough and exciting match against DCPS, our former opponents. And so it proved. Despite missing their star player, DCPS mounted some formidable and dangerous attacks, which were intercepted by Seb and Arthur, and defended bravely by Henry. Arthur again led endless, (and end-to-end!) counter-attacks, feeding Monty, Pablo and Charlie, all of whom aimed shots and rebounds accurately and powerfully.

The highlight has to be Pablo smashing the ball, on his reverse-stick – into the top right-hand corner of the net. Twice. Harris, Rafe and Alfie came on and contributed: each played their best hockey, which is what it is all about, really! A really superb afternoon of end-to-end, nail-biting hockey, in which every advantage had to be worked hard for. Brilliant.

E.Gilsenan