Week one's highlights include the first ever Girls hockey matches in the Under School at Charterhouse, 20 teams representing the School in football and Charterhouse golfers playing at the West Sussex Invitational.
Director of Sport, Chris Sandbach, shares the latest in the Sports department.
It is a delight to have pupils back playing sport. Having a focus to training has been the most notable difference with the reintroduction of external fixtures. It was a joy to see the school play 32 matches on Saturday 11 September - certainly a new record at Charterhouse! The Fourths have certainly had a busy time so far and have been keeping busy across the school and it was wonderful to see the effort, energy and enthusiasm shining through in their games on the weekend. Saturday saw football and hockey fixtures respectively, Sunday was a chance to do some cricket, hockey, netball and swimming and we have started the non-core sport taster sessions on Monday in a variety of different activities.
The beauty of school sport are the flashes of magic and unexpected overachievement. These are not ability dependent and happen in all sports and at all ages. The wider impact of sport such as determination, persistence, courage and grit all are outcomes of a sports programme. I’m a big believer that Sport can make better people and that has certainly been my message to many pupils I have spoken to at the start of OQ. Sport at Charterhouse has a rich history, a powerful present and some exciting times ahead.
Read more about selected sports below.
Football
Charterhouse football is off to a flying start. A full week of trials preceded the first Saturday back at School, with block fixtures against Ardingly and Winchester where 20 teams represented the school.
It has been a good start for Charterhouse football as we saw fifteen wins and two draws from the twenty matches. The 16A and 16B team both kept clean sheets in 3-0 and 8-0 wins respectively. Year 10 pupils represented the school in a football match for the first time and the 15B and 15C sides both defended and attacked well, coming away with 5-0 wins. Year 9 pupils also played for the School for the first time in a sporting fixture and the pick of the results was 14D team who had a 6-1 win.
Hockey
Last weekend saw the first ever girls' matches in the Under School at Charterhouse. In all, 9 teams were fielded against Guildford Hockey Club and Hurstpierpoint. It was fantastic to have all of the girls in the Under School playing hockey on the first Saturday of the year.
The U14A and B both played Guildford Hockey Club, a brilliant fixture that has come about as a result of our new partnership with the club. Matches were hard fought with the U14A losing 1-0 and the U14B winning 3-0. Elsewhere in the U14 year group, fortunes were not in our favour in terms of the result but the girls persevered and approached the new sport with an open mind throughout.
The 1st XI lost narrowly to City of London Freemen's School 2-1 in a game that could have gone both ways. They are looking forward to the prospect of playing CLFS again in the cup on Friday 17th September. The 2nd, 3rd and U15 XIs all represented Charterhouse with dynamism and great endeavour. As a result, some very enjoyable matches were had at home and away throughout the day.
Golf
Four Charterhouse golfers: Cathal, Monte, Zach and Henry, represented the school at the West Sussex Invitational on Thursday 9 September. The golf course was immaculate, and the heather offered the usual challenge for even the best golfers.
The following week, Charterhouse played a mixed friendly match against Cranleigh on our school course with the result being 2-1 to Cranleigh.
