Last week, the much awaited Sports Dinner took place in celebration of 2013-2014 sport at Badminton. It was a fantastic night, bringing together sportswomen from Year 7 to Year 13 and the wide range of coaches, instructors and staff who make up the brilliant P.E. department.
The night’s speaker was Katy Bennett, who was incredibly inspirational in her attitude towards sport and achieving your goals. Katy has recently retired from captaining the England lacrosse team since 2009. During her time as part of the England squad, Katy competed in three senior World Cups: 2001, 2005 and 2009. The focus of her speech was the 2009 World Cup, in which, despite four years of training, she broke her foot in the first ten minutes of the first game. In the face of this huge disappointment, Katy managed to support her team throughout the tournament, highlighting the importance of strong team morale and the selflessness and determination it takes to be a top athlete.
Following on from Katy’s speech was the giving of sports awards. These are given to acknowledge some of the excellent sportswomen at Badminton. The Winn Cup was awarded to Maisie and Annabel (Year 13) for giving their all to sports during their time at Badminton.
The Victrix Ludorum awards are given to outstanding sportswomen from each of the Senior, Inter and Junior categories. This year’s recipients were Isabel (Year 13) and Molly (Year 10) for the Senior and Inter awards respectively. The Junior Victrix Ludorum was shared between Clara and Mae (Year 8) who both equally deserved it. This year’s Ovation Cup, a prize voted on by the girls, was awarded to Mae (Year 8). Finally, this year’s Chuckie award went to Jess (Year 13) for her spectacular hockey fall.
As ever the food was excellent, in particular the truly amazing chocolate torte. As Sports Captains, we summed up the year of sport which we chose to do in the form of a poem. A special mention must go to the M-Squared group for their fabulous video of sporting life at Badminton. The evening was a lovely way to finish off a year of being Sports Captains at Badminton.
Lucy and Isabel (Year 13) , Sports Captains 2013 - 2014
