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14 SPORT
London Swimming
League
Kaitlin Lovell, 3E
On the 15 March, the crack U12 and U13
swimming team of nineteen girls and boys
journeyed to Latymer Upper School for the finals
of the North London Swimming League against
five other schools.
We competed in twenty-seven different races, winning four
of them. This outstanding team performance meant that we
came third overall, securing us a place in the finals where we
will compete against the top three schools from the south of
London later this year in June.
Particular highlights of the day included Neha Pillai and
Kaitlin Lovell winning first place in the 100m Freestyle and
50m Backstroke respectively, setting new school records in
the process. Other highlights include Ley Iko coming first
in the 50m Breast and the Year 8 Freestyle team won their
relay race. Congratulations and commendation must also be
given to Daniel Fostiak who swam in the 50m Freestyle race.
Although he did not win his race, he achieved a new personal
best by 2 seconds.
The part of the day which gave us most fun was the squadron
relay which involved sixteen swimmers each swimming one
length of the pool because everyone did their best and it
was very loud. It was a thoroughly enjoyable, marvellous
experience. A great achievement by the dedicated team of
swimmers. Here is to more Bancroft’s swimming success!
Go Bancroft’s!
My Swimming
Experience At
Bancroft’s
Kaitlin Lovell, 3E
I started club swimming at the age of ten at the London
Aquatics Centre, the home of swimming at the 2012
London Olympic Games. At clubs the focus of training is
mainly speed and stamina and there is no substitute for
hours spent in the pool. I did many two-hour sessions just
swimming up and down as fast as I possibly could. More
recently I have been swimming four to five sessions a
week. With this amount of training my performance and
stamina began to improve, but I also started developing a
lot of uncomfortable shoulder and knee pain.
When I joined Bancroft’s, I started swimming with Mrs Cheshire, who
quickly noticed that although I was fast, my stroke was incorrect, and
therefore I wasn’t swimming at my full potential. Over several weeks
Mrs Cheshire gave me focussed individual tuition to take me through
each of the four strokes and correct each thing I was doing wrong. At
times it could be really frustrating as I hadn’t understood that what I was
doing was not correct, and I had to change habits that had been firmly
ingrained with all the swimming I do. However, I have noticed a definite
improvement in my times, meaning that I am getting a lot faster, and the
shoulder and knee pain have both gone. I may have got a bit frustrated
at the time with having to go back to basics to correct my stroke, but
swimming with Mrs Cheshire and receiving the one-on-one coaching
attention has been a brilliant opportunity and is immensely beneficial to
my stroke technique, and therefore to my performance in the pool.
Krishan And Tomisin Take A Step Closer
To Wimbledon!
Miss AmandaWainwright, head of Tennis
Forty five Bancroft’s tennis
players stepped onto the Road
To Wimbledon once again this
year and competed for the
chance to progress to the County
Championships. It is an U14 event
but we had players from the Prep
2s, 3rds, Removes and L4th playing
against each other in a round robin
format which was followed by a
series of knock-out phases plus
several plate events.
The boys’ event saw Krishan Parmar, Oliver
Kelley, Kieran Petrie and Momin Ali make
it through to the semi-finals where Krishan
and Kieran overcame their opposition
to book a place in the final. The rallies
were long with Krishan putting his strong
forehand to good use and Kieran using his
phenomenal athleticism to cover the court
with seeming ease. In the end, Krishan
had one shot too many for Kieran and he
emerged victorious with a 4-1 win.
The girls’ tournament was an incredibly
close affair with many of the group and
knock-out matches being decided by
sudden death points. The semi-final places
were booked by Tomisin Awoyode, Maha
Dannawi, Letitia Saravanapavananthasivam
and Simran Chadda. It was Tomisin and
Letitia who progressed to the final and what
a roller coaster of a match it was. Tomisin
stormed off to a 3-1 lead with her almighty
topspin forehand creating difficulties for
Letitia. She held 2 match points but Letitia
calmly saved them both before going on
to level proceedings at 3-3, taking the final
to a tie-break. Level pegging for most of
it, Tomisin reached match point again at
6-4 but Letitia would not give up! Back she
came to 6-5 before Tomisin hit a beautiful
inside out forehand winner to claim the
trophy.
The events were once again sponsored
by Bancroft’s parent, Mr Mike Wood, of
“Freedom” and I am ever so grateful to
him for all his unwavering and enthusiastic
support. Tomisin and Krishan now go on to
the County Finals where they will compete
for the chance to play on the grass at
Wimbledon!