Grove Life – A Sporting Chance

Woodhouse Grove is well known, both regionally and nationally, for its prowess in sport. As a school, we are very proud of our sporting heritage and reputation – and as Director of Sport, this is naturally something that I am keen to build on. However, I am also aware that sport is an emotive subject and that being seen as a “sporty” school is something that requires careful clarification. I hope that this blog serves to illustrate what a positive influence sport has here at The Grove – for each and every pupil.

Grove students are offered a multitude of sporting opportunities. The performance sports that we are best known for are rugby, netball and cross country. These are the three in which our highest ability athletes compete at regional and national levels. But there is a myriad of other opportunities available to pupils here, including athletics, badminton, basketball, chess, climbing, cricket, football, fencing, tennis, squash, table tennis and swimming. We are aware of the importance of giving equal opportunities to boys and girls in sport and have girls’ and boys’ football and cricket programmes.

Pupils at The Grove are encouraged to try new sports that they have not played before. I call it “finding your you”. I truly believe that there is a sport out there for everyone.

We also try to ensure that whatever sport they choose, all students have the opportunity to compete. From the multitude of fixtures against local rivals on Saturday mornings to organising chess fixtures and fencing tournaments, everyone here can represent “the badge” should they wish to do so.

We ensure that we cater to all the different abilities we have here. When our new Year 7s arrive at the start of the school year, we know that they will come with very different levels of experience in the various sports they will play at The Grove. In fact, I have a lot of empathy in this area as my own son, who is currently in Year 6, will (hopefully) arrive at The Grove in September with very little rugby experience. With our Year 7s, we take care to focus on developing the core, fundamental skills of running, throwing and catching and adapt practices and training sessions to ensure all our new starters have positive experiences that make them want to do more and continue to develop. Having two practices a week, alongside games lessons and Saturday fixtures, means there are at least 4 contact points in a week where pupils can develop their skills.

We have A, B, C and sometimes D teams at the lower ages. To attach a letter to a team is difficult, especially in Year 7 but, as this is the method adopted by other schools, it enables us to get a good match up with opposing sides, ensuring that every player has a positive experience in a good, close game, against players of similar standard. Year 7 B and C team players may well be in the A team by the time they are 14 or 15. Development happens at different ages and the fact that we send teams out covering a broad spectrum of ability is crucial to the success of sport here – because…

Participation Builds Performance.

And that really is our sporting ethos at The Grove. If there is one stat that supports this belief, it is this: of the 111 pupils in our current Year 7, 101 of them have represented the school – their school – in their first term of being at The Grove. If that isn’t an inclusive, sporting culture, I don’t know what is!

One of the very special aspects of Woodhouse Grove, which further enhances the sporting offering for our pupils, is our vibrant House system. House intra-competition provides Grove pupils with another opportunity to compete at an appropriate level, in a multitude of events. The atmosphere at these House events is brilliant – friendly, yet competitive – and often with a lot of noisy, enthusiastic support! Pupils who, as they get older, may not be able to represent the school externally, can still make a massive difference and enjoy the high of competing as they contribute to the success of their House in these competitions.

For those higher ability students, who may have external commitments playing for the county or the country, we have the Grove Athlete Education Programme (GAEP). Every pupil on this programme has  a staff mentor who monitors how they are feeling, how their work is going and offers advice on how best to balance sporting and academic commitments. Mentors act as a link between the student and other members of staff to help coordinate the demands of schoolwork and training. GAEP athletes benefit from talks on subjects such as nutrition and diet from visiting experts. We also look to understand and develop timetable adaptations to allow GAEP pupils to keep up with their schoolwork, always bearing in mind that injury can happen at any time and impact their ability to have a career in sport – so it is vital that they have their academic success to fall back on.

I can’t talk about sport at the Grove without mentioning the tours and trips available to our pupils. These range from residential trips to various parts of the UK, through to European tours and culminating in the bi-annual Senior Rugby, Netball and Cricket international tours. Our Senior Cricket team will head out to the Caribbean this summer and our Senior netballers will go to South Africa later in the year, which is also the destination for the 2024 Senior Rugby Tour.  These are important milestones in a pupil’s sporting journey at The Grove and are something for our younger pupils to aspire to. The opportunity to represent their school in a different country, the sense of camaraderie travelling as a team and developing the skills to manage and play sport in a different environment – all make lifelong memories for the pupils to cherish forever.

But everyday sporting life at The Grove is – if not as exotic – just as special. My favourite part of the job are those Saturday mornings when I see the students get on a bus with their friends, play their hearts out, testing the skills they have developed in training, enjoy some food together and return home, tired and happy.

I see sport as a way of learning key life skills. We nurture and harness healthy competitiveness and teach pupils that there is a way of winning and a way of losing and that all our Grovian Values can be applied to sport as well as to all of life. The school’s reputation on the circuit is not just about the quality of our game, it is about being a good opponent, hosting other teams well, being polite and well-mannered and representing ourselves and the badge to the best of our ability – whether this is locally, nationally or further afield. We are Grovian both on and off the field.

Sport at The Grove is different to other schools. Not just because of the breadth of our provision or the quality of our facilities. It is the people who make up the Grove community that make the difference. The sheer number of staff that support it; not just our incredibly dedicated sports staff, but the academic staff who help with the co-curricular programme, giving their time freely and enthusiastically to help the pupils develop their skills. It is the Senior Management who are fully on board that sport is a fundamental part of the Grovian experience and give it high priority. It is our parents – who almost always outnumber the opposition’s supporters, even at the coldest, wettest away games. And, of course, it is our pupils themselves, whose enthusiasm, commitment and spirit is simply outstanding.

We have many sporting success stories at the Grove but here is one that will stay with me for a long time.  In September, one of our new Year 7 boys arrived having never played any rugby before. He has cochlear implants for his hearing difficulties and we worked really hard with him and his parents to ensure that the environment was safe and enjoyable for him. He worked hard and attended all his training sessions. On the last weekend of his first term here, he scored a try for the B team. The smile on his face made every moment of the journey in the 3 months since he came to the Grove worth it. I am sure there will be many more tries in his future – but that first one was pretty special. He saw the opportunities that were available to him and he took a chance.

And that is what I hope to give every pupil that arrives here at the Grove. A sporting chance.

Dominic Bradburne, Director of Sport