Last weekend, Bloxham School Captain Louisa Heathcote and fellow Sixth Former Finn Dunleavy competed at the national sports event, the Sainsbury’s School Games, in Manchester.
The Sainsbury’s School Games is a national multi-sport event, and includes the likes of judo, cycling, hockey and table tennis, with this year’s event being hosted in a range of venues across Manchester.
Both Lou and Finn were representing England hockey at Under 17 level, with Finn captaining the boys’ England Red team and Lou playing in the girls’ England White squad.
Over the course of the weekend, Finn’s team played a number of hard fought-matches, including a win in their final match of the tournament against Wales.
Meanwhile, Lou’s team put in a fantastic performance throughout the tournament, beating each of their opponents in the first round stage to gain a place in the final, where they were set to face Scotland. The girls played a fantastic game to come away with the gold medal, winning their match 3-1.
Finn and Lou were fortunate to be able to spend their free time (when not training or competing) watching their friends and teammates compete in other disciplines, as well as having the opportunity to meet various professional athletes around the athletes’ village.
Lou and Finn both play hockey at school, in addition to training with NAGS (National Age Group Squads- an England Hockey training programme for young, upcoming athletes). They have both also taken part in the AASE training course, which offers students technical, tactical, strength and conditioning and lifestyle training, as well as a number of training courses at Lilleshall over the course of the year.’
To get to this level of competition is a phenomenal achievement for any young sports star and everyone at Bloxham would like to wish Lou and Finn luck for upcoming hockey season.