SPORTS HALL 1st October 1999 - 30th September 2000	Updated 18 June 2003

From Carshalton to National Glory

Last winters Sportshall season proved to be the most successful yet with the largest entry at the Surrey matches and was climaxed at the National Sportshall Finals in Birmingham where Surreys U15 girls became National Champions and the Under 13 boys were second.

These were a result of the comprehensive Sportshall programme which Surrey County have developed over the last ten years to make Surrey one of the leading Sportshall Counties in the country. We were one of the earliest promoters of the popular form of athletes. This past winter the programme was enhanced by two U11 competitions at Crystal Palace and Guildford which were heavily oversubscribed. With more schools now participating in Sportshall this form of athletics is becoming increasingly important in introducing youngsters to athletics and clubs are becoming more aware of the importance of attracting youngsters at an early age.

Sportshall is certainly an integral part of UK Athletics new CGU shine:awards and overall development for youngsters in the sport. Whilst cynics may prefer more traditional forms of athletics for youngsters the popularity of Sportshall continues to increase whilst numbers in cross country and track & field decline. Senior internationals such as Jamie Baulch, Jason Gardiner and Denise Lewis all participated in Sportshall in their junior years and as a first taste of athletics Sportshall is extremely important.

At which other athletics event would youngsters be guaranteed to come away wanting more, would be cheered in every event, irrespective of their finishing position and have an enjoyable experience?. Where else do the crowd, especially families, participate in the event and create such an enthusiastic atmosphere? Anyone, who saw the obstacle race - the climax of an U11 Sportshall event, would come out deafened by the noise!.

The first match at the Westcroft Sportscentre, Carshalton in November saw close to a record entry with twelve clubs involved, many having B and even C teams. Whilst results are not significant the winning teams were shared which is always nice in such a fun event. At Guildford in January and Woking in February the entry did decline mainly due to the flu epidemic and half term. Interestingly, entries in the U15 boys were significantly down with many clubs not able to field complete teams.

From these three Surrey matches teams are selected to represent Surrey in the CGU Regional Sportshall match at Newham. Once the results from the third match are received team managers compile a team based on all round ability for U15s and event winners for U13s. The South Eastern Regional heat at Newham in March is always one of the most competitive and provides an opportunity for many athletes to compete for the county for the first time and experience a higher standard of competition. Their enthusiasm for Surrey at this event increases their awareness of the County's identity. In recent years this has proven to be one of the best regional heats and Essex always are very strong. However Surrey teams have qualified for the National Finals in recent years and many athletes were already speculating on their chances of reaching Birmingham on arrival at Newham. Such was the strength of this match that ultimately three of the SE teams won National titles and the other qualifying team finished second in Birmingham.

It proved to be a very exciting competition with Sportshall President Jean Pickering commenting that it was the noisiest heat she had attended. It quickly became clear that Surrey's U13 boys and U15 girls, who had finished second in Birmingham the year before, were in contention for a finals place but going into the final relays it was still in doubt. The U13 boys, managed by John Mander won their relay to go through and in an exciting finale the U15 girls squeezed through when Middlesex dropped the baton. Such was the standard that Middlesex included the English Schools 75m hurdles champion and the AAA National long jump champion and an English Schools International multi eventer. For good measure the Surrey team included the current English Schools long jump champion, an AAA National silver medalist and two members of the winning English Schools Multi events team !!

So it was on to the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham in April for the National Finals with two teams and two individual athletes, Bernard Yeboah of Croydon (all rounder) and Rebekah Passley of Herne Hill (triple jump) who had won through due to their individual performances at Newham. The U15 girls, of which 6 of the 7 came from Herne Hill beat the holders and favourites Birmingham and Cornwall by eighty points to become National Champions, despite not winning any individual events but their all round quality gave them a deserved win. Team manager John Engel is confident of retaining the title as four of the girls in the winning squad are eligible to compete next year.

The Under 13 boys came a superb second with some excellent performances including a win in the circuit relay, with another medalist Peter Madigan who was third in the standing long jump. The boys were second to Irish team Fermanagh with Greater Manchester third.

Already plans are underway to develop further Sportshall fixtures for next winter when there will be an expansion of the U11 meetings with the same three U13 and U15 fixtures. With UK Athletics keen to support Sportshall activity this area of the sport looks sure to blossom in the future.

Steve Bosley - Herne Hill Harriers