Merton SSP held our very first joint Kurling and Sitting Volleyball Championships on Friday 18th November 2022 at the covered domes of the AELTC in Raynes Park – a glorious venue and thank you to all the staff there for hosting us.
The day was split across two sessions for both sports with teams being allocated a morning event or an afternoon event for their specific year groups. The aim for our inclusive competitions is to enable SEN pupils and those pupils who wouldn’t usually have the chance to represent their school, with the opportunity to take part and compete at a sporting event, in some cases for the very first time.
34 teams took part across the day. This is an outstanding effort from PE Co-ordinators and school staff. Thank you for enabling your pupils to attend.
The morning Year 3/4 Kurling Competition comprised of 10 teams taking part in 2 groups of 5 with each team playing 4 mini rounds of Kurling ‘Ends’ against each team in their group. Abbotsbury, Poplar A, Poplar B, Wimbledon Park, Perseid Lower, Joseph Hood, Links, Hatfeild, Cricket Green, and St Teresa’s all took part with great determination and with superb accuracy when sending the Kurling stones towards the targets! Congratulations to Poplar A who were the Gold Medallists for the morning session with St. Teresa’s with Silver and Hatfeild with Bronze.
The morning Year 5/6 Sitting Volleyball Competition involved 11 teams with each team playing 10 games, one each against all of the other teams. Abbotsbury, Park, Pelham, Poplar A, Poplar B, Wimbledon Park, Joseph Hood, Dundonald, Garfield, Cricket Green and Hatfeild all performed with great passion and teamwork during the session, striking the beachball over the net with precision and reacting quickly to avoid the ball bouncing on their side of the court! Well done to all! Congratulations to Garfield who claimed the Gold medal for the morning session with Abbotsbury with Silver and Park with Bronze.
The afternoon sessions ran similarly to the morning with different schools attending for their tournament experience. The Kurling event for the afternoon comprised of 5 teams including Hillcross, Hollymount, SS Peter and Paul, St Teresa’s and Sacred Heart. The group of 5 meant that each team played the other 4 teams once throughout the afternoon. Congratulations to Hillcross for being named champs for the afternoon and picking up the Gold medal! Well done also to Sacred Heart in Silver place and Hollymount in third with Bronze.
The afternoon Year 5/6 Sitting Volleyball Competition involved 8 teams with each team playing 7 games, one each against all of the other teams. Liberty, Hillcross, West Wimbledon, All Saints, Singlegate, Haslemere, Sacred Heart and SS Peter and Paul all performed superbly and took park with great passion and honesty. Well done to all! Congratulations to Sacred Heart in Gold medal position with 4 teams tied for Silver place! Liberty, Singlegate, All Saints and SS Peter and Paul all tied on 12 points and deservedly awarded the Silver spot! Haslemere completed the podium and claimed the Bronze.
Well done to all schools for competing on the day and a special mention to those schools who were voted REFSPECT winners across all 4 sessions on the day – Garfield, Hollymount, All Saints and Hatfeild – a brilliant achievement for them all to be nominated by other schools for outstanding fair play, kindness and honesty across the sports!
Thank you to the 9 sports leaders from Raynes Park High School and Claire from the PE Dept there to enable them to support our competitions. Thanks also to the 4 Year 5 sports leaders from Poplar Primary and to Mr Edwards for facilitating this. You are all a great credit to your schools and a wonderful example of the various ways young people can be involved in school sport. Thank you!
We’re constantly looking for ways to improve the experiences for adults and staff at our inclusive events so please let us know if you have any feedback to help us develop for the future. Thank you.