Gosforth Academy had its most successful ever visit to the National Schools Squash Championship finals recently, with five of their six teams making it through to the quarter-final stages at Edgbaston Priory in Birmingham. Only the KS4 Boys failed to make it to the final stages, who were unlucky to meet eventual runners-up St. Aidan’s (Harrogate) in the last knockout stage.
KS3 BOYS & GIRLS
Both teams eased through their quarter-finals, with the boys beating Whitgift School (London) 4 – 1 and the girls getting a bye to the semi-finals due to the withdrawal of Epsom College.
In the semi-finals, the girls had a comfortable 5 – 0 win over Lincoln Minster, but the boys had a close 3 – 2 victory over High Storrs (Sheffield), with Charlie Davies, Yu-Yang Chiu and Raphie Lavender winning at 3, 4 and 5.
Both finals were really close. Wins for Charlie Davies and Yu-Yang Chiu levelled the match against Elizabeth College (Guernsey), and despite a valiant effort, Will Brocklehurst lost to a higher-ranked opponent in the decider.
In the girls’ final, Emma Little and Elizabeth Muldoon Smith won to level the match against Sevenoaks (Kent), and then Alice Pearsall had a titanic battle against her opponent, losing out 11 – 10 in the deciding third game!
So both teams ended up winning silver medals.
KS4 GIRLS
Comfortable 4 – 1 wins against Benenden Girls’ school (Kent) and Sevenoaks (Kent) in the quarter-final and semi-final, respectively, took the Academy team through to the final! The team met the event favourites Kenilworth (Warwickshire), but they managed to squeeze a 3 – 2 win to take the title!
The squad of Rebecca Little, Lucy Ulyatt, Meera Jatania, Freya Finnemore, Zara Ali Saleem and Izzy Wright carry on the success of Gosforth Academy, having now won seven girls’ titles in the last seven years!
KS5 BOYS & GIRLS
The KS5 boys team had a comfortable 5 – 0 win against King Ecgbert (Sheffield) in the QF, but then lost out 5-0 to Wycliffe (Gloustershire) in the semi-final and then another 5-0 defeat to Millfield (Somerset) in the 3rd/4th play-off. The lads performed well, but were up against it versus the Millfield and Wycliffe teams, who are full of scholarship players from around the world.
A comfortable 4 – 1 win against Benenden (Kent) saw the girls’ team through to the semi-final against Kenilworth, where they had a narrow 3 – 2 defeat, with wins for Ava Naisbitt and Isla Cook and a close 2 – 1 defeat for Rebecca Little at number 1.
In the 3rd/4th play-off, the Academy had a great 4 – 1 win over Sevenoaks (Kent) to take bronze!
Gosforth Academy were the best performing school across all the categories, but more than the results, the school can be proud of the performance of all our juniors both on and off the court. That praise extends to Northern and junior coach Richard Vitty, because every one of the juniors taking part were attracted to the game through their very successful schools’ outreach initiative.
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