Year 8 pupils at Badminton School in Westbury-on-Trym have reached the quarter finals nationally for rounders.
The girls, who are all from Bristol, are down to the last eight teams in the UK in the Rounders Jet Tournament – a charity tournament to help support disadvantaged children which is only open to young people aged 13-14 years old who are in Year 8.
The Badminton team, which is made up of two sets of twins, Frannie and Lottie Sene from Shirehampton and Libby and Flora Cryer from Abbots Leigh, also includes England rounders player who captains and bowls for the Badminton team, Eleanor Holley from Westbury-on-Trym , Izzie Atkins from Sneyd Park, Annabel Close from Redland , Annie Webb from Abbots Leigh, Honor Draycott and reserves Anna Dubovskay and Cori Robbins all from Clifton.
The next round takes place on 15 June 2011 when the Badminton girls will play either Marlston House , Newbury or Swanbourne House, Milton Keynes. Should they be successful, the girls will then play both the semi final and the national final of the tournament in Oxfordshire later on this term.
Said Badminton Head of PE Gaynor Richards: “Coming in the top eight in the country is a tremendous result and shows just how determined and talented this particular group of girls really are. Badminton is a small school which means a far greater percentage of girls can represent their school in sport – something that is not always possible in larger schools. In addition, having all our facilities on site means our girls can practise informally at lunchtimes and after school as well on a daily basis in formal sports lessons.
“Although Badminton is well known for its academic reputation, what is perhaps less known is just how much we excel on the sporting field. All our sports teachers here at Badminton are PE specialists and the girls not only have more sports lessons as part of the KS3 curriculum than any other school in Bristol, they also have additional opportunities to play sport twice or three times a day if they are interested. “