Surrey Homes | SH51 | January 2019 | Wedding supplement inside

Education
Sport outside the box
Not all kids love the classic team and gender-assigned games, so forward-thinking schools are
introducing different activities to inspire a lifelong love of exercise
Football is a big deal at Bede’s – and their
most successful team is the Ladies’ First XI
Bede’s has a national reputation for footballing
excellence, with regular county, regional and national
titles for the school’s teams and many pupils work
as part of premiership academy sides, from Chelsea and
Charlton Athletic to local side Brighton & Hove Albion, with
whom Bede’s has a development partnership.
But while Bede’s boys won the U18 English Schools
Football Association Cup competition in 2009, the school’s
current highest achieving side is its Ladies 1st XI, who last
summer became U18 English School Champions.
“Girls’ football at Bede’s has been on a real journey,”
explained Bede’s Director of Sport, David Byrne.
“Traditionally, independent schools are so-called ‘rugby
schools’ and Bede’s is already an outlier for putting football to
front and centre.
“While for years we supported having girls playing within
our boys’ sides where possible, we didn’t have a dedicated
girls’ football programme. But the demand was there and
Bede’s is a school where pupil voice really carries. The girls
said they wanted a football programme, so we built one.”
Starting in earnest under the leadership of Bede’s Director
of Football David Caryer and in tandem with outreach
coaching
assistance from
Brighton & Hove Albion, Bede’s Ladies enjoyed
early successes, with girls earning county, regional and
national caps, and in some cases signing to professional clubs
including Chelsea, but silverware was somewhat evasive.
That was, of course, until last summer, when the Bede’s
Ladies won the ISFA U18 National Cup. “I think that one
of the best things about the side that won the competition
is that not every girl in that team considers themselves to be
seriously sporty,” Mr Byrne continues. “For some of them, a
career in professional sport is undeniably likely, but for many
more they only really started to play for the team because I or
another member of staff encouraged them to give it a go.
“Even now, some of them don’t seem to understand the
gravity of having won a national championship. They just
want to play, and I’m honestly prouder of that than
anything else.”
Bede’s Senior School, Upper Dicker, East Sussex, BN27 3QH 01323 843252 bedes.org
129 surrey-homes.co.uk