Annual Sports Scholars' Dinner
Our annual Sports Scholars’ Dinner was held just before half term in John o’ Gaunts. This year, we were honoured to have Old Canfordian Ben Gollings as our guest of honour. Ben was able to spare some time from his preparations with the England Sevens team for the final two legs of the IRB World Series Rugby Sevens tournaments being held at Twickenham and Edinburgh, and was kind enough to speak at length to our students about his time at Canford and his progress as a professional sportsman. He went on to discuss examples of his career highlights, such as scoring the winning try and conversion at the Hong Kong Sevens in 2006 and encouraged our students to make the most of their time at school and enjoy the sporting facilities available to them.
At the dinner the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year (as voted by the Games committee) are announced and presented with their trophy. The Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year trophies are awarded to Upper Sixth students who, in their final year at Canford, have played a significant role in school sport by displaying outstanding performances, attitude and leadership.
This year, the winners for 2008 were James Hollis and Alex Carlile.
James was an integral member of the 1st XV rugby and 1st XI hockey teams and overcame a serious knee injury to play a vital part in both of these teams. This summer he has captained the golf team and led by example in a team made up of several younger players. James will be embarking on a GAP year as a sports coach at a leading school in Melbourne in 2008-09.
Alex has played a significant and valuable role in Canford sport over the last academic year. She has displayed excellent leadership qualities on and off the pitch as captain of the 1st XI hockey team, 1st VII netball team and senior girls’ swim team and is a shining example to the sportswomen in the younger year groups at Canford. Alex will also embark on a GAP in 2008-09 and intends to continue playing competitive netball after she leaves school.
