SUPERSCHOOLS 2009

Gravelines, France

 Our experiences

Superschools: at the last minute With 2 days to go, the team were all trained up, and anticipating the beginning of the trip. Emotions were running wild! The fact that they were all missing the last week of school, I think was one of the other aspects of their excitement. I was in PE, when I heard that Mr Bennett was waiting outside and wanting to talk to me, I had no idea why. When I went out to speak to him, he said, “How would you like to go to Superschools?” I was ecstatic and began nodding my head really fast; I probably looked like an idiot! From that point, it was a mad dash to try and organise forms, kit to contact my mum, (who spoke in a rather high pitch voice on the other end of the phone after hearing the news) etc, etc. it was crazy! Mr Bennett explained to me why the place had been available. Megan Walker had hurt her knee and her football coach and her parents had decided that it was best that she rest it. I felt quite guilty after that, because I saw how upset she was, no wonder! After collecting my kit etc, I went and told all my friends the news; let’s just say there was a lot of screaming and hugging! I also received a few phone calls that night from other relatives who were all really excited for me. When Sunday evening came, I could barely speak, I was so nervous. In several ways, I am glad that I was called in at the last minute. True, it gave me less time to pack and get my stuff together, and true, I slightly regret not getting any time to practise my events, but if I had known all these months in advance, it would have given me more time to be nervous! Even with my lack of practise I was very pleased with the medals I received, sliver for badminton singles and silver in the football. I am really just grateful that I got the opportunity to take part in something like superschools, and I hope that my performance this year was enough for me to be put on the next year’s team. Rebecca Warren

Basketball Superschools 2009 saw the basketball team in a group with Finland, England and Sweden. The team was made up of Andrew McGregor, Andrew Coutts, Scott Mackenzie, Douglas Frame, Calum Mcmillan, Dean Mclean and Jordan Savage. The first game we played was against Finland, this was a very good game in which we drew. We won our last two games against England and Sweden which put us through to the last four with France, Ireland and Finland. We played France and Finland (again) and were beaten by both teams which put us out of the competition. We finished in an overall position of fourth, which the team thought was really good, but we were also disappointed as we wanted to win. Overall we were unlucky but it was an amazing experience. Scott Mackenzie  Superschools Football Carluke High School boys competed in the football tournament. In our group was Finland, France and Wales. The first games was against Wales and we drew with them, we went on to beat France and Finland to go through into the semi-finals. We were to play England in the semis and the other semi was Wales and Sweden. Wales beat Sweden and we beat England. We met Wales again in the Final. The match finished 1-1 and went to penalties. Wales went on to win 7-6 on penalties. Connor Jamieson

 

 

Girls Football The girls football was an amzing success. Some of the girls in our team had never played football before therefore we werent expecting a great result. We could only ask for us all to work and play as a team and to try our hardest. We drew our first two games and won our third leaving us having to play Wales to see who would play in the final against Sweeden for 1st and 2nd place. Luck must have been on our side as it went to penalties and we won. We had to play Sweeden but unfortunately, we got beat. Overall we came 2nd in the football, it was a remarkable achievement and a memory that all of the girls in the team will always have. Vicky McCallum

 

Girls Triathlon On the Wednesday morning 4 girls (Nicola Lindsay, Shannon McDowall, Alex Carmichael and Heather Somerville) took part in the Triathlon which consisted of swimming 150 meters, cycling about 3 ½ km and then running about 800 meters one after the other. The team event was opened by Heather, who started the team off well, finishing her part of the race in 2nd place. She was followed by Alex who kept us in the running for a medal. Then Shannon also kept us in the running for a medal and maintained the 2nd place. Finally Nicola brought us to the finish with 2nd place and silver medal within that event. Overall the French team Pierre Marie Curie came first on their home turf and the Irish team, St Augustine’s College came 3rd in that event. Heather Somerville

Day Four- Swimming After day three it was evident that the competition was close. Ireland, France, Sweden and Scotland were almost even on points and so the crucial event that would determine the overall winner of the competition was swimming. Tension was high on poolside as Heather Somerville prepared for the 50m breaststroke. She quickly managed to pull ahead of all but one of her opponents to win a silver medal. Nicola Lindsay then won a gold medal in the girls’ 50m backstroke event after yet another close race. Callum Simpson then continued Scotland’s winning streak with a convincing win in the boys’ 50m backstroke. But the closest race of the morning was the boys’ 50m freestyle, in which Scott Mackenzie narrowly lost out to the French swimmer, thus earning a silver medal to add to the day’s tally. The girls relay team, Nicola, Heather, and Shannon McDowall won bronze medal and the boys, Callum Scott and Martin Whiteside won gold after a brilliant effort from all three swimmers. Douglas Frame, Andrew Coutts, Jennifer Stillie, and Alex Carmichael did the team proud with some exceptional swims in the lifesaving relays, although they did not medal. Carluke won the swimming overall. Callum Simpson

 

Table Tennis As we walked away from the boys football heart broken our minds were now set on the table tennis in the afternoon. Four boys from the ten were selected for the team and included Martin Whiteside, Andrew Coutts, Conner Jamieson and Scott McKenzie. We had all prepared for a few months now but knew that if we were to walk away with any success we had to put all our efforts into the afternoon ahead and maybe we could grasp our hands on a medal. As the afternoon arrived our bus dropped us off at the hall we would compete in the afternoons event. We were all mentally prepared and as we warmed up with a few hit of the balls we all seemed to scout other teams and see what we were up against. Martin and Andrew were the most experienced from the four and were chosen for the single event whilst Scott and Conner were respectively chosen for the doubles event. As there were three games on at once which included two single matches and one double match we knew that we had to win at least two of each match to win the game as it was a team event. The draw was made and we were chosen to play against England, Sweden and Ireland in our group. The first was against our close rivals England and we surprisingly came away with a win which encouraged us to then go defeat Ireland and dramatically beat Sweden to book our place in the semi final against the Welsh team. As the doubles team were beaten the singles had to both win and with great pleasure they did meaning we were in the final against Sweden, the team we had already beaten in the group stages. As confidence was at a high Martin went on to win in straight sets and with the doubles team defeated all eyes were on Andrew Coutts but with much skill he also had beaten the Swede and Carluke had surprisingly won the table tennis with Martin boasting an undefeated afternoon and the inexperienced doubles team achieving some great wins throughout the day. To win was a great achievement and all of the team should be very proud of their efforts that day that clinched us the very important gold medal. Martin Whiteside