Senior Sports and Co-Curricular

Rugby is the core sport for Boys during Michaelmas Term and the school fields at least two teams per age group from U12 – U18. As a result of our exceptional facilities and high quality of coaching, students thrive when playing rugby at Eltham College. Regardless of prior experience or ability when joining the school, all students are challenged to step outside of their comfort zone when participating in games afternoons, after school training and when representing the school in fixtures. During Lent Term, rugby continues in the shorter, 7-a-side format of the game, in which we attend Rosslyn Park National Festival as well as Kent competitions.

In recent years, Eltham College has seen many boys progress to participate in the Saracens development pathway (DPP & PDG) as well as represent Kent from U14 upwards. Eltham College is committed to student welfare and supports the RFU’s Schools Rugby Injury Surveillance and Prevention Programme, as well as promoting the RFU’s Headcase initiative on concussion prevention. In the Junior School, Eltham College is a centre for the Quilter Kids First scheme in which extra provision is given to coach development in order to delivery high quality coaching.”

Ben King (Head of Rugby)

The foundation for the girl’s programme is currently being built by our superb team of experienced coaches, using the experience gained from building the now very successful boy’s programme. We are extremely confident that we will have an extremely competitive and populated hockey programme within the 3-4 years.

The boy’s hockey programme at Eltham has been a true success story. Last season the boy’s won 5 trophies and produced a significant number of county players. The school has had to build a second hockey pitch in order to cope with the demand from students who all wish to participate.

Jamie Batten (Head of Hockey)

As the primary summer sport for both boys and girls, our cricket programme is developing all the time. There is an established fixture list for the boys’ programme including competing in year group Kent Cups, this is alongside extensive training opportunities. Performance sessions are led by our Cricket Professional and former Pakistan International Cricketer, Yasir Arafat, alongside our well qualified staff coaching body. Our facilities and availability of pitches means that we can provide cricket participation for all boys with both soft and hard ball experience.

Our girls’ programme is continually developing since its introduction in 2020-21. Sessions are led by Mr Bellingham, Kent cricket coach, and has a wealth of experience in coaching both beginners and excelling cricketers. Initial opportunity to develop skills is afforded using softball, particularly for those that have limited experience. Students are then given the chance to put these skills into fixtures against opposing schools. In our more developed year groups, A and B teams compete in hardball matches, with our fixture list developing constantly adapting to our needs.

Josh Kelly (Head of Cricket)

Netball at Eltham College is entering an exciting new chapter. With the profile of the sport growing rapidly, both nationally and internationally, participation levels are rising, and we are proud to be a part of that. Our priority at Eltham College is to give every student an opportunity to be part of the netball community. The netball programme we provide allows the development of elite performance as well as the opportunity for every student to participate at all levels due to our weekly training sessions and healthy fixture calendar. In addition to this, we also compete in the Kent Schools Tournaments in which our 21/22 Senior 1st team saw success being crowned Kent Champions. As well as this, we also compete in the Sisters ‘n’ Sport National Cup which allows our students to compete against schools all across the country.

Laura True (Head of Netball)

At Eltham we offer both Swimming and Water Polo as part of our Aquatic program. Morning swim sessions are well attended by all year groups, run by our experienced and highly qualified coaches, they are designed for individuals to improve their abilities. We take part in several friendly galas throughout the year, English Schools, and London League fixtures, as well as participating in the Bath & Otter Cup, held at the Olympic Aquatic Centre in March. We also take part in Water Polo attending both English Schools and London League tournaments, we recently ran a successful tour to Greece providing an opportunity for pupils to challenge themselves.

Sean Perfect (Head of Aquatics)

The Ski Race Team train at Chatham Snowsports Centre on a Monday evening (5.30pm until 7.00pm) aiming for a session every other week across all three terms. The Ski Team is led by Emily Evans, Head Coach of Precise Racing for over 8 years and continues to grow in participation and success. Her individual skiing highlights include competing at the World Children’s Champs and the Children’s Olympics on three separate occasions. Having entered FIS, Emily joined the English Alpine ski team and proved herself again. The hard work paid off, next year she was selected into the British Junior Team and raced at the European Youth Olympics in Liberec 2011. After a successful racing career, Emily chose to coach young skiers and develop them into keen racers. Emily currently holds BASI Level 3 ISIA instructing qualification, Level 3 IVSI coaching qualification, Snowboarding Level 1, Level 3 Mountain safety award and a SSE Level 4 Officials badge.

The Ski Team enter the following annual events:

• Kent Schools
• ESSKIA Indoor Race at Castleford
• London Schools
• ESSKIA qualifiers at Chatham
• ESSKIA English Finals at Swadlincote
• British School Boys at Wengen

Minimum requirements to start attending we ask pupils can control the speed from top to bottom and use the lift independently. To attend the training sessions and work towards the Ski Race Team we ask pupils contact Miss Brittany Holmes and sign up via SOCS.

Emily Evans (Head Coach of the Ski Racing Team)

Fencing is a mentally and physically stimulating sport. To do fencing you need more than just physical movement, you need to use your brain for building strategies to attack or defence. Participating in fencing from an early age will help improve balance and posture. Pupils will need to work hard on their concentration and reflexes as these are key skills in fencing. In fencing the pupils will learn the importance of safety when practicing with metal foils. We always combine fun with building up new skills, and we use games related to fencing moves or strategies.

We offer classes for beginners, intermediary and we have one session for competing level.

Silviu Florescu-Serban (Head Coach of Fencing Team)

Our athletics programme will be taking on a new impetus for the Summer of 2023. Students will be selected on ability and suitability for events. Any student wishing to be selected for events should attend the relevant lunch time sessions on the Athletics track. Students that compete regularly outside of school in Athletics clubs should make themselves known to Mr Thorogood and attend training to ensure we select the right students for these competitive events.

Competitions both boys and girls teams will be entered into include Cambridge Cup, ESSA Track & Field Cup, Greenwich Schools, London Schools and LSAA Combined Events Championships.

Edd Thorogood (Head of HPAP and i/c Athletics)

Summer term offers lots of opportunities for pupils to play Tennis. In PE, Tennis is included amongst a rotation of other activities for Years 7-10 and is played in Games afternoons for Years 10 to 13. The co-curricular programme for Tennis is growing, and now offered at lunch time and after school overseen by our external Tennis Professional coach. Pupils currently playing at a high level of Tennis at an outside club are invited to Tennis match nights. Those pupils who are looking to develop their Tennis skills or are new to the sport are welcome to join Open Tennis club. Pupils can look forward to representing Eltham College in the LTA Youth League, Kent Doubles Championships as well as playing in friendly fixtures afterschool.

Kirsty Harding (i/c of Tennis)

The High Performance Athlete Programme (HPAP) is designed to assist our young sportsmen and sportswomen as they progress throughout the school.

EC Scholars & HPAP Programme 2023-24
‘High performance requires us to focus on our body, mind and time’