Gosforth Academy had an incredibly successful time recently at the national schools squash competition finals at Edgbaston Priory club in Birmingham.
In the mixed Keystage 3 competition, the Gosforth Trust team of Will Brocklehurst, Kiran Sarkar, Elizabeth Muldoon Smith and Alice Pearsall finished runners up to an incredible strong Hastings High School from Leicestershire, who had two England internationals in their team.
The Gosforth Academy Boys team of Duncan Rutherford , Aidan Mahoney, James Ulyatt, Charlie Armstrong , Leo Blackett and Will Young won their quarter final against Kings College from London 5 - 0 and then ran into one of the pre tournament favourites, Epsom College in the semi final , where they narrowly lost out 3 - 2. Then at 2 - 2 in the 3/4 play off the match was all square at 2 all and James Ulyatt at number 3 had 3 match balls but couldn't get over the line, losing that game 14 - 16, which meant the team finished fourth.
These achievements paled in comparison to the girls teams.
The Keystage three team of Lucy Ulyatt, Meera Jatania , Freya Finnemore, Tara Michla, Zara Ali Saleem and Lila Begg were never troubled in any of their matches , beating Roseberry school from Surrey 4 - 1 in the QF , then Wycombe Abbey from Buckinghamshire 5 - 0 in their semi final and then roundly beating Benenden school from Kent 5 - 0 in the final.
The Keystage four team of Rebecca Little, Isla Cook, Lexi Sweenie, Sophie Cockett, Syra Bhatt and Izzy Wright lost a very close semi final 3 - 2 against Sevenoaks school from Kent but then secured third place with a 4 - 1 win over Lincoln Minster school from Lincolnshire.
What a squad of players the Academy took for the keystage 5 girls competition. Shae Paterson, Ava Naisbitt, Rebecca Little, Kate Naisbitt, Katherine Palmer, Sarah-Jane Mothersole and Anna Morgan all play in the county ladies leagues and had comfortable wins against Wycombe Abbey in the QF, Sevenoaks in the SF and then 4 - 1 against Epsom College in the final.
All the juniors that represented Gosforth at the national finals are products of the school outreach work that Northern does at year 3 and year 5 in local schools and prove that if you catch them young enough then anything is possible.
