Sport: Badminton
Year Group: 9-11

SOUTH WALES TOP SCHOOL BADMINTON TOURNAMENT

Cowbridge Comprehensive School entered a two boy and two girl teams for the Top School Event.

The school team wore their sponsored kit from Jenson Sports and competed in a tournament which involved 30 boys’ teams and 22 girl’s teams.

The team players were seeded in ranked order with No.1 playing singles, No.2 playing singles, No.3 & No.4 playing doubles together, No.1 playing with either No.3 or 4 and No.2 playing with No.3 or 4 to make a five match game.

All preliminary rounds were played in group stages with only group winners going through to the knock out stages.

Girls ‘A’ Team of Jess Oliver, Romy Killick, Rachel Bradshaw and Sophie Gallagher played Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr from the Gower in their first match and came up against a strong team losing 5-0. They went on to become runners up in the tournament.

Their second game v Cyfarthfa School, Merthyr Tydfil won the game early 5-0; same v Gwynllyw School, Pontypool.

Unfortunately only group winners went through to the Knockout stages.

Girls B Team of Naduni Jayishye, Katie Bradbury, Lois Palmer, Lydia James and Amy Oliver played Sir Richard Gwyn Barry and won 4–1.

V Chepstow Comprehensive School won 5-0

V Ysgol Gwyr (B) Team won 5 – 0

In winning their group they went on to play Whitchurch Comprehensive School in the semi final losing 5-0 to last year’s Welsh Champions.

They played Ysgol Bro Myrddin in the play off for 3/4 th place to see who would qualify for the Welsh Finals in Welshpool in February 2010.

Naduni lost her single 21-18. Katie Bradbury won her single 21-12. Lois Palmer & Amy Oliver won their doubles 21-15. Naduni & Amy lost their doubles 21-16 but Lois Palmer & Katie Bradbury won their doubles 21-17 to finish 3 rd and qualify for the Welsh Finals. This is the first time a girl’s team has qualified for the Welsh Finals.

Boys B Team of Dayle Painter, James Hendy, Michael Massie & Wil Beech played Abersychan ‘A’ in their first game winning 5-0. Aberdare ‘A’ in their second game winning 5-0, with only 3 teams in their group with Risca Comprehensive not showing, they won their group early.

In the quarter final, they played Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr from Gower. Dayle Painter lost his singles 21-17. James Hendy lost his singles 21-18. Michael Massie and Wil Beech won their doubles 21-12. The score 2-1 to Gwyr, with the last 2 doubles on court. Dayle Painter and Will Beech fought all the way but lost 21-19. James Hendy & Michael Massie won 21-17. Unfortunately the team lost 3-2 in a very competitive game.

‘A’ Team of Sidarth Devalia, Wil Painter, Jack Scanlan & Rhys Mallows played Cardiff High School (B) winning 5-0. Crickhowell Comprehensive School (A) winning 5-0. Gwynllyw Comprehensive Pontypool (A) winning 5-0 in their group matches. They qualified for the quarter finals v Cardiff High School. ‘A’ Team winning 4-1.

In the semi-final they were matched with Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr who had knocked the B Team out. In a very close match, Sidarth Devalia won his singles 21-17.

Wil Painter lost his singles 21-18. Jack Scanlan & Rhys Mallows won their doubles, 21-12. Sidarth Devalia & Jack Scanlan lost their doubles, 21-19 and it was left to Wil Painter & Rhys Mallows to win 21-15 to go through to the final 3-2.

In the final, Cowbridge played last year’s South Wales Champions, The Cathedral School. Sidarth Devalia lost his singles 21-16. Wil Painter lost his singles 21-17. Jack Scanlan & Rhys Mallows won their doubles 21-14. Wil Painter & Rhys Mallows won their double 21-18. It was left to Sidarth Devalia and Jack Scanlan to win their game to be crowned winners but lost 21-20 in the final game finishing Runners up for this year.

A fantastic day of badminton at the National Sports Centre of Wales, Sophia Gardens.

A great effort from all the school teams.

Best of luck with the Welsh Finals.

Sport: Cross Country
Year Group: All

The girls 2nd Cross Country league was ran at Trelai Park on yet another wet day. The girls were given a team talk before the race to try to beat their league 1 position. The majority of girls were successful and were really pleased with their performances.

In the Year 7 race Alice Tucker came 2 places higher than last time in 5th place. Elinor Bishop ran her first race for Cowbridge and finished an excellent 8th place. Next home was Nadine James 23rd, Brooke Langton-Cryer 25th and Ela Emyr 26th. Rebecca Thomas came 35th making up the first 6 for the team competition. The team came 1st overall beating Cardiff High and Whitchurch.

Other finishers included Laurie Thomas 53rd, Evie Williams 72nd and Hannah Lister-Sims 74th.

In the Year 8 and 9 races Annabel Curle (year 8) had an excellent race to finish 6th and Jordan Carpenter in 8th place. Miriam Bennett came 21st, Rebecca John, 39th and Melissa Gooding 50th; these are all year 9 girls. Niamh Gallagher year 8 came 58th, Caitlin Allin Year 9 60th, Sophie Thomas Year 8 62nd, Ffion Hopkins year 8 74th and Emily Bonney Year 8 78th.

Team position 3rd.

In the year 10 - 14 Fiona Bray year 10 came 6th and 2nd year 10 pupil. Rachel Bradshaw achieved a higher place than last time in 17th as did Katie Wynne in 18th again both year 10 students. Sabrina Jones year 12 had another good race finishing in 24th closely followed by Holly Preece year 12 35th, Georgia Kemeys year 12 43rd, Alyson Bater year 12 45th, Rosie Dent year 11 40th, Verity Morgan year 11 57th and Sophie Burrows year 11 65th.

Team position 2nd.

Well done to all competitors in the tough running conditions.

Sport: Cross Country
Year Group: Year 7

In the Challenge Shield for year 7 vs year 8 cross country race held at the lower school,

Year 8 was successful in retaining the trophy.

Sport: Football
Year Group: 7

Year 7 entertained Y Pant School, Pontyclun at the leisure centre pitch for a friendly in their preparation for the Bluebirds Cup.

The first half saw some quality football played by the opposition to take a 4-0 lead at half time.

A stern talking to and some reorganisation of positions brought a much improved performance in the second half which Cowbridge won 1-0, (goal scored by Kristian Jones) but still lost by 4-1. They now look forward to the 1st round of Bluebirds Cup with Fitzalan at the Leisure Centre Ground.

Sport: Hockey
Year Group: Year 8

Cowbridge Year 8 Hockey team played St. Cyres on a cold, wet, rainy day. St. Cyres had the first centre pass but Cowbridge snatched the ball off them with Camille Wilson-Jenkins scoring the first goal of the match! After about 8 minutes Camille came off and was substituted by Marcus Knevett. Cowbridge was defending very well and Izzy Eddy-Williams was tackling extremely well and passing the ball to other players, which worked well and the team managed to score a goal by Kate Llewellyn. Again St. Cyres took another centre pass but the Cowbridge team snatched the ball back, Cowbridge lost the ball to St. Cyres. Olivia Brown, Josie Chivers and Emma Atkins worked well together to defend their goal and there was a no goal scored by St. Cyres.

Half–time came with Cowbridge winning by 2-0! Cowbridge had the first centre pass taken by Hannah Woodward who passed it to Kate Llewellyn which was dribbled up the pitch by Marcus Knevvet and Izzy Williams, which was passed to Clare Davies which managed to reach the goal and scored by Marcus Knevett!

St. Cyres took the centre pass and Marcus Knevett took the ball who then passed it to Hannah Woodward, then to Olivia Brown, back to Hannah Woodward, back to Olivia Brown and finally scored by Kate Llewellyn. Full time came and the final score was 4-0 to Cowbridge.

A great game, with Marcus Knevett as Player of the Match.

Sport: Cycling
Year: 12

On Sunday 27th September 2009, Ruby Ellis (year 12) won the Welsh Cycling Hill Climb Championship in the under 18 girls category at LLangynidr, near Crickhowell.

Sport: Rugby

The Senior rugby side produced an outstanding second half display against Llanhari in the schools Saturday league to come from behind and win by 26 points to 10. Wearing the new 1st XV jerseys (kindly sponsored by Binary Financial) the forwards took control of the game with some fantastic tight play. After holding Llanhari to a 10-5 lead against the strong wind in the first half, the school pack, led by second row Ben Smith dominated Llanhari at both scrum and lineout. All players showed a massive desire to win and gave 100% throughout the game. This side has made huge improvements since the start of the season and if they continue to train hard they will keep improving. The win also maintains the 1st XV’s unbeaten home record that now extends for nearly 3 years. Next game for this side is home to Cymer in the league on Saturday 17th October with a 10am kick off.

Sport: Rugby
Year: 10

Year 10 Rugby Boys Win Top National 7’s Tournament.

Less than 24 hours after being named as one of the top 3 state schools in the UK for achievements and work in Sport and Physical Education, Cowbridge Comprehensive Year 10 rugby squad won the prestigious Bishopston 7’s invitational Rugby cup. The tournament involves the top 24 school in Wales who battle it out for the Cup on an annual basis.

Cowbridge Comprehensive, captained by Gus McPherson started the tournament with an outstanding 60-0 win against Pontardulais. This was followed with a 45-0 beating of Bishop Gore from Swansea. After winning the group comfortably the side moved into the knockout phases with a tough match against Welsh 15 aside finalists Amman Valley. With some great performances from Charley Morris, Evan Phillips and Harry Hitchcock, Cowbridge looked the sharper side and ended up fairly comfortable winners.

The semi final proved a really tough game. After a very pleasing 1st half performance, Cowbridge lead Bro Myrddin by 24 points to 5 thanks to tries from Christian Roberts-Walters, Harry Hitchcock and Evan Phillips. The 2nd half proved to be a really nervous affair as Bro Myrddin scored 2 quick tries which were well converted to bring the score to a close 24-19. With Bro Myrddin attacking to win Cowbridge defended well. An excellent tackle from Harry Hitchcock stopped a last minute attack from Bro Myrddin and Cowbridge held on to secure a place in the final.

The final was to be played against a classy Glantaf side that had beaten Brynteg and Cwm Rhymni by big scores in the knock out stages. Cowbridge, however, were far too strong for Glantaf and built a strong early lead. As the Glantaf players began to lose belief, Cowbridge stepped up the pace and all players started to excel. Cowbridge ran out comfortable 47-7 winners with Captain Gus McPherson lifting the cup while centre Christian Roberts Walters was nominated as player of the tournament.

This was an excellent achievement for the team who deserved to win after displaying excellent attitudes and a great team ethic. Team coach, Mr Thomas, would like to thank all parents who helped with transport at the end of the tournament.

Sport: Rugby
Year: 10

The year 10 rugby team won the 2009 District Cup final by beating Bro Morgannwg with a comfortable 45-5 win at Barry. For a game so early in the season the school side showed excellent skill, fitness and decision making with a comprehensive display. With many of the players involved with the Vale under 15 District sides, the higher level of rugby that playing at this level involves, was evident in the high levels of early season form.

James Hendy played his first school game for some years and was a key performer in the game. As an already talented all round athlete, James showed signs that he has the potential to become a very good rugby player. The year 10 team, captained by Gus McPherson will look to retain the title at the end of this season before joining the school senior squad next year.