golf - Jules Akel

76w e l l i ng ton y e a r b oo k 2 0 07 − 2 0 0 8w e l l i ng ton y e a r b oo k 2 0 07 − 2 0 0 8 77The final bit of polo action for the year was the NationalSchools Tournament. We fielded a team consisting of XanBryant, Andreas Papoyans, Garvy Beh and HugoSingh. They played outstandingly well all day and madeit through to the Plate Final where they met an ‘in form’Harrow. We ended up in 2nd place in the Plate tournamentand 6th overall. Apart from Xan, in the upper 6th, theother boys were in the 3rd and 4th forms, which showshow much potential we have in the future. This bodes wellfor next year, where we aim to get some silverware in thecupboard ! John Galer ac k e t sarriving back in the country we entered the first of manyNational Arena Tournaments. This was the Novice leveltournament. I am very pleased to say that we were able tofield 3 teams, more than any other school. I am even morepleased to say that all 3 of these teams finished in the top 4places, we even had and all Wellington Final. Congratulationsgo to Ollie Tyler-Elder [Pn], Chris Ewing [T], FarisToosy [Hl], Jessica Best [Ap], Sophie Mills-Thomas[C], Isabelle Nimmo [C], Anna Neal [Ap], MichaelClaessens [Pn] and Yasmin Cowan [C] for playing sowell and leading the way in terms of results.The following week saw our girls play in the NationalGirls tournament. Sophie Mills-Thomas, Jessica Bestand Adelaide Goodeve [C] represented Wellington inthis tournament, which saw many international level playersrepresenting other schools. Undaunted by the quality ofthe opposition our girls played their hearts out and endedup coming 4th.The final outing for the arena season was the NationalSchools Arena Tournament, which brings together the bestunder 18 polo talent in the country. We entered a veryyoung, but exciting team, and were pleased to witness someoutstanding polo, beating Marlborough and then Sherborne(scoring 6 goals in one six minute chukka !). This sparklingpolo led Wellington (Xan Bryant [Hl], AndreasPapoyans [L] and Garvy Beh) into the Final against thefavourites Cheltenham College. Our boys played superblywell, having the majority of the possession and territory,but nerves got the better of us and we seemed unable toscore. Unfortunately Cheltenham were able to score acouple of breakaway goals, through the outstanding OllieCudmore, and eventually came out as winners. Wellingtonwere therefore Runners-up in the National Schools ArenaTournament, a great achievement.The Summer term saw us going back to Ascot Park forour training and numbers taking polo as their main sportincreased even more. At one point we had 28 playersturning up during Games on Tuesdays and Thursdays !With some players taking polo as an activity rather thantheir main sport our total number of players was hoveringaround the 40 mark.In the National Girls Tournament Sophie Mills-Thomas, Jessica Best, Anna Neal and AdelaideGoodeve played well above expectations and came 7thoverall in the tournament. Yasmin Cowan [C] deservesa special mention as she stood in for an injured girl fromMarlborough and eventually made it through to the final !In the National Under 16s tournament, our team,consisting of Jessica Best, Luke Walsh, Isabelle Nimmoand Michael Claessens played outstandingly well. Theycame 6th overall, a great result for these players.Our Intermediate team was probably the hardest hitby examination clashes and we ended up fielding a veryenthusiastic team of Will Gault, Luke Walsh, Ollie Tyler-Elder and Oli Botes [Hl]. All good players but they hadlittle opportunity to practise as they are all in examinationyears. They came 8th overall on the day having playedsome good individual polo but failing to click as a team.The season was dominated by Luc Durandt is a tough competition to win. Luc had to win 6 matches[Hg] and Nick Hopcroft [Bd]. Their to reach the final. In the quarter-final he was 1-1 and 3-12achievement of winning two singles cups at down; he won 15-12. He won the deciding game of his semi-Queen’s in December was possibly unprecedented in final 16-13. At no stage in the week was he happy with hisWellington rackets. In Mayserve, and this continued intoLuc had broken a bone in hiship scoring 100 in a 20 overcricket match, and he did nothit a rackets ball before thedraw was made for the Queen’sthe final. With no easy runsof aces almost every point hadto be won in long, hard-foughtrallies. He eventually won 3-1.This was a tough, determinedtournaments. This gave himperformance.the second seed position in theRenny Cup rather than a placein the Foster Cup. When hereturned to the rackets courthe beat Hopcroft 2-0 in a veryJames Whateley & Nick HopcroftNick Hopcroft found theJim Dear Trophy for under 15sconsiderably easier. There were74 boys playing in this cup, andhe also had to win 6 matches.competitive practice match in November and started totake his chances seriously. The premier school rackets cupis the Foster Cup, played between the elite 16 players asHe did so without dropping a game, indeed before the finalhe had never conceded more than 7 points in a match. Heserved an immaculate length all week, but particularly innominated by the professionals.Matches are best of 5 gamesplayed on the Old Court infront of busy galleries. TheRenny Cup is less glamorous.It is contested by every othersenior rackets player, andin 2007 there were over 60entrants. The matches are bestof 3, played on the BridgemanCourt, often to empty galleriesearly in the morning or at 9o’clock in the evening. Despitethe seeding it is possible tomeet a strong opponent inone of the early rounds andsometimes it is necessary toplay two matches in one day. Itracketsschools’ singles’ cup:nj hopcroft [bd] beat le durandt [hg]colts’ cup:nj hopcroft beat c pickard [bl]junior colts’ cup:a boobbyer [pn] beat j whateley [a]yearlings’ cup:j burgin [bn]trophies inpublic schools’ championshipsat queen’s club:renny cup: . . . . . . . . . . . le durandtjim dear cup: . . . . . . . . . . nj hopcroftpeter gray cup: . . . nj hopcroft & j whateleythe final, and when required,completed rallies clinically.He was never really stretchedbecause he never allowed anopponent to play; this was aclassy performance.The Doubles campaignsproved more complicated.In only his second season,Hopcroft established himselfas the leading player in theschool from the very firstand toughest match: awayat Harrow in September. Inthe Michaelmas Term he waspartnered by Varun Sarna[Hg]. The partnership oftenworked well, with Sarna’s