Golf

Peterculter Golf Course was the venue for the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire Secondary Schools 18 Hole Championship last Monday which was supported by the Paul Lawrie Foundation. A good field of RGC golfers was assembled on a day that could be described as ‘scorchio’. Our players were spread out throughout the day and when everything was added up, Alex W in S4 won the Low Handicap prize, an excellent result from Alex in a very competitive field. Sophie K in S3 was runner up in the Girls competition. Well done to all our pupils who took part.

 

Tennis

Well done to S1 pupils Semyon B and William F who recently won our internal recreational Tennis doubles tournament at S1 Sport.

 

Cricket

It was a great day for a mixed S1-3 team on Thursday at the Cricket Scotland Schools Week of Cricket in Perth. A quick but clinical start saw 3 fairly comfortable wins in the pool stages, vs Perth Academy (+157), Bellahouston Academy (+52) and Larbert High (+62). This set the team up for a semi final against Perth Grammar in which RGC came out on top by 29 runs.

A final against a much bigger and older S3 Morrison’s team beckoned. Losing the toss and batting first, we were slow off the mark, but soon settled into our flow. There was literally no separating the teams, with the game finishing 206 a-piece. It therefore went to the number of wickets taken, Morrison’s taking 6 and RGC taking 7, crowning us the winners. The boys were delighted and once again, thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

A day of baking hot sunshine awaited the U15 Cricket team at the Finals day of the Cricket Scotland Schools Cup at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh on Friday. The semi final saw RGC face off against Stewart’s Melville, on a pitch that was much smaller than the boys were used to playing on. Tanish K and Rudra C settled early and compiled an impressive 203 for 1 wicket, with Tanish scoring 117 of 65 balls and Rudra 58 off 56 balls. The Stewart’s Melville run chase always felt a tall order, but their top order batsmen certainly kept them in it until around the 12th over when the wickets began to tumble. Wickets for Arnu S, Aarav N, Adi M, Riyansh K and Alex M saw the opponents all out for 145. 

A lengthy delay before the final began unsettled the team, and George Watson’s capitalised with a daunting 224 for 3 wickets on much more standard sized pitch. Two wickets from Arnu S gave RGC hope of restricting the score, but the Watson’s boys weathered the storm and raced away again. Facing a huge target, RGC’s innings never really got going, with Tanish the only person to score more than 10 runs with 38. RGC carried on to record 91 all out before hotfooting it up the road with runners up medals.

On Saturday morning we welcomed Glenalmond to Countesswells for a morning of Cricket. S2/S1 played the Glenalmond U15Bs in lovely conditions on the Pylon wicket. Many of our players were playing their first hard ball game. In very hard and fast out field conditions the visitors made 186 for 4 off their 20 overs. A spirited chase and some good batting from James L, Cameron M and Max M saw us get to 125. We were just short of 1 or 2 experienced batters or bowlers to be very competitive but overall it was a very enjoyable game.

In our other match the RGC team consisted of three S3 pupils and eight S1 pupils. Tanish K, Henry H, Riyansh K all batted well against some decent Glenalmond bowling, compiling 137/9 off 20 overs in blistering heat. The RGC team took to the field looking noticeably smaller than their opponents, but then the magic happened. Riyansh opened with a wicket maiden, Henry followed up with a stumping off his 6th ball thanks to some smart keeping from Tanish. Riyansh’s next over saw a rare “hit wicket” dismissal, then Henry grabbed a second wicket with the opening ball of his over, when the batsman ballooned the ball up in the air for an easy Tanish catch.

There was a lot of buzz in the field for Henry’s hat-trick ball, and the batsman couldn’t take the pressure, dancing down the pitch to swipe and miss, before Tanish took an easy stumping. That dismissal saw a team hat-trick, Henry’s own hat-trick and of course a keeper’s hat-trick for Tanish. They weren’t done there, as the final ball of Henry’s over saw another Tanish stumping. Glenalmond were reeling at 11/6, and the gathering Gordonians players were giving good cheer from the boundary. Tanish rotated the bowling to give some younger players a chance, but when he went back to Henry, another wicket fell when Finlay W took a solid catch in the deep.

The last 3 wickets were especially pleasing, Finlay taking one off his first ball with a fine catch from Henry, and also closed the Glenalmond innings when the batsman ballooned the ball up for another Tanish catch. Callum R also took a wicket when the fielder, on loan from Glenalmond, took a sensational catch with a sprint and forward dive at long on. RGC won by 65 runs in the end against a shell-shocked Glenalmond!

 

Netball

On Wednesday after school we were delighted to host Lochside Academy for a friendly Netball match. Lochside is looking to start up some competitive fixtures next season so we look forward to welcoming them to the Aberdeen Netball family.

 

Junior School Sports Day

What a fantastic atmosphere there was at Countesswells on Friday morning as Junior School held their annual Sports Day. The day started with Nursery taking part in lots of fun events followed by the parents’ races. There were plenty of keen mums and dads who took to the track! P1-7 followed with their events and the morning finished with the exciting P5-P7 House Relay races. Parents stayed on to have a picnic with their children in the glorious sun which added to the wonderful buzz around Countesswells.

 

P1-4 Multi Sport 

Our keen P1-4s were up on the sand pitch on Saturday morning where Tennis was the focus of their session. They were practising keepie uppies, balancing the ball on their racquet, tennis ladder runs and finally how to hold the racquet and taking a swing.

 

Sporting Achievements Out With School

Congratulations to the following pupils on their recent successes:

• Bailey B (S3) who came 2nd in the U16s category of the English Slopestyle Championships held at Snozone in Milton Keynes. This was a great achievement at a national competition.

• Polina C (S3) who along with her gymnastics team won gold at the weekend at the Scottish Rhythmic Championship held in Meadowbank. 

• Angela M-K (S6) who continued her fine form this season with a silver medal at the England Athletic Championships (U20W) Hammer Throw with a distance of 54.83m.

 

Summer Sports Camps

Gordonian Pelicans will be running their Summer Rugby Camp at Countesswells from 7th - 11th August. This is open to all girls and boys starting preschool through to S2 in August from any club/school. Please visit www.gordonianpelicans.co.uk for more information.

Gordonians Hockey Club will be holding their annual Gordonians Youth Summer Camp from 7th - 11th August at Countesswells. Please click here for further information and to sign up.