110 / 118
3 (12-6) in the final.
Hector Brown
and
Albert Sitwell
, bright prospects for next year,
dispatched St Olave’s 1 (12-5, 14-12) to reach
the quarter-finals, where they fell gallantly to
the experienced Sunningdale 1 – who then
faced our 1st pair: Daly and Salata, having
reached that stage dropping very few points
along the way, were unable to move up through
the required gears.
The climax of the season is always the Prep
Schools Tournament, and this year we had
high hopes of repeating last year’s success, as
we knew we had the best pair on the circuit.
However, preparations were far from ideal, with
Bingham just back from an extended period
of ‘Off Games’ with a fractured thumb, and
Murray also out through injury (again).As the
tournament progressed and the 32 pairs were
gradually filtered into three separate sections,
all our boys played well and we reached the
final in all three. Capstick-Dale and Menell
lost to Sunningdale 1 in the quarter-finals and
in the 5th-8th place play-offs took the top
spot.With three finals played concurrently on
adjacent courts, Summer Fields was the only
school represented in all of them. Sadly, one
match after another ended in disappointment
for us. Our 1st pair won their first game 12-3
but, as Sunningdale came back strongly to
take the second 12-6, Bingham’s vulnerable
thumb and lack of recent practice preyed on the
mind of his partner as well as his own, and the
favourites were unable to recover. Swallow and
Joe Standbrook
lost a very tight contest (11-
14, 13-14) to Berkhamsted 2, while Doughty
and Prickett were dismissed (9-12, 1-12) by
Ludgrove 1. It was a somewhat chastening
experience for our fives players (and coach), but
we all came away wiser and stronger!
So – if I may be allowed to finish on a
personal note – my final season of Summer
Fields fives perhaps ended in anti-climax, and
yet I know that some of our squad are capable
of great achievements in the future, particularly
Bingham and Spiridonov (who, incidentally,
now jointly hold the record for the most SF
appearances in matches and tournaments). I
was heartened to hear of Etonian success in
the national schools championships, with OSs
featuring prominently: Backhouse and Porter
won the U14s, XanderWatt (and partner) the
U15s, HarryThistlethwayte was in the U16
final and Barnaby Harrison reached the Open
quarter-finals and, in an earlier competition, also
helped Eton to retain theWilliams Cup. I shall
watch with great interest (and a little pride) the
progress of all Summerfieldian fives players,
both present and past, especially the four who
made the 2014-15 season so memorable.The
last 21 years of running the fives have been
such fun and I would like to record my gratitude
to JamesWoodcock (JWW) and Gareth Hoskins
(Captain of North Oxford EFC) - as well as the
late Roddy Forman (RPCF) - who have also
made major contributions over the years to this
wonderful game at Summer Fields.
Colours were re-awarded to M. Spiridonov
(Captain of Fives) and E.A.H. Bingham, and
awarded to J.C. Menell,T. Capstick-Dale, P.J.
Murray and S.C.E. Swallow.The Moukarzel
Cup went jointly to E.A.H. Bingham and M.
Spiridonov.
APWB
REFCA U14 Southern Schools Tournament (Harrow)
1. Bingham & Spiridonov
Winners
2. Capstick-Dale & Menell
3. Murray & Swallow
REFCA National U13 Tournament (Eton)
1. Daly & Salata
Quarter-finalists (7th)
2. Barlow E. & Swarovski Adams
last 16 (13th)
Prep Schools 3-Pairs Tournament (Eton)
(Bingham & Spiridonov, Capstick-Dale & Menell, Murray
& Swallow)
1st Summer Fields
8 points
2nd Sunningdale
7 points
3rd Ludgrove
3 points
4th Cranleigh Prep
0 points
National Schools U13 Championships (Eton):
1. Capstick-Dale & Menell
Semi-finalists
2. Murray & Swallow
Quarter-finalists
3. Prickett & Standbrook
last 16
4. Doughty & Frankopan
National Schools U11 Championships (Eton):
1. Corso & Stanhope
Quarter-finalists
2. Laing & Smith
last 16
3. Crawford N. & Edwards
Plate runners-up
4. Lowndes Lumb & Moores
5. Cecil & Nell H.
6. Brown A. & Nichol
National Schools U12 Championships (Eton):
1. Daly & Salata
Semi-finalists
2. Brown H. & Sitwell
Quarter-finalists
3. Barlow E. & Swarovski Adams
Plate BWinners
4. Crawford O. & Hull
49th Annual Prep Schools Tournament (Harrow):
1. Bingham & Spiridonov
Runners-up
2. Capstick-Dale & Menell
Quarter-finalists
(5th)
3. Standbrook & Swallow
Forman Salver runners-up
4. Doughty & Prickett
Marston Plate runners-up
JUDO
Judo has continued to be a
popular option on the extra
activities schedule and our
coach, TonyWilkins, has
held a junior and a senior
session every Thursday
throughout the year as
part of the minor sports
programme. It was sad that
we were unable to hold the
traditional judo display on
Sports Day in June but we
hope that normal service
will be restored next year.
Undoubtedly the top judoka was
Daniel Ponomarenko
, who performed
superbly at the Northern Home
Counties Orange-Belt-and-Under
Open Competition in March. In his
new category, the under-38kg, he
won all four of his fights by ippon
(the maximum score) using strong
holding down and
throwing techniques
against some really
tough opposition. A few
months later he
won a gold medal
and 1st place
in his class at
the IAPS Judo
Championships
at High
Wycombe,
despite not
being fully
fit after recent
illness.We wish him
continued success
with his judo at
Harrow over the
coming years.
S u m m e r F i e l d s
2 0 1 5 – 2 0 1 6
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