St. Luke's pupils win big in county basketball championships

The year six team from St. Luke's Primary School celebrated their victory after the Derbyshire County Championships.

On Friday, March 8, five primary school teams of eight pupils from across the Derbyshire region went head-to-head at Alfreton Leisure Centre.

For the day of competition, nine different school teams were split up into two separate groups, and each played in two six-minute halves, with four boys playing the first half and then changing over to let the four girls in the team play in the second half.

Chika Jones of Glossopdale Hoops said: “As expected at County level, all the boys teams played really well and were very tough opponents. After the first six minutes, we ended the half either ahead in the match or tied. Then the girls came on, nicknamed the “clean-up” crew, to help secure the wins.”

The first four playoff matches saw the St. Luke's team winning 18-2, 9-6, 27-4 and 15-5 respectively, which secured them a place in the final against the overall winner from group two. The team battled hard against their opponents and ended up winning the final with a remarkable 12-3 win.

The team behind the wins consisted of four boys and four girls. The girls' half of the team consisted of year six pupils Millie, Alice, Bella and Théa, and Chika praised their performance: “Millie and Alice were great at getting in between passes and knocking the ball away from the opposition, and Bella and Théa were great passing to each other and getting under the basket to rack up the points.”

Praise was also given to the boys, with Chika adding: “For the boys, Charlie and Finn were the ultimate defenders allowing Joe and Zander to go full on offence (Zander's words).”

The competition was fierce throughout all of the games St. Luke's played, with fouls and some aggressive play trying to put a stop to their efforts. But ultimately the team prevailed and struck gold in every game they played.

“The children all deserve a massive medal/trophy/parade in my opinion,” Chika said. "They have all put in so much work to prepare for this tournament and totally deserved to win.”

The children worked hard before the event, training with the Glossopdale Hoops and also arranging their own training at the park. It was a perfect example of hard work paying off and as year sixes, the children were really proud to represent the school for a final time.

Five of the eight students in the team at St. Luke's have attended Glossopdale Hoops. Glossopdale Hoops is a basketball club in Glossop for children years one to eight, which has open training every Tuesday from 5pm-7pm at Glossopdale, The Place.