Dorset Sportshall League – Match 1 – 3 October 2009
The first of the three
Dorset Sportshall league matches took place at Canford School on
Saturday 3rd October. The league operates with just two age
groups, these being under 15 and under 13; however, the under 13 age
group includes athletes from the age of 8 upwards, so there is wide
range of abilities in that age group.
Teams in the under 13
competition can be made up of no more than 12 athletes, who between them
have to cover all the events on offer to get the maximum possible score,
and at the end of the last league match certificates are given out, and
trophies for the winners are presented.
This year there are eight
U13 boys teams and ten U13 girls teams toughing it out to be top of the
league, and it was great to see so many athletes and parents present at
the first match, making for a great atmosphere. It must seem chaotic to
begin with for those new to Sportshall, as the team managers try to
organise the athletes in to their events, give out numbers and generally
answer everyone’s questions. However, from this ‘chaos’, some semblance
of order ensues as the events get under way and the focus of people’s
attention is transferred to the competition.
Wimborne AC U13 boys team
only fielded seven athletes, so we were never going to be at the sharp
end of the team competition, ending up 6th out of 8. That
said the boys turned in some excellent performances. The highlights were
probably Josh du Feu’s convincing win in the speed bounce, second place
in the paarlauf (Josh again and Chris Coomes), and third place in the
circuit relay (Jamie Goodwin, Alfie Beddow, Liam Winton and Piers
Copeland).
Our girls team fared a
little better than the boys finishing 4th out of 10, helped
by fielding nearly a full team. Again there were some excellent
performances. In the long distance 6 lap race, Kelly O’Mahony won her
heat convincingly and finished second overall by just one second with
Abbie Hine finishing 5th overall. The paarlauf saw Grace
Copeland and Maddy Diment finish 3rd overall.
For the U15 age group the
teams are much smaller – only four athletes. Each athlete can do two
field events and one track event, as well as a 4x2 lap relay. The
Wimborne boys team only fielded three athletes: Matt Curtis, Jack Snook,
and Sam Neill. Matt was top scorer for the trio, finishing in 4th
place only 5 points behind the leader – all to play for over the next
two matches. The girls also fielded a team of three athletes: Hannah
Winton, Abi Card, and Annabel Brown. Top scorer for the girls was
Hannah, finishing 6th, only 9 points behind the leader – not
bad with a gammy leg.
Let’s hope that we can get
a few more member athletes to make our teams stronger for the next
league match – talk to your coaches if you want to compete.
