Braes High School Physical Education Department All the latest sporting news, views and reports.

Not Just A Game! October –December 2015 Issue 19

www.braes.falkirk.sch.uk/

CATRIONA THOMSON (S3) became the Under 16 Girls Sabre Fencing Champion at the Scottish Schools Fencing championships held at Linlithgow Academy over the weekend of Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th November 2015.

Under 16 Girls Sabre

Scottish Schools Individual Championships

Overall ranking Rank Name First

name Licence Club

1 THOMSON Catriona 116248 BRAES HIGH SCHOOL

2 STEWART Catriona 123271 ST GEORGE'S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

3 DUNGAY Katrina 107748 WOODMILL HIGH SCHOOL

3 FIELDING Chloe 104061 LOCHGELLY HIGH SCHOOL

5 MCLAUGHLIN Mhairi 117378 ST AUGUSTINE'S

6 STEWART Alex 115690 WOODMILL HIGH SCHOOL

Jodie Ferguson (S4) and her sister Lucy (S3) were part of the Scotland Squad that competed at the JKA Four Nations at Crawley, Sussex at the end of October. Jodie won a Bronze medal in the 13-15 Girls Kata Competition. There were team from England, Scotland, Ireland and Norway taking part.

As a result of his second place at the Club Grade 5 British Finals, Aidan Jordaan (s2) was invited to attend a GB camp at Lilleshall with the top boys of his age in Britain.

Super result 😆

Falkirk District Gymnastics Schools Heats

Hallglen Sports Centre hosted the Falkirk District heats of the Scottish schools Floor and Vault gymnastics competition with just over 100 gymnasts competing on Thursday 10 December. Gymnasts performed 2 vault attempts and one pre-set floor routine. Split into teams of 3 or 4 gymnasts are scored on difficulty and execution with team totals confirming final placing’s. The competition has four levels - primary level 1 & 2 and secondary level 1 & 2, with awards being made in each level as well as recognition highest scoring individual. Well done to all gymnasts taking part, and thanks to team coaches and teachers many of whom have spent weeks preparing gymnasts. Thanks also to our judges on the day, Gillian Thomson and Jane Ainslie, and finally to Forth Valley Gymnastics Club, for use of equipment. 1st place teams will now represent Falkirk at the National finals on 20th March at Bells Sport Centre, Perth. Good luck!

Results

Secondary Level 1 Highest scoring individual – Zoe Young 1st Braes Team A Hayley Smith

Zoe Young

Hazel McNeill

Kirsty McLeod

3rd Braes HS Team B Lara Pitcaithly

Ashleigh Culbert

Hannah Coutts

Sarah Firth

Secondary Level 2 3rd Braes HS Team B Emma Allan

Kirsty McKay

Morgan Carmichael

Robyn Byrne

MORGAN STRAUB (s3) became the latest in a line of Zetland Boxing club youngsters to land a national title. Morgan had to battle hard to get the upper hand in his semi-final, weathering an early onslaught from his opponent before proving too strong. He landed hard shots to the body which forced the referee to dish out two counts before then stopping the bout and awarding Morgan a victory by a TKO in round 2. In the final he faced Ryan Bairgrie from Midlothian. A tall rangy boxer he caused problems in the first round leading with a strong left hand. However Morgan bobbed, weaved and landed a variety of punches. Having found a way through Morgan pressed his advantage with flurries of powerful punches which overwhelmed his opponent and led to the referee issuing a standing eight count. As the bout progressed Morgan’s attacks increased in ferocity and this forced his opponent to continually hold which eventually saw the referee deduct a point from Bairgrie. His pressure had paid off and he was declared Scottish Novice 52 kg champion by a unanimous points decision.

The Under 15 Girls Basketball team safely negotiated their way through the Scottish Cup Group stages. With last season’s cup winners in the same group there were some potentially tricky ties, but our girls showed they have strength in depth and the desire to reclaim the trophy they won two years ago. BRAES HS 94-4 DENNY HIGH SCHOOL Solid opening display. Our full court pressure had to be quickly taken off and even when we went to half court defence our opponents still found it difficult to cope with. Credit to Denny for continuing to work hard throughout. Rachel Penman and Katie McEwan both scored over thirty points each but it was a good team display.

LARBERT HIGH SCHOOL 14-94 BRAES HIGH SCHOOL Really struggled to put a team together for this game. Thanks to very late call-ups from a couple of talented third years (Chloe Syme and Erin Hill) we managed to travel with seven players-but with only two of our recognised starters. Needn’t have worried though. Rachel Penman scored over fifty points and Emma Meaney with thirty points plus steered us safely to victory. Great defence again particularly from Catriona Thomson (Fencing champion!!) making her debut.

WALLACE HIGH SCHOOL 32-49 BRAES HIGH SCHOOL This was always going to be the game that decided who topped the group and we had to work really hard to overcome a hard working Wallace team that contained a couple of really good players. We had the lead throughout the game, but it was never comfortable and on a couple of occasions the home team threatened to take the lead. It wasn’t until one of the home teams better players fouled out late in the final quarter that we managed to settle down and establish control.

BRAES HIGH SCHOOL 94-24 ST MUNGO’S HIGH SCHOOL Our rivals from down the road always give us a tough game but we finished the group games in style by playing some fast flowing offense that was just too much for our opponents. Katie McEwan top scored closely followed by Rachel Penman and Emma Meaney, but again it was another good team performance both in defence and attack with everyone contributing to the success. Four wins out of four and the first target achieved. This should ensure a home tie in the last sixteen.

POS P W L F A +- PTS Next game probably against North Inch Community High School (Perth) at home. Winners will travel to Arbroath High School in the quarter finals with Wallace probably waiting in the Semis.

1 Braes High School U15G 4 4 0 285 74 211 8 2 Wallace High School U15G 4 3 1 194 89 105 7 3 Denny High School U15G 3 1 2 78 109 -31 4 4 St Mungo's High School U15G 3 1 2 72 158 -86 4 5 Larbert High School U15G 4 0 4 56 255 -199 4

POS SENIOR BOYS P W L F A +- PTS

1 Falkirk High School OB

3 3 0 222 167 55 6

2 Braes High School OB

3 2 1 245 159 86 5

3 St Mungo's High Sch 3 1 2 153 163 -10 4

4 Graeme High School OB

3 0 3 116 247 -131

3

Scored more and conceded less than the school who progressed to the knock-out stages. Really tough qualification and that two point defeat at Falkirk High was the killer blow. Second place means it is the Plate competition this term and the opening game is against Dumfries High School. If we keep winning it is home ties all the way to Grangemouth.

POS UNDER 15 P W L F A +- PTS

1 Falkirk High School U15B

3 3 0 141 95 46 6

2 Larbert High School U15B

3 2 1 142 129 13 5

3 Braes High School U15B

3 1 2 101 112 -11 4

4 St Mungo's High School U15B

3 0 3 99 147 -48 3

Not a great deal of difference in this group and our boys paid for not being able to convert their chances particularly in the opening games against Falkirk and Larbert High School.

POS S1 BOYS P W L F A +- PTS

1 Falkirk High School S1B

4 4 0 162 33 129 8

2 Wallace High School S1B

4 3 1 142 43 99 7

3 Larbert High School S1B

4 2 2 47 119 -72 6

4 Braes High School S1B

4 1 3 41 79 -38 5

5 Balfron High School S1B

5 0 5 0 138 -138 5

6 St Mungo's High School S1B

1 1 0 20 0 20 2

This was a bit of a wash-out for our boys as they had to try and play games during the monsoon season. Two early defeats to Larbert High and Wallace High put paid to any chances of qualifying and our only win came against Balfron who also couldn’t travel because of the weather. Below highlights the Under 15 team and just how hard they had to work. Love the through the legs from Scott Lothian-Scotland Squad player.

FOOTBALL

UNDER 13 LEAGUE TABLE UNDER 14 LEAGUE TABLE UNDER 15 LEAGUE TABLE

Team Pld Pts

Graeme High 6 18

St. Mungo's A 7 13

Braes High Sch 7 13

Larbert High 4 9

Bo'ness Aca 4 6

Denny High Sch 5 3

Falkirk High 5 3

Grangemouth 6 0

Team Pld Pts

Graeme High 6 15

Denny High Sch 5 15

Grangemouth 7 12

Braes High Sch 7 7

Falkirk High 5 6

St. Mungo's A 7 6

Alloa Academy 4 4

Larbert High 5 2

Team Pld Pts

St. Mungo's A 6 15

Larbert High 5 12

Graeme High 6 10

Grangemouth 6 10

Braes High Sch 6 9

Denny High Sch 6 3

Falkirk High 5 0

Our S1 Boys team played well throughout the season and just might be kicking themselves for not qualifying for the play-offs. They had a real chance going into their last two games but a 1-1 draw at St Mungo’s HS really put the pressure on the last game at home against the unbeaten Graeme High School. Again our boys played really well but conceded a last minute penalty which gave the visItors a 3-2 win.

The Second Year team also put in some good performances but didn’t have the same consistency. However their performances were much improved from last year and this gave the ever optimistic Mr. Latimer hope for the future.

The third year team also had a mixed bag of performances and were also in with a chance of qualifying for a play-off place with a couple of games to play, but again the unpredictability in their play saw their opportunity disappear.

Braes 3-1 Denny “That’s MY

Team”!

“See what happens when I’m not driving or taking photographs”

CHRISTOPHER WHEELER (S5) continued his globetrotting year when he was part of the Scotland Men’s Table Tennis Team that finished fifth in the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships held in Surat in India. After winning their group they beat Sri-Lanka but then lost an epic battle against Northern Ireland and then the same fate befell them against India. In the final playoff games they comfortably y beat South Africa 3-0.

OTHER NEWS

Maddiston Primary School also had an outstanding day at the Falkirk District Gymnastics Heats as you can see from the results opposite and below

Results

Primary Level 1

Highest scoring individual -

Shannon Phillips

1st Maddiston PS

Shannon Phillips

Ailish Ogilvie

Rory Craig

Jamie McGinley

2nd

Maddiston PS

Chloe Jones

Emily Phillips

Olivia Sneddon

Jack Carter

Primary Level 2

Highest scoring individual – Lana Phillips

1st Maddiston PS

Josh Cantell

Anya Phillips

Lana Phillips

Cara Robertson

Mr Morris of the Music Department completed the Cardiff Half Marathon in an excellent 1 hour and 45 minutes and Mr Gilmour in the English Department completed the Great Scottish run in under two hours.

We have a number of prospective Basketball Internationalists this year when the following pupils were selected for final team squad training. Jordan Ferguson (S4) Under 16 Boys, Scott Lothian (s4) Under 15 Boys, Mhairi McGill (s3) Under 15 Girls and Katie McEwan (s2) Under 14 Girls. Well done to all!

HAPPY

NEW

YEAR!