The Johnian 2014-15

Each player in a sentence 4th VIIRuby Breakspear Victoria Macfarlane (U5, South)Deceptive in defence and superb reader of the game never giving morethan an inch to her opponent. The fourths had a cracking season despite an early defeat to Epsom College. WeEllie Grove then bounced back after some intenseThe interception and tipping queen – player of the tournament and touted mid-week training and had a string ofby regional selectors. strong wins. This unfortunately came to an end by a tough Cranleigh side.Anna WhitworthTorpedo arms who thwarted numerous attacks at the top of the D. However we were not to be disheartened as we ended the season on a high withJess Laslett two wins in the bag. Our shooters wereAlways managed to secure the link play from defence through to attack. our strong point with Immy Tonnessen and Louise Barr working well togetherKirstin Hume to produce some great goals. CharlotteAthletic and dynamic in the final third of the court. Corbett stood out in the defensive half and she was intercepting balls left, rightEsme Cosham and centre. Overall we had a great seasonDominated her shooting circle, drove onto the ball superbly and barely and are looking forward to next season!missed a shot.Katie LittlewoodLed a brilliant captain’s role – calm and collected, directed the teamsuperbly and ensured that all rebounds were collected by St John’s.Macy McCutcheonRemained totally unflustered every time that she was asked to come oncourt and shared court time with Kirstin in SF and Finals.My thanks go to a wonderful set of girls who have shown that hard workdoes indeed lead to success – the memory of this day will stay forever. THE JOHNIAN 99

cricket 1st XI majority of the team having exams andSeason reports not being at school to train as much as we Matthew Denley (L6, Monty) would have liked. The 1st X1 cricket team started the season The highlight of the season however was as they meant to go on, with a very undoubtedly the cricket festival in the early successful pre-season tour to La Manga, days of the summer holidays, which was Spain. The team trained hard for the first hosted at St John’s this year. We started off two days and then played a match against a the tournament with a victory over Colfe’s local Spanish team on the third. The game School, with notable performances by looked to be a St John’s win from the start the captain Dimil Patel and the younger with a very strong batting performance members of the team, Ben Geddes and Will which was then followed up by equally Sanders. strong bowling and fielding. This gave the team a great deal of confidence going The next day posed more of a challenge. into the start of the season, and the team However, the style of cricket we were continued the momentum forward to playing through the confidence of previous produce some notable wins. victories proved too much for the Ipswich team. Ipswich batted first and imposed The first game of the season however was a massive total with one of their players against a very strong St Paul’s team, in scoring a century and a half. It looked very which the St John’s team could not quite unlikely that St John’s would win the game cross the line and gain the victory, with St at the halfway point, but we never doubted Paul’s getting the winning run on the last our batting ability and backed ourselves ball of the match. to chase down their total. Some incredible performances from Sol Buddinger, Hayden The team then set off on a winning streak, Storey and Archie Breakspear led to St overcoming Reigate and collecting two John’s being in a strong position with 10 mid-week wins against the 40 Club and overs to go. the MCC. Two weak performances against Eastbourne and Hampton dampened Great praise has to go to the lower order, spirits going into half term, however, who along with Tom Gardner brought the despite a fairly successful half to the season total ever closer, Tom Fleming and Ross with five wins and three losses. Macfarlane finishing the run total with an over to spare. This was one of the great The second half of the season was a great batting performances of a St John’s 1st X1, success, going unbeaten against Epsom, with a target this great never have being KCS and Lord Wandsworth. This was a chased down before. substantial achievement due to the100 THE JOHNIAN

The last day saw the toughest of our 2nd XI 3rd XIopponents, a very strong Brentwoodteam. Having batted first, we got to a very Harry Witt (L6, Monty) Jack Simpkin (U6, North)defendable total – if we could put in astrong bowling and fielding performance. The 2nd XI enjoyed what was truly a It was a brilliant season for the 3rd XI thisBrentwood got off to a great start and it season of two halves. The first three year. We played seven games, winninglooked inevitable that they were going to games were won, two of them on the six and losing the seventh by a singlebe the winners of the match. However, St last ball, as all held their nerve under run. There were superb performancesJohn’s fought back with some key wickets pressure. Runs came easily as Matthew throughout the season with both bat andfrom Kimball Klintworth and Michael Monk, Chris Roberts and Elliott Jones let ball, and it is fair to say that the rightJames, which led to a very tight finish. their willow do the talking. Oliver Hunt balance was struck in every game.We continued to increase the pressure on and Charlie Stamp were in fine formthe batsmen, and through some brilliant with the ball also. Then came the turning Our first four games were all agonisinglyfielding from Ed Stait and bowling from point, a defeat snatched from almost close, and on each occasion the teamDimil Patel, eventually bowled out certain victory at Trinity Croydon and showed brilliant resilience and courageBrentwood and won the festival. (coinciding with study leave) the team with the ball to ensure that we came out did not win again. Close matches against on top in three of the four. Our winningIt was a great finish to a very successful Epsom, KCS and Lord Wandsworth saw model was to bat first and bat well, andseason for the 1st X1, having won 11 the Eagles finish runners-up, but a very then put the pressure on the oppositionout of the 14 matches played. Special enjoyable season it was nonetheless. with the ball. We executed it perfectly inmentions must go to Mr Hammond and every game that we had the opportunityMr Platt for their coaching throughout to, which was undoubtedly a key factorthe season, and to the Upper Sixth who in our success.will be greatly missed in the 1st X1 nextyear. 101THE JOHNIAN

Right from the very first game against the A team). Angus Lonsdale confused Overall, the U14B cricket team haveSt Paul’s, we showed just how well the the batsmen with his spin, and Charles had a great season, winning all butmodel was suited to our team as we Watkins’ late transfer into the team three games. All the team progresseddefended 121 against a strong team. provided dividends against KCS and Lord through the season and gave it everythingHarry Britten excelled with the bat while Wandsworth. on the pitch. And to say you beat thehe was part of the team with 160 runs in Epsom (our main rivals) by 182 runs is4 innings, at an average of over 50. With Having been well beaten in the first few something to be proud of. The team isthe ball, the left arm spin of Jack Simpkin matches, towards half term the winning looking forward to next year’s season.took the most wickets (14), but the rising margin between us and our opponentsstar that is Ben Gadsby fell just one shy narrowed. The penultimate game against U14Cin an equally impressive season with the KCS Wimbledon was probably the teamball. highlight. It didn’t help that it took The U14C team throughout the whole us until our final match against Lord season consisted of Ethan Heard, FreddieU15A Wandsworth to pass 100; Will Paskell Shearer, Andrew Caird, Alex Kellend, batted brilliantly scoring 60 runs. There George Myers, Frank Dwan, TitusAlex Annetts (L5, North) were notable performances in many of Tresidder, Angus Rose, Nikil Patel, Yousef the matches, yet we never seemed to Osman, Jake Akam-Taylor, and GabrielThe U15A team had a season of ups and quite peak as a team. There was, however, Turner. Scott Driscoll and Raef Murphydowns. These were close games, which a positive team spirit despite the wait for chipped in along the way. We playedprovided great drama. After a couple of a victory. matches against Eastbourne College,early losses we found our feet against Hampton, KCS and Lord Wandsworth.Eastbourne. With Will Sanders in brilliant U14Bform with the ball, taking 8 wickets for Although we had a very short season we4 runs, Eastbourne were bowled out Joe Watson (4F, Surrey) still maintained our shape. We lost twofor 19. St John’s then cruised to victory. matches against St Paul’s and HamptonThe match against Hampton was a low The U14B cricket team played brilliantly by only 2 and 3 runs in each game. Thenscoring contest with St John’s being this year, beating tough opposition in the something clicked and we got going bybowled out for 99. Hampton looked like most emphatic ways with commitment beating KCS and then Lord Wandsworth.winning with ease until a great spell of from all players. We started the season The stand-out performances were Freddiebowling by Hugo Coughlan taking 5-21 of well with standout performances from Shearer taking the most wickets, Ethantook the game to the wire - although the Matt Evans in the batting department, Heard getting the most runs, Titusgame did not go in our favour. managing to get two half centuries with Tresidder (57 runs) and Alex Kellend the bat in the first two games. Batting was (41).The highlight of the year was against not only good at the start of the season,KCS Wimbledon with Will Sanders but got better and better as many players Special thanks to Mr Davies and Mr Doesmashing the bowlers to all parts for an became more confident and comfortable for taking our training session and foroutstanding 75 and James Robinson ably with the bat. coaching the team. Overall our season hassupporting him from the other end with been very successful and we look forwarda partnership of 63. St John’s chased It was not just our batting which was to more successful seasons in the futuredown a difficult total. Will Sanders’ form impressive during the season. Bowling at St John’s.continued throughout the season as he and fielding were both courageous andpassed 50 on three separate occasions. great to watch, with some great catches coming fromThanks are due to Mr Gale for his Dan Craig, JJ Hayter andcoaching in all training sessions Ben Geddes, and somethroughout the week and in matches at all-round great fieldingthe weekend. from both Raef Murphy and Seb Hommasi. InU15B the bowling section our key bowler was BenSebastian Carley (L5, Surrey) Geddes, always putting the opening batsmanDespite some strong performances, under great pressure andthe team never fully fired this season normally taking manyand unfortunately the U15B team went wickets on the way.without a win throughout the season. Geddes was assisted by both Martin Vogel andThomas Jeffcott and William Paskell Joe Watson, whose swingopened the bowling with accuracy ably bowling always gave thesupported by Seb Carley and Cameron batsman a hard time.Brady (before both were promoted to102 THE JOHNIAN

sailing On Sunday 29 March, the School’s 16 sailors The crew made Cowes by nightfall and settled assembled at the PAC for a kit check and down to a roast supper. An early start to catch the briefing ahead of their sail training expedition tide the next morning brought the yacht through with the Rona Sailing Project. Founded in the western side of the Isle of Wight and the group 1960, the project (formerly the Rona Trust) tacked its way past Old Harry Rock, before taking is one of the UK’s most respected sail training on the Channel to get into Poole for late afternoon. organisations. The St John’s group was divided Departing Poole shortly after breakfast and using into port and starboard watches, each with one only a storm jib, the Donald Searle accelerated Sixth Form leader, and reminded ‘to give of to 10.8 knots towards Swanage Bay, where the your best’ – a primary focus of the project. yacht anchored for lunch. This was an ideal opportunity for the crew to start their CompetentTHE CREW WERE Upon arrival in Southampton, the group was Crew qualification, with the afterguard teachingASKED AT THE directed to the Donald Searle, a 75’ twin-masted, knots, boat rigging, sail handling, metrology, andSTART TO ‘GIVE ketch-rigged yacht. During a full safety briefing fire and safety precautions. Trip leader Mr MooneyOF THEIR BEST’ on all aspects of the yacht, skipper Mark Fowler produced a navigation plan for the voyage toAND THEY DID explained how the watch system worked and Yarmouth (IOW) using traditional navigationsIN HEAPS. SAIL who would be on duty for the various chores methods, and the port and starboard watchTRAINING IS that needed to be done. To several of the boys, teams took turns to lower and hoist differentUNIQUE AND the announcement by the skipper to prepare the combinations of sails, each team clearly displayingAT TIMES IT yacht for departure was a surprise, and a sudden their excellent abilities as a closely knit team.REQUIRES THE realisation that their adventure was underway.CREW TO DIG The weather and tides were mostly onside on theDEEP AND WORK After the briefing, the group motored down the way to Yarmouth, and the crew helmed the yachtTHROUGH TOUGH Hamble and into the Solent. The cold north- throughout the journey. A planned late departureTIMES AS A TEAM. easterly breeze became a bitingly cold wind, enabled the afterguard to continue with the but every call by the afterguard and skipper was training and both coypus were lowered into the greeted with positive responses and actions from harbour for a relay-rowing race. With more sailing the crew. Several pupils took the opportunity to ahead, the crew stowed all the equipment away helm the yacht and learn how to manoeuvre a and departed in the early afternoon for Gosport 44-tonne vessel safely through a busy waterway. marina, sailing through the Solent and arriving early evening. Mr Mooney commented, “The crew were asked at the start to ‘give of their best’ and they did in heaps. Sail training is unique and at times it requires the crew to dig deep and work through tough times as a team. I am proud to say that each of the St John’s pupils responded to the needs to their team. They developed a range of new skills and a certain level of independence. They learned how to cook, clean, make copious amounts of tea and above all else sail a 75’ Yacht.” Each member of the crew successfully completed their “Competent Crew” certificate during the trip. All were invited back to the Rona Trust to sail again. In addition to this, four Lower Fifth boys (Thomas Paulson, Cameron Brassington, Lucas Allison, Cameron McKenzie) were awarded the “Scott Award”, where they will be invited back to train as Watch Leaders. Benjamin Pointeau and Oscar Pearce (Lower Sixth) won the “Amory Award” and been invited to take part in the 2017 Canadian Tall Ships Race in Quebec (Transatlantic). What a fantastic achievement from everyone involved, and we look forward to hearing about the crew’s further endeavours at sea. Mr Mooney (Master i/c Sailing) 103THE JOHNIAN

OTHER SPRING & SUMMER PilatesSPORTS Izzy Walker (L6, Gloucester) Every Tuesday a group of us take part in an hour long Pilates session, where we have the chance to take time out of the busy school day and focus on a number of toning exercises. Unlike traditional Pilates, the exercises we do are routines to music, each focusing on different muscles. This allows us to do exercise in a way that is enjoyable and relaxing. Some exercises are more strenuous than others, and I feel that during the course of the year all us have improved and challenged ourselves. At the end of each class we are allocated 10 minutes of meditation time, which is perfect to de-stress at the end of a chaotic day and with summer exams approaching. Pilates has been really enjoyable this year and has helped reduce the stress of school work and everyday life. Cross Country Mr Rogers Throughout the Spring Term a small but dedicated group of cross-country runners, varying from novice Fourth Formers to seasoned Sixth Formers, headed out, rain or shine to compete in a wide variety of cross country fixtures. The fixtures included “park runs” at Bushy Park, Wellington College relays and the South East Championships at Harrow School and, although individual and team success was rather thin on the ground, all pupils competed to the best of their ability and showed steely resolve. James Harvey brought his successful five-year cross-country career to suitable conclusion by gaining selection for the English Schools’ Championships at Blackburn. Although dogged by injury for much of the season, James was not at his best for the race, but despite this lack of form, he managed to secure his fifth and final victory in the house competition; the only pupil in recent history to have won every year during their time at St John’s. At the younger end of the squad, Richard Kenyon, Charlie Hillier and Phoebe Saville were all regular members of the team, competing most weekends. From a whole School perspective, the most important race of the year was the inter house cross- country competition. Once again, pupils impressed all onlookers with their enthusiasm, determination and well-spirited rivalry. It is seeing events like this that confirm the cross- country team has a small but valued place in the School community. 104 THE JOHNIAN