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18 BANCROFTIAN COMMUNITY
Display Of Strength
From Bancroft’s
Gym Coach
Any pupil who trains in the School fitness suite
or attends one of the lunchtime or early morning
strength and conditioning sessions, which he
organises for our sports’ squads, will know Arram
Eghoyan. But how many of them know that Arram is
officially the fifth strongest man in the world in the
U90kg category?
In October half term, Arram travelled to the US to compete in the
World’s Strongest Man Under 90kg Competition. He faced a very
hard field of over twenty contestants. For seven hours Arramwas
pushed to his limits: lifting heavy object and moving around with
them, for example running with a 360kg frame on his back, and lifting
an 83kg dumbbell overhead with one arm. He commented that his
final placing of fifth was a fair result after a tough year with injuries, ”A
fewminor mistakes cost me a spot on the podium, but all in all it was
a good performance. I managed to hit a personal best in the deadlift
at 318kg.” A bonus was that he got through the competition injury
free! He is currently taking a break from competing but hopes to
come back stronger later this year.
Before competing in strongman, Arram competed in powerlifting
(different to weightlifting), and won eleven world titles in powerlifting,
and broke two world records. He has worked at Bancroft’s for several
years, progressively developing strength and conditioning coaching
for the pupils
Recently Arram has been training a couple of our Upper Sixth Formers
and on Saturday 10 December, Matt Roberts and Tolu Abisogun
travelled to Crystal Palace Sports Centre to represent Bancroft’s in
their first senior weightlifting competition. Up against some of the
best lifters in London and the south east, they were tested in the
snatch and the clean and jerk. With the pressure of being amongst
the youngest lifters there, and in front of a big crowd, both Matt and
Tolu hit personal best lifts. Matt totalled 180kg and Tolu finished on
103kg, earning herself a bronze medal.
Another one of Arram’s protégées is OB Regan Phillips (who began
lifting weights in the Bancroft’s gym after suffering a serious knee
injury); Regan finished second to Arram’s first in the South of
England’s Strongest Man competition in 2016!
Arram says that preparing for a competition is hard work with three
to four months of training in the lead up focussing specifically on the
events, which vary each competition. He has to ensure he works
on any weak areas and programmes in exercises to help prevent
injury. He also
pays attention to nutrition, making sure he has
the necessary
energy to train.
He uses plenty
of recovery
protocols, such
as stretching,
foam rolling
massage, ice
baths, and
of course he
has to lift a
lot of heavy
weights!
From The PA
Sally Fisher, PA
Secretary
Christmas seems
so far away now
and I’m sure
the majority of
your New Year’s
resolutions are
also a distant
memory, but
for some of us,
the memories
of the past few
PA events are
ones that we’ll
remember for
quite some time.
This year sees
both our Chair and
Vice-Chair in their final year, so the festive events in
December were particularly special.
On Saturday 3 December we had the Prep School Christmas Fayre,
which is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the PA calendar. It
was as successful as ever this year, with some fantastic prizes up for
grabs in the auction and a special visit from Santa Claus to help get
everyone in the Christmas spirit. This year we had a great ‘Bancroft’s
Bake-Off’, with some beautifully creative cakes, which looked far
too delicious to devour. Huge thanks to everyone who helped,
contributed and attended, for making it such a special and successful
event. Almost £5,000 has been raised since the last Insight update,
which is a testament to everyone’s continued generosity. Thank you
for your ongoing support at these organised events.
The Prep School pupils enjoyed their annual PA-funded Pantomime on
the 14 December, which, this year, was the hilarious
Aladdin
. A fun
time was had by all, including the teachers, and the pupils very much
enjoyed their “scrummy” biscuits as well as an amazing performance.
Our final event of the year was the captivating Christmas Carol
Service, held at All Saints Church, on the 15 December. Members
of the PA teamwere on hand to serve festive refreshments such as
mulled wine and mince pies, to the congregation after the service.
Our next big event is also one of the highlights of the year – The
Summer Ball; this has been scheduled for Saturday 1 July and will be
themed “Diamonds are Forever”. Please put this date in your diary
and hopefully we’ll see lots of you there. Another date is the ever-
popular Quiz Night, on Saturday October 14. Further details will be
available over the next couple of months.
The PA is represented on Facebook and Twitter so please “Like” us
and “Follow” us, so you can stay up to date!
Facebook Bancroft’s School Parents’ Association
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