Gosforth Academy had its most successful ever visit to the National Schools Squash Finals recently, with five of our six teams making it through to the quarter-final stages at Edgbaston Priory in Birmingham. Only the KS4 boys failed to make it to the final stages, as they were unlucky to meet the eventual runners-up, St. Aidan's (Harrogate), in the last knockout stage.

KS3 Boys and Girls

Both teams eased through their quarter-finals with the boys beating Whitgift School (London) 4–1 and the girls getting a bye through to the semi-finals due to the withdrawal of Epsom College.

In the semi-finals, the girls had a comfortable 5 - 0 win over Lincoln Minster, but the boys had a close 3–2 victory over High Storrs (Sheffield), with Charlie Davies, Yuyang Chiu and Raphie Lavender winning at 3, 4 and 5.

Both finals were really close, with wins for Charlie Davies and Yu-yang Chiu levelling the match against Elizabeth College (Guernsey), and despite a valiant effort, Will Brocklehurst lost to a higher-ranked opponent in the decider.

In the girls' final, Emma Little and Elizabeth Muldoon Smith won to level the match against Sevenoaks (Kent), and then Alice Pearsall had a titanic battle against her opponent, losing out 11–10 in the deciding third game!  

KS4 Girls

The girls had a comfortable 4–1 win against Benenden Girls school (Kent) and Sevenoaks (Kent) in the quarter-final and semi-final, which took the KS4 girls' team through to the final, where they met the event favourites Kenilworth (Warwickshire). The team managed to squeeze a 3–2 win to take the title.

The team of Rebecca Little, Lucy Ulyatt, Meera Jatania, Freya Finnemore, Zara Ali Saleem, and Izzy Wright continues the success of Gosforth Academy, having now won seven girls' titles in the last seven years.

KS5 Girls and Girls

The KS5 boys' team had a comfortable 5–0 win against King Ecgbert (Sheffield) in the QF, but then lost 0-5 to Wycliffe (Gloucestershire) in the semi-final and then 0–5 to Millfield (Somerset) in the 3rd/4th place-off. All the students performed well, competing against scholars from around the world.

A comfortable 4–1 win against Benenden (Kent) saw the girls' team through to the semi-final against Kenilworth, where they had a narrow 3–2 defeat, with wins for Ava Naisbitt, Isla Cook and a close 1–2 defeat for Rebecca Little. In the 3rd/4th play-off, the team had a comfortable 4–1 win over Sevenoaks (Kent) to finish in third place.

Gosforth Academy was the best performing school across all the categories, but more than the results, the school can be proud of the performance of all our students both on and off the court.

We would like to thank Richard Vitty for all of his work with our squash teams as a volunteer, not only this year, but in previous years, that has contributed to the success of our squash teams at a national level.