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Real
Tennis
With our full programme
of sports and activities, it is
somewhat difficult to find
time for this rather esoteric
but nonetheless magnificent
game, especially as it also
involves travelling off-site.
We are grateful to Radley College for giving
us court time; we were able to visit on
three occasions to give half a dozen boys
an introduction to real tennis, although
a couple had played previously in school
holidays.
Nicholas Mellor reports:
“On Sunday 7th February, the Real Tennis
National Schools Championships were held
at four historic venues around the country:
Queens Club, Radley College, the Oratory
and Hardwick House. Schools came from
all over the country to compete in this old
and challenging game, many fielding several
teams. Summer Fields entered two pairs and
were represented at Hardwick by
Edward
Bingham
and
Beau Swallow
(1st pair) and
Theo Mellor
and
Rigby Swarovski-Adams
.
After several closely fought matches with
numerous ‘chases’ and ‘hazards’ and ’40- all’
in most of their games, our first pair ended
up in fifth place and our second pair in
seventh. Perrot Hill defeatedWestbourne
House 6-5 in a nail-biting final to win the
tournament. “
Later in the month came the Junior
National Handicap Championships, held at
the Oratory School.
OJSB reports:
“The 1st pair of
Henry Daly
and
Albert
Sitwell
received plenty of praise from all
watching for the excellent tennis they
played in beating Moulsford II 6-3 and
Eton 6-4 and winning their group easily.
Due to illness
Rigby Swarovski Adams
was partnered by Florian Hull who had not
set foot on a real tennis court before, but
who nevertheless made incredible progress
as the tournament went on. His partner
did a brilliant job of guiding him through
the intricacies of the game during their
matches. They should be very proud of their
performance, particularly the way they came
back from 5-3 down to beat the Moulsford
1st pair 6-5 and they only just missed out
on progressing from their group. In the semi-
finals Daly and Sitwell played a good pair
from the Oratory but managed to get the
better of them 6-5, earning a place in the
final where they met a pair fromWycombe
Abbey. The girls took an early 3-1 lead but
Albert and Henry fought back well and won
the next 5 games in a row to win 6-3 and
take the title – a great achievement.”
I hope that all these boys will find
opportunities to play real tennis in the
future.With its cerebral components allied
to the more physical aspects, it is hard to
find a more satisfying sport.
APWB
Sailing
This year saw the return of
Summer Fields crews to the
IAPS National Sailing Regatta
held on the Olympic course at
the National Sailing Centre in
Portland, in the last week of June.
We sent two crews for both the U11 and
U13 regattas with interested boys’ names
picked out of a hat.We are also immensely
grateful to Mrs Saunders for driving the U11
boys and to MWIJ for taking the U13 boys.
Oscar Henshaw, Gus Howland,Aidan
Saunders
and
George Laing
competed
in the U11 regatta and achieved some
decent “middle of the bunch” results – very
respectable for a land-locked school! The U13
crew of
Oscar Hilton, Rory Nell,Theo Mellor
and
Jack Maxwell
enjoyed further decent
results but sadly were unable to convert some
promising starts into good finishes.
Everyone immensely enjoyed the
experience and learnt a huge amount from
competing in a 56-boat fleet on the Olympic
course. I suspect the highlight might well
have been seeing a number of GB sailors
practising for this summer’s Olympics!
MHT
GeorgeWhitefield Sailing Trophy:
O.J.Hilton
S u m m e r F i e l d s
2 0 1 5 – 2 0 1 6