Issue 28, June 2017 Thursday saw our year 7 boys take part in a rugby league tournament at the Provident Stadium, Odsal. They were understandably excited to be playing at a professional ground which once held 102,000 people. They started their campaign with a game against Queensbury who's team when lined up looked like they had been grown in greenhouses with at least two of them were over 6ft! This didn't scare the SBSJ boys though with big tackles flying in all over the park. A special mention goes to William Forchap who crunched their big guys with some huge hits and made them think twice about further adventures with the ball. It wasn't long before SBSJ crossed the line with Ian Abe scoring his first of many on the night. These were then followed up with 3 other scores from Harry Milnes, Dom Kirton and another from Ian Abe. A great defensive performance and some fantastic individual running made SBSJ easy winners. The second game was a much tougher challenge facing our great rugby rivals Beckfoot Oakbank. The game started with SBSJ crossing pretty much immediately with Ian Abe cutting through the defence like a hot knife in butter. Oakbank then replied immediately with another giant being stopped short but for clever play from their number 7 to drive his way over the line. SBSJ then drove forward again from the kick off with Ian Abe taking a more direct route and scoring under the posts. Oakbank then scored again to level the match after the defensive effort not being switched on and allowing the player to play on after the tackle was not fully complete. With 2 minutes to play SBSJ got the ball to the superstar Ian Abe again who beat the whole of the Oakbank team to score in the corner. SBSJ then put in a massive defensive effort to keep Oakbank out! The third and final game of the night was against our final opponents of the previous tournament Bradford Academy. SBSJ started very brightly in the game and smashed their way into a 8 - 0 lead through tries from Abe and Milnes. Bradford Academy then hit back with a score of their own from another giant who towered over our boys and Mr King (not that that takes much). Kyan Canto then scored a fantastic solo effort beating a num- ber of player to dive over in the corner making the score 12-4. They will now be playing in a final at Odsal Stadium on Wednesday 28th June 4.30pm KO. If you can spare the time and fancy an evening of superb rugby then please come along, the boys would love to have as many supporters there as possible to cheer them on! Our year 7 girls played their last fixture against Dixons Kings. It was a glorious evening, hot and sunny, just what you want for rounders. The girls were excited and giddy as they went in to bat first having lost the toss. A few silly mistakes meant 2 players were out very quickly. However, the girls soon settled down, focussed and played really well together – encouraging, supporting and helping each other. There were some brilliant batting skills Gurshran Singh particularly from Katie and Ophelia who Jess Garuba both scored a number of rounders. The girls then Alexia Mahere went into field and they really pulled it together as a Ofelia Collins team. Good catches and fielding particularly from Lillian Bingham Gurshran on second base meant Dixons scored 4 to Myah Alam our 8 ½ . The girls have improved and built both in Katie Monaghan confidence and experience as a team. They should Kiera Oladipupo be proud of their achievement. Elin Harrison Emilia Overend We are delighted with the result as this now means Lucy Hincliffe we have U12, U13, U14 and U15 teams are all through to the finals next Wednesday 28th June. Year 7 played their opening cricket match of the season at Beckfoot school Bingley. Beckfoot batted first and even though Jack Clough took a wicket with the very first ball of the innings they still managed 59 from 8 overs. SBSJ then came into bat and unfortunately didn't reach the target and scored 49 runs from their 8 overs. Our SBSJ year 9 Cricket team also went up against Beckfoot in their final group game of Bradford Schools Cricket, knowing a win would see them progress to the finals day of the competition. SBSJ bowled first and fielded very well as a team. Some excellent catches from Jake Larvin and Harvey Weston Beyer saw the team limit Beckfoot to 46 from their allotted 8 overs. SBSJ went out to bat with Shiv Bhatoa and Jacob McLoughlin opening the batting. After 2 overs SBSJ were sailing with 29 on the board but with 1 over left and Harvey Weston Beyer and Darwin King at the crease, we needed 6 runs from the 6 balls. Darwin King hit a blinder and hit the first ball of the over for a big six and SBSJ eased into the finals night. Congratulations to both year 7 and 9 for some excellent cricket. Thursday 15th June saw the U12 Water Polo team travel to Bolton School for their first official ‘year 7’ match. We always try make sure that Bolton is the first away team we travel to as I regard them as the model School team that our players should aspire to emulate. They didn’t disappoint! As you can see from the score line above it was a very tough match for our boys with Bolton having some very strong players within their ranks. The boys to their credit never let their heads drop and kept working for each other. This game was very much about testing their character more than anything and they passed with flying colours and I couldn’t be prouder of how they conducted themselves from leaving school to arrive back in the evening. We arrived at Bolton early which again was deliberate as I wanted to show them Bolton’s ‘wall of fame’ to which they have around 60 English Schools Championship Trophies, which included being the champions for the last 3 years in every age group. It also has all the ex-students who have gone on to represent their country at GB level, to which two were in the London 2012 Olympic Games. I feel the match was a real success in many ways as I asked the lads before the game to make sure that they learn at least one thing from the match, to which they all did and their high spirited conversations proved that on the journey home. Another pleasing as- pect was how the boys mixed in well after the game with the Bolton team, talking to them, asking questions and keeping up our good relations we have created over the last few years. The boys certainly took a lot from match and I told them not to be too downhearted about the result as many of our year 7 teams before them have gone to Bolton and come back with a similar result but then went on to really improve and close down the gap as they gained more experience over the years. Something I am confident this team will also do. Mr M Wright Oskar Oldcorn Ewan Jones Dane Simora Miguel Arevalo George Chang Harry Milnes Harvey Speight Emerson Mitchell Joseph Doyle Jake Benson .