On Wednesday 30th March, we had our Annual Sports Awards Evening; however, because of Covid this is the first one I got to attend! I wish I had been able to go in the Thirds and Lower Fourth as it was such an amazing night with a great positive spirit and atmosphere. The evening was a celebration of the sporting success at Francis Holland, and there was a lot to celebrate! We had two lovely guest speakers; Olympic sprinter Desirèe Henry and GB Hockey player Sarah Evans. The sportswomen talked about their achievements which were truly fantastic, from Sarah coming third place in the European Hockey Championships, to Desirèe claiming a bronze medal in the Olympics for the 4 x 100m relay race. Both had such incredible energy and it was truly inspiring to listen to them talk about their journeys. Desirèe talked about the importance of self esteem and enthusiasm within her sport and Sarah spoke about how she learnt more when things went wrong than when things went right. It was such an honour to be presented prizes by these two remarkable women. A huge congratulations to anyone who won a prize and thank you for the parents for coming as well. Special thanks to Ms Westwood for organising the event and to the rest of the Sports Department who spoke so well, and for making sport such a fun experience for us pupils (as it should be!).

Imogen, UIV