Day 3 of the Summer Games included two County Finals in two very differing sports; football and angling.
The football finals saw qualifying teams of Year 3-4 pupils from each of the eight School Sport Partnerships (SSPs) in the County converge on the Football Development Centre in Bowthorpe, Norwich to battle it out for the Norfolk School Games Big Schools and Small Schools titles.
Teams in the big schools competition were split into two groups of 8 teams and played each other in a round robin format. Once all of the fixtures had been completed the winners of each group then played off for 1st/2nd place, the teams that finished in second place in each group played off for 3rd/4th place etc.
At the end of a very competitive days the 1st/2nd place play off was between Astley Primary School from the West Norwich and Dereham SSP and Cringleford Primary from Norwich SSP. At the end of the match the scores were level at xx so the match went to a penalty shoot out. It was the team in red from the West Norwich and Dereham SSP that were victorious and Astley Primary School were crowned Norfolk Summer School Games Yr 3-4 Football champions for 2014. The results were;
Big Schools
1st – Astley Primary (West Norwich and Dereham SSP)
2nd – Cringleford Primary (Norwich SSP)
3rd – Falcon Junior (Norwich East SSP)
The small schools competition followed a similar format with the following outcome;
1st – Corpusty (West Norwich and Dereham SSP)
2nd – Great Withchingham Primary(West Norwich and Dereham SSP)
3rd – Thurlton Primary (South Norfolk SSP)
School Games Organisor, Rob McCombe said;
“There was a sea of colour from the 8 School Sport partnerships, but the red of the West Norwich and Dereham SSP was dominant with wins in both the big schools and small school competitions as well as runners up in the big schools competition”.
Whilst the football competition was being held, just down the road at Barford Lakes the School Games Yr 7-11 Angling Finals were underway. The event was the culmination of a series of qualifying competitions held in each of the 8 SSPs which had engaged hundreds of high school pupils who hadn’t otherwise represented their school in a sports competition.
Teams of three pupils competed against each other with each member fishing in a different section of the lakes. Anglers were given 3 hours to catch the largest weight of fish possible with the winner in each section being the angler with the greatest weight in the keep net at the end of the match. Each angler was awarded points depending on the performance in their section (1st = 1 point, 2nd = 2 points etc) with the three team members scores being added together to give an overall team score. The winning team was the one with the lowest accumulated score.
At the end of the match, Sarah Thompson from Barford Lakes announced the overall results as below;
1st – Reepham High (West Norwich and Dereham SSP)
2nd – Hellesdon High/Ormiston Victory (West Norwich and Dereham SSP)
3rd – Breckland SSP
Paul Hunter, School Games Organisor said
“It was great to see so many new pupils taking part in the Games who wouldnt normally take part in other sports competitions. They fished well all day and showed some great tactical awareness and awareness of the conditions. I would like to particularly congratulate Morgan Russell from Reepham High School who caught the greatest weight of fish with a whopping 44lbs of fish in his keep net at the end of the match.
Photographs of all of the action from Day 3 of the Games can be viewed online. If you like a particular photo you can now also purchase a copy in either digital or paper copy.
Day 4 of the Games will move back to the Sportspark at the UEA for the biggest day of the Games where pupils will compete in High 5 netball, basketball, quicksticks hockey and aquathlon. Day 4 will also include the special schools games which will see pupils from the county’s special schools coming together to compete in a athletics, indoor rowing, table cricket and archery.
You can follow all the action by following @NorfolkSchGames on Twitter or by liking “Norfolk School Games” on Facebook.