By Miss Newman, Sports Coach

Sport at NHEHS for 2020 has taken a slightly different approach, with factoring in the various Covid-19 regulations and guidelines.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to play fixtures against local schools this term, but we have seen this as an opportunity to have training sessions and internal matches after school, to develop pupils and get our teams ready for when fixtures can eventually take place.

We have had training sessions for netball, hockey, waterpolo, swimming, cricket and football after school for all the various age groups, ranging from focusing on specific skills to game play.

Waterpolo and swimming are both taking place after school every day, with each year group having specific training from Mr Bent and Claudio Palumbo, the current England U17 Boys’ waterpolo coach. The Year 7s have been eager to soak up any time spent in the pool and are progressing well.

Badminton have added an internal tournament after school once a week for each year group, which has been a welcomed addition to the usual badminton club held on a Tuesday lunch time.

Dance clubs are going well, with every year group having a weekly practice. They are also currently rehearsing their routines for the virtual London Youth Games dance competition; we cannot wait to see what the finished product will be!

Paid clubs have also started with a bang this term, with many of the girls from across the school getting involved in fencing, yoga, taekwondo and kickboxing. These take place during lunchtimes throughout the week.

A highlight of the afterschool training program for the senior netballers was the Solo Session training session held with England netballer Sasha Corbin, where they focused on ball handling skills, the fundamentals of netball and then implementing these skills in game play. For the U14 hockey team, they were fortunate enough to have Trinidad and Tobago international hockey player Caleb Giuseppi share his knowledge with the girls. They focused on getting the basics right in hockey and then how best to implement them into match situations.

Although we may not have been able to play fixtures this half term, it hasn’t stopped NHEHS girls from achieving in their sports outside of school.

Natasha in Year 8 and Minna in Year 7 were two parts of the three athlete Thames Valley Harriers Athletics Club U13 team which won the virtual Middlesex Road Relays! Natasha was the third fastest individually & Minna was the youngest runner in the team.  Three of our NHEHS netballers, Keerit in Year 11, Gen in Year 10 and Ella in Year 9, have been selected into the London Pulse Netball Pathway Academy, which links directly with the Netball Super League franchise team.