Football
Head of Football: Mark Wardley
Although rugby remains our major boys' winter sport, football was reintroduced in 2009. The school now runs football as a games option for boys in the senior school and we field two representative teams at U18. We also have a thriving football club and coaching programme for junior and middle school pupils.
Our coaches are Marc Wardley (UEFA B License Football Coach) and Chris Atkinson.
We have two full grass pitches at our West Grove site and exclusive use of a 4G artificial pitch on Mondays and Thursdays.
Coaching takes place on:
- Monday after school for Senior girls & boys (year 11 upwards)
- Tuesdays after School for boys’ U14 & U15
- Thursdays after school for girls’ U12 & boys’ U12
- Friday after school for Senior squad
We have a very competitive fixture list with regular fixtures against local schools for pupils in the junior and middle schools. In the senior school, fixtures are played against all our local competition, including Forest, Chigwell and Brentwood, and also further afield against St Albans School, Highgate, Merchant Taylor’s School, The Perse, The Leys in Cambridge and Harrow School. We also enter the First XI into the London Independent Schools FA Cup.
Our philosophy is based on the ‘Pass and Move’ coaching style, which aims to coach and improve talented young footballers. The coaching programme aims to improve a player’s first touch, technique and match play, highlighting the importance of awareness and decision making when playing football. The players learn to combine speed of play, passing, movement and thoughtfulness in everything they do on the pitch. Throughout this programme, they will also understand the importance of leadership, discipline, responsibility, integrity and teamwork.
