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With nearly 100 separate events across disciplines ranging from tug-of-war and Eton Fives to table-tennis and volleyball, QE’s 2018 Sports Day once again saw hundreds of pupils competing for their Houses.

Harrisons’ emerged as the winning House, retaining its 2017 title, with Second Master Colin Price duly presenting the coveted trophy. The 668 points amassed by Harrisons’ placed it ahead of Leicester, on 622: the other four Houses were quite closely matched, led by Stapylton, which scored 576.

The whole day was supported by large numbers of staff, led this year by PE & Games teacher James Clarke (Head of Rugby).

The day concluded, as is traditional, with the staff participating in the QE Mile – a 16 x 100m relay. The staff team comfortably beat the Sixth-Form team into second place, with notable contributions including a swansong appearance from Mathematics teacher Gregory Lee (he is leaving this summer), who this year once again performed his leg in a suit.

Headmaster Neil Enright: “I congratulate all the boys who achieved success for themselves and their Houses and I thank Mr Clarke and all colleagues involved for their hard work throughout the day.”

One notable quirk of this year’s Sports Day was the unusual attire of some competitors – not only Mr Lee, but also competitors running in their socks: one boy lost a shoe early in his 1500m race and even ran back to retrieve it, before eventually discarding it and then working his way up through the field to achieve a creditable finish!

The day included 53 track events of varying length, from the 75m hurdles for Year 8 through to the 1500m individual races and the 4 x 400m relay open to all year groups.

Also continuing through the day were the field events, which included discus, shot put, javelin, long jump, high jump and triple jump.

Years 7–10 each had their own tournaments for tug-of-war, tennis, Eton Fives and table-tennis (the latter taking place in the gym).

There were competitions for Years 9 & 10 in volleyball. The rowers battled it out in ten-minute sessions, with one machine allocated to each of QE’s six Houses.

The Year 7 team got their QE cricketing careers off to a great start by winning the Middlesex Schools Final – while Year 8 were also finalists in their county cup and Years 9 and 10 reached their respective semi-finals.

Assistant Head of PE & Games Rhys Davies-Horne, who coached the U12s, charted the Year 7s’ “road to glory”, which began with a “memorable first win” against New Hall School just three days after the Easter holiday. “An excellent performance from Bilal Hassan with both bat and ball saw him claim the captaincy for the season, with Ranvir Sinha helping out with duties as vice-captain.”

Wins then came thick and fast, most notably against St Albans School, Mr Davies-Horne reported. “Prayag Gandhi started his formidable batting stats with 104 off 70 balls, whilst Sinha and Hassan continued to build on their strong partnership.

“Further records were broken as the side notched up a score of 207 for 1 against The John Lyon School, this time Rishab Banerjee demonstrating his skill with a bat, reaching 83 not out, whilst Ugan Pretheshan and Vishnu Anil looked dangerous bowling.

“The Middlesex cup run started with a narrowly contested game against Whitmore High School. With a change to the batting order, new faces such as Thivyan Arunendran and Kush Tailor held off the opposition, with the final runs coming in the last over from Haran Sritharan. The next round saw the U12 team show true character in the performance of the season, as they saw off a strong Swaminarayan School. Significant contributions with the bat came from Gandhi and Sinha, with a partnership of 152, whilst Sritharan and Arunendran looked promising with the ball.”

“A destructive bowling spell from Rohan Belavadi in the semi-final against Highgate put QE in a strong position.” Then, reprising their performances in previous games, Sinha, Gandhi and Hassan reached the total with ease.

The final, held at the neutral ground of Harrow St Mary, saw QE take on Newlands House. “Opting to bowl first on a hard wicket, Aaryan Patel and Krish Agarwal set to work on the batting order,” said Mr Davies-Horne. “Excellent spin-bowling and fielding” restricted Newlands to a score of 108. “An aggressive run chase led by the impressive Sinha, Gandhi and Hassan saw QE over the line with 5 overs to spare.

“This victory brought to an end a season that has not only been a fantastic one for the U12s, but has also shown strength across the board at QE, with four teams reaching their county cup finals or semi-finals – a well-deserved achievement of which all boys should be proud.”

Year 8 player Dilan Patel penned his own report on the U13s’ cup run, which began with “good batting from Bavan Gunaseelan and Karvith Ramesh” against Pinner High. Against The Swaminarayan School, Dilan himself played a key role in the “excellent bowling attack”, emerging with figures of 14/4, allowing QE’s batsmen to “knock off the total with ease.

“We then moved through to the semi-final, where we faced Belmont School, a side that had beaten us comfortably just weeks earlier in our regular season. This time, though, our batsmen knew how to face their fantastic opening bowlers and posted a total of 108-7, with Karvith Ramesh hitting a classy 45. We were put into pressurised situations, and that made us perform and focus even more intensely than we had ever done before. Our bowlers managed to get them all out for 95: we were in the final!”

Their opposition in the final was a “very talented” Merchant Taylors’ side, Dilan wrote, against whom they “came so close. Having batted the whole 25 overs in the searing heat – with Bavan Gunaseelan anchoring the innings from start to finish – we were just unable to put enough runs on the board and the opposition won the game with 3 overs to spare.”

He and his teammates had “put everything on the line” to reach the final and were “proud of their achievements”, Dilan concluded. “Coming so close to winning the trophy has only left us more determined to go one step further next year.”

Old Elizabethan Dr Mustafa Sarkar has some sound expert advice for anyone feeling down after the end of the World Cup – and especially after the England defeats in the semi-final and in Saturday’s third-place play-off.

Mustafa (OE 1997–2004) has a global reputation as a sports psychologist and has won a string of awards for his work.

A Senior Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, he was interviewed by the Nottingham Post about how to cope with the negative feelings surrounding England’s departure following the growing sense of elation that followed them as they reached the semi-finals.

Such feelings, he told the newspaper, are entirely natural: “Often the short-term impact will be having a negative mood with feelings of disappointment and frustration. There has been a loss – of momentum, of identity, and of unity – the country coming together.

“Some people might be able to see that England over-performed compared to expectations, while others might see it as a lost opportunity because of the way the draw opened up. There’s an element of personality in this, in terms of levels of optimism and pessimism and how people view situations generally.

“The negative moods will probably be short-lived, in a similar way to how the players themselves will feel…After a period of time – maybe a week or two – there will be more objective reflection. And I think the majority of people will be optimistic about the future. There will be stages of denial and then acceptance, and then moving on and seeing the positives in the situation.”

Mustafa had particular advice for those who fall into “thinking traps” and find themselves unable to stop dwelling on England’s missed opportunities – the scoring chances missed by Kane, whether Croatia’s semi-final equaliser should have been ruled out for a dangerously high foot, or Harry Maguire heading wide from a good position in Saturday’s match against Belgium.

“For example,” he says, “if you think that ‘England are never going to be in this position again’, that’s quite an illogical thought. The team is quite young and there’s a good chance of them being in that situation in 2022.”

“Reflect back, and think of three or four positives that came out of the World Cup for England – both the team, and the nation. For example, reaching the first semi-final in 28 years, or winning a penalty shoot-out at the World Cup for the first time. This can help to reframe how you think about these potentially negative events.”

QE’s leading rugby players have excelled this term with a string of seven wins – thanks to the three Cs of commitment, competitiveness and a strong team culture. The First XV’s run of victories marks a sharp turnaround from last year’s solitary win.

PE & Games teacher James Clarke, who is the First XV coach, said: “I believe it is down to a group of very committed players with a real desire to improve every week, play for their teammates and never give up. The other key ingredient has been competition, with the Second XV winning most of their matches, putting pressure on the First XV. We have also introduced a leadership group, similar to England Rugby, that has led to an improvement in team culture and standards, and has allowed different voices to galvanise the squad, rather than just relying on one player.”

Headed by captain Keenan Dieobi, of Year 13, who set an example with a tally of tries running well into double figures, the First XV notched up “big wins” against St Albans and Bedford Modern. Mr Clarke, who is himself an Old Elizabethan, said these were the first victories against either school since his own playing days at QE in 2004-2005.  “There was also a notable cup run that took us to the fourth round of the National Bowl, before eventually losing 17-10 away to Verulam School.”

Keenan was assisted by his four vice-captains, Justin Lee, Simon Rey, Nikhil Shah, and Rakul Sri, all of Year 13. “The other mention must go to Samuel Burgess, who has played almost every game this season at inside-centre for the First XV, despite still being in Year 11,” said Mr Clarke.

The season finished with a match against Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School at the impressive venue of Allianz Park, home of Saracens. Although Habs beat the First XV 18-10, it was nevertheless “a great night that was very well supported by Old Elizabethans, parents and friends” said Headmaster Neil Enright.

Those Old Elizabethans pictured are top row, left, to bottom right: Alex Grethe, Jake Nielen, Anton Bridge, Ioannis Loupas (all 2004-2011); Anoop Raghaven and Max Hassell, (both 2002–2009); Alvin Bombo (2002–2007); Gideon Levitt (2004–2011); Aaron Levitt (2002–2009); Matteo Yoon, Adam Kuo, Alex Goring (all 2003–2010), and Francis Vu (2000–2008). Also attending, among many others, were: David Clark (1993–2000), Paul Clark (1990–1997), Liam Higgs-Howson (2000–2007), Kelvin Hughes (1999–2006), Elliot Hughes (2002-2009) Tomas Vieira-Short (2010–2017) and Lee Wright (2001-2008).

It was ‘standing room only’ when two high-profile figures from the world of international and Premier League football visited the School.

Boys and staff alike turned out in force to hear from David Dein, a respected entrepreneur and businessman who was Vice-Chairman of Arsenal from 1983 to 2007 and is also a former Vice-Chairman of the FA, and Gary Mabbutt, a former professional footballer for Spurs and England.

Mr Dein spoke predominantly about the business side of the Premier League, describing its establishment in 1992 and charting its growth. He also touched on his role at Arsenal, where he was instrumental in appointing the then little-known manager, Arsene Wenger, and in the signing of legendary players like Thierry Henry and Cesc Fabregas. Under Wenger, the club has won the Premier League title three times and the FA Cup seven times.

Mr Dein brought former FA Cup-winning Spurs captain, Gary Mabbutt, with him as a special guest. Mr Mabbutt, who made more than 750 professional appearances for club and country, spoke largely about the role of the Professional Footballers’ Association and the way it supports players both during their playing careers and afterwards.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “The boys, my colleagues and I all appreciated the opportunity to hear David’s first-hand account of the birth of the Premier League and enjoyed his insight into many aspects of the modern game. I know that the boys will have been able to take away a good deal of advice relevant to business and their careers, beyond simply the remit of football.”

“They always value being able to put their questions to those pre-eminent in their respective fields and particularly relished this opportunity. Despite our being a rugby-playing School, football is, of course, one of their favourite topics for discussion.”

Mr Dein, who led the unsuccessful England bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018, talked about the importance of teamwork, demonstrating this by inviting a boy to snap a single pencil and then to try again when 11 pencils were banded together.

He also used a can of the ‘magic paint’ used by referees to mark where a ball should be spotted for a free kick and where the players’ defensive wall should stand, recounting being pitched the product by its inventor when visiting South America. After spraying the School’s Conference Centre floor, he joked: “This is designed to last for about three minutes – oh, that’s on grass. On this floor, it should be gone in about three months!”

He involved the boys in his demonstrations, with his presentation stimulating a lively question-and-answer session. “It’s important to always strive to be your best and to get up each day thinking, ‘how can I be better than yesterday?’” said Mr Dein. He noted that at Arsenal, the last two players to leave the training ground were invariably Henry and Dennis Bergkamp, two of the club’s most talented players.

The visit was organised through the auspices of Performing Artistes – an organisation providing speakers from the worlds of entertainment, media, politics and sports – with Mr Dein inviting Mr Mabbutt along to provide some ‘North London balance’.

Mr Mabbutt has been involved with the PFA for a number of years. It was established in 1907 and is the longest-established sports’ union in the world. Its aims are to protect, improve and negotiate the conditions, rights and status of all professional players. In recent times it has supported its members in disputes with the Premier League, the Football League and the Football Association with regard to the PFA’s entitlement to a percentage of television revenue. It is also notable for the work it does to support players and former players who may be struggling with addiction, depression or mental health issues.

“We all learned much about the role of the PFA and the support they give to players both during and beyond their careers. I know that my Spurs-supporting colleagues were especially thrilled to meet Gary,” added Mr Enright.

One QE team won gold medals at the inaugural Hertfordshire School Fencing Championships, while another took silver.

The U13 First team saw off five other teams to take gold and the U15 lead team claimed silver, both in the Foil discipline. The School’s U13 Second team were placed fourth, also in the Foil competition.

All the boys train at the School with coaches coming in from the Paul Davis Fencing Academy (PDFA), who hosted the championships.

Maria-Jose Faustino, who is the Welfare Officer for the PDFA, said: “All the fencers were delighted by their success. They were given their medals at a presentation at the event along with gold and silver school certificates.”

The U13 gold medal-winning team comprised Abdullah Chisti (Year 9), Umer Saad

Rahman (Year 8) and Mrinaank Chilkoti (Year 9). The U15 silver medallists were Ayush Patel, Batu Cakir and Sultan Khokhar, all from Year 9. The U13 second team was made up of Dilan Patel (Year 8), Musab Alam (Year 8) and Ali Chisti.