East Sussex Schools Individuals

St Leonards Academy played host to the East Sussex Schools Individual Events over two Wednesday afternoons. Firstly the Primary schools Under 11 took place on Wednesday January 8th.

With 39 entries it was a busy afternoon with both boys and girls events. Schools represented were Christchurch CE, West St Leonards, Patcham Junior, Western Road in Lewes, Wallands in Lewes, Robsack, Hellingly, St Leonards CE and Willingdon. There was a good entry in the girls with the event ending in a triangular final. Joelle Bennett of Willingdon Primary was triumphant with Lowena Bennetto from Wallands primary runner-up.

In the boys’ events there were some super performances from young players who have more years left in this event which is encouraging. Reaching the quarter finals was Louis Tomlinson of Christchurch CE and the losing semi-finalists were Charlie Scriven of Western Road and Bayly Wright of Hellingly Primary. The final was played between 2 brothers, Roddy McGillivray and Ben McGillivray from Western Road Primary with the eldest brother coming out on top, Roddy winning 3-0.

St Leonards Academy hosted the second part of the East Sussex Schools Table Tennis Competition with another 60 players involved. The standard overall of the boys’ events had really improved with some excellent table tennis displayed. The Under 13 Boys’ event was dominated by players from the Lewes and Brighton area, with Dexter Sherin of Northease Manor school beating Billy Keegan from Patcham high school in one semi-final and Ollie Guile of Patcham High beating Hal Knox of Lewes Priory. The final was full of excellent rallies but it was Dexter Sherin who dominated to take the title.

In the Under 13 Girls it was the Hastings and Rother area who dominated, with six girls playing in an all-play-all format. Amelia Long of St Leonards Academy took the top spot with team mate Joanne Perkins runner-up.

Finally the biggest entry was in the Under 16 Boys’ event, with some strong performances from schools from Eastbourne. Josh Bennett of Willingdon Community School was able to take the title, with a win over Will Goodstone of Cavendish School. Both Josh and Will had beaten players from Patcham High school in the semi-finals, Ashley Edwards and Joe Russell. There were no entries from the Under 19 category apart from Jack Bennett of Sussex Downs College and Yuki Wat of Bedes, so these will automatically go on to the nationals. The winners of each of the other events will now also go on to the national schools’ finals in Doncaster in April.

Teresa Bennett – School Games Organiser HRSGP