Students from three of the town’s secondary schools joined forces last week to battle for sporting supremacy in a multi-discipline sporting tournament, believed to be the first of its kind in Rotherham.
Over 160 young people from Brinsworth Academy, Wingfield Academy and Dinnington High School, who hosted the event, competed across a range of disciplines in a winner-takes-all competition to decide which school had the best all-round athletes.
All three schools are part of New Collaborative Learning Trust, a multi-academy trust with schools and colleges across South and West Yorkshire. Male and female students competed in a range of events, including 100m, 200m, 800m, 4 x 100m relay, javelin, long jump, football, netball, rugby and badminton.
“It was fantastic to see so much effort, sportsmanship, and talent on display in our first ever NCLT Secondary School Varsity event,” said Tom Thorpe, NCLT’s Trust Sport Development Officer. “All three schools were a credit to the Trust, and we can’t wait to grow the event for next year.”
After a tightly fought battle, the winning team was Dinnington High School.
“We were thrilled to host the first secondary school NCLT varsity event,” said Rupert Gardner, Head of PE. “It was wonderful to welcome the other schools and see so many pupils taking part in competitive sport. The spirit amongst all the teams was fantastic and we are looking forward to building on the event next year.”
Students from across all three schools had a great time participating in this valuable, confidence-building experience.
“I really enjoyed varsity,” said Dinnington’s Herbie Hopkins. “It was a great opportunity for us to have and helped increase my confidence. I really hope future pupils enjoy it as much as we did.”
“We were thrilled to win the overall title and hope to repeat our success next year!” added Dinnington’s Nylah Dunkin.
Students from the other schools were equally positive.
“It was a really good day and I’m really looking forward to participating in Varsity next year. I really enjoyed playing in the netball games and getting to cheer on Brinsworth in the athletics with all my friends.”
“I really enjoyed representing Wingfield, getting to compete against the other schools in football and everyone cheering me on in my race when we did the athletics in the afternoon.”
” I enjoyed going to another school and getting to play on their astroturf pitch. We had lots of fun in the afternoon, cheering everyone from Wingfield on in the athletics events. Can we do it again next year?!”
