National Final wins for pupils at Strathallan

Strathallan became British Tennis Champions winning the Girls Senior Students Finals.

This year’s Girl’s Senior Students Tennis Finals started off with a close-fought match against Rugby School with Strathallan girls coming out on top with a 4-2 win. The girls then went on to play New Hall, winning the match 5-1. The last match against Cheltenham Ladies College was a 6-0 win which meant the girls qualified for the final against RGS Wakefield who had previously knocked them out of the competition last year. The final was hotly contested with Strathallan girls eventually coming out on top with a 4-2 win with impressive performances from all of the girls throughout the tournament. A massive congratulations to all of the girls: Nicola M, Jade P, Adrianna G and Polina K.

Congratulations to all the mixed doubles players who put up an impressive performance against tough opponents. Well done to Jade P, Archie H, Adrianna G, David P-L and Lewis L.

Tommy Ogilvie, tennis coach at Strathallan, reflected on the result:

“The girl’s team earned themselves a fantastic achievement over the weekend at the Senior Students Competition in which they claimed the spot of British Champions! And I must emphasise it was very much a team effort, not just over the weekend but the months leading up to it. The competition kicks off in September with over 250 schools entering and as we progressed through the regional stages each player's commitment was exceptional throughout. Their preparation for the finals was as you would expect for a normal pupil at Strathallan to be, very busy! The girls all have many other commitments at school but they will always turn up whenever they can, that sense of belonging to the team and knowing every one of them was putting in the time really helped. The determination shown by each individual throughout the competition was unwavering. There were times when we were up against it and their support of one another was so important. Well done girls - a very proud performance!”

Strathallan were the Junior Boys’ Cup Final champions in an outstanding 4-0 victory over Fettes College at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre.

Fettes made a strong start to the game, and were on the offensive right from the first whistle to try and get a goal. However, the Strathallan defence had other ideas and did great job of halting any Fettes advances, restricting any clear chances to a minimum.

Strathallan produced a slick attack down the right, with the ball being fizzed into the D, taking an unlucky deflection off a Fettes defender and ending up in the back of the net off Adam A’s stick. Opening the scoring for Strathallan midway through the first half.

After going 1-0 down, Fettes went on the attack and were denied by a wonderful save by the Strathallan goalie Nic H, after a great shot on the turn.

Nic was having a brilliant game, denying Fettes with a number of smart saves to keep his side ahead at half time.

Early in the second half and Strathallan went 2-0 up. Adam A with a low strike, smashing against the backboard to give his side a needed two-goal margin.

Fettes had a chance to get back into the game as they were awarded a penalty stroke. But Nic H pushed the ball wide of the top right corner to keep his teams lead intact. Another save by Nick kept Fettes a bay, in what was really top goalkeeping performance.

Strathallan then scored a fantastic goal. A long perfectly placed pass from Carl E found Adam in the D with one defender to beat; Adam flicked it past him before sliding the ball past the advancing goalkeeper to make it 3-0 and seal victory, completing his hat trick in the process.

The game finished 4-0 as Archie R fired the ball past the goalkeeper with 30 seconds remaining to make it a memorable Strathallan victory.

David Giles, hockey coach, on the win:

“Fantastic achievement by the boys, great to see all the hard work pay off. Hopefully this is the start of more success to come for this team”