With the amount of good news to celebrate this week, the sportsmen and women of Lancing have surely earned a rest! This will come (for some) at the weekend when the Lent term Exeat is already upon us. This week has also seen the Sports and Ken Shearwood Award assessemnts, and we are pleased to report record numbers for both and a very high quality field to assess. Good news spreads fast!

at the finishes of these races, just by the chapel.

Fencing
There is fantastic news from the Fencing Club in their first report of this term. In the regional championships last week, John B finished 25th and Bradley W (in his first competition) ended in 11th place. The competition had the largest number of entries for more than a decade with 134 fencers from the South East of England taking part. Bradley missed out on a place in the National Finals by just 4 hits, a great result for him. Both fencers have been invited to join the Sussex Scorpions Training Squad and have been entered for the County Open later this term.

Fives
Fives continues to flourish and this week it was the turn of the junior section to shine. In the U14 match, Lancing recorded a 2½ to ½ win over visitors Emanuel. At first pair, Alex Y and Tim G fought hard and won 2 games to 0. At second pair, Ed W and Henry M proved too strong for their opponents and won fairly easily 2 games to 0. At third pair, George W and Jake R won their first game and lost the second. The good news carried on in the U15 match where Louis Y and Guy H demolished their opponents by 3 games to 0, dropping only 4 points across the three games. This was a thoroughly well deserved victory.

Hockey
Hurstpierpoint College were our Woodard opponents last Saturday. The U15 and 1st teams led the way with outstanding results. The U14 team continue to play attractive Hockey, but went down 3-1 with Gbohun P-I scoring yet again. Louis P was voted as Man of the Match for the first time this season. The U15A team are still unbeaten after their 5-1 drubbing of Hurst. We now set them the target of keeping this proud record until the end of the season. Surely a challenge they are all up for?

Against a strong Hurst team, the U16A team produced their best performance of their three years at Lancing. After a relatively equal 1st half, they were 2-0 down despite having 3 or 4 excellent chances to score. The second half, however, was a brilliant team effort. Despite going 3-0 down, they kept fighting and soon scored through Josh F and then Josh A-R. After another Hurst goal, Hector L scored to make it 4-3 with 10 minutes to go. Despite huge amounts of pressure, they couldn’t find an equaliser. Special mention must go to Matt M with 2 assists, but also to the whole team for an excellent performance. MVP went to Josh A-R for some excellent runs up the right wing.

Coming up against one of our premier rivals in only our 3rd game of the season, the 2nd XI knew they were in for a difficult match. However they started brightly and created several chances, forcing numerous short corners. They went behind but battled well and got the score back to 2-1 at half time courtesy of a goal from James B. A positive half time team talk however could not inspire the performance they needed in the second half as they succumbed to 4 further goals as fatigue set in. A late goal from Ali H was little consolation after a poor second half performance. Nonetheless, there were many positives to take from the match as well as things to continue to work on. Man of the Match went to Udara G for rescuing the team on many occasions with some outstanding saves.

After success against Bradfield, the 1st XI made it back to back wins for the first time this year with a 2-1 win. After a slightly stuttering start they finally found their feet to overhaul a gritty Hurst team. They then finished as plate runners up on Wednesday in the County 6 a side tournament. The second half of term is certainly proving to be more fruitful than the first!

Netball
Fixtures against tough Christ’s Hospital teams took place last Saturday with mixed results. The U14s got off to a bad start and conceded early points. They improved as the game went on and did reduce the gap but it wasn’t enough to earn a win. Player of the Match was Catie F.

In the U15A game, Lancing started strongly but were unable to maintain a lead. More attacking play from the opposition should have resulted in Lancing stepping up a notch; instead it had the opposite effect. A disappointing performance from the U15A - let’s hope they can get back to form in the next game against Towers. Player of the Match was Paige S.

In a close match the U15Bs had their first successful win against Christ’s Hospital, winning by 16 goals to 15. They maintained a strong defence throughout which was supported in attack by Amy M and Izzy v E. The team also benefited from an extremely helpful contribution from Esther C who stepped in from the ‘A’ team to play at centre. This really boosted the team, but Player of the Match went to Soo Y for her very good Goal Keeping skills, preventing many goal scoring opportunities. This win gives the girls their first team of the week award.

Like other teams before them, the 3rds started well with Lancing dominating play, keeping possession and winning the first quarter. There were some moments of quick, centre court play and down the line but Christ's Hospital’s defence were just too strong for Lancing to get through. However, there were some excellent interceptions and strong defence shown by Lena J who was voted as Player of the Match.

In an incredibly close fought match, the 2nd VII all played their hearts out and were a credit to themselves, their Houses and the School. Eight goals down going into the last quarter, and two quick goals from Christ's after the restart, the game looked done and dusted; but it wasn’t.  Rarely has a Lancing sporting team fought for something so much or shown so much self belief. Led by the ferocity of Amy P and captain Anna S, the girls fought back from being 10 goals down to level at 27 all.  One key turnover in the game resulted in Christ's winning by one goal. They should all be proud of this come back and all played a part. However, MVP for her commanding and controlling influence in the last part of the game goes to Marina K.

The 1st VII had to work extremely hard against a very physical side. It was a well fought and tough match but in the end ended up with a Lancing loss. Everyone played exceptionally well and Player of the Match goes to Coco A for her excellent work in defence. Good luck also goes to the Netballers who are going to the SISNA tournament this Saturday at East Grinstead.

Squash
Yesterday, the Squash Club hosted Charterhouse. In the U15 game Lancing recorded another convincing win. Impressive performances from Ed C and Rob C, Joel C and Nick B resulted in them winning all their matches. Man of the Match went to Nick B who was playing up one year group. Hopefully they can bring this quality into the quarter finals of the national cup.

The 1st team are still unbeaten this season after a superb effort from James B, who was making a rare appearance. With additional wins from Josh A-R, Alex W, Chris M and MVP Glenn B, the boys won by 5 matches to 0. The team showed such strength in depth that they were able to rest Ryan W and Cameron W, with Cameron travelling to the English Open for the weekend.

The 1st team and U15s both have National Quarter finals next week, depending on the outcome of Wellington and Exeter in both rounds.