Girls' Hockey
Our Hockey squads have seen considerable success in recent times, with a number of players gaining representative honours for Devon, West Panthers, Performance Centre and UK Lions, The U14 team were also crowned England Hockey Tier 2 National Champions in 2019.
Our Director of Hockey is in a joint role with the School and Plymouth Marjon Hockey Club, and is the Head Coach within the Devon Player Pathway and also part of the Great Britain ACP course.
Hockey is played in the Autumn Term. We play block fixtures on Saturdays against other South West independent schools, as well as mid-week games against other local schools and we enter the EH Schools Championships (we enter the appropriate Tier for the age group so this can change year by year).
We train mid-week, in games slots and after school, on either our school training Astroturf, or on our full-size pitch which is jointly owned in partnership with the University of St Mark and St John.
Plymouth College also led a Senior Girls Sports tour to South Africa last year where they played both Hockey and Netball. The hockey was a great standard and the girls learnt a lot from this trip, playing both independent and local schools.
Football
Plymouth College Football is proud to be supported by the Plymouth Argyle Football Club Community arm, who provide consistent and regular coaching to pupils of all ages. This partnership allows talented Plymouth College footballers to progress into the PAFC Development Programme and opens the door to opportunities within a professional footballing environment. The most notable Footballing alumnus is Michael Cooper, currently a goalkeeper with Plymouth Argyle.
Football runs as a recreational club in the Autumn Term and as the main sport for boys in the Spring Term. The fixture lists include Shebbear College, Stover School, Torquay Boys’ Grammar, Devonport High School and Mount Kelly with fixtures generally taking place in Games lessons mid-week.
Rugby Union
Over the last twenty years, the College’s Fifteens and Sevens teams have become recognised as being among the most consistent performers in the country and a significant force in the South West.
We have had eight U18 internationals and five at U16. Henry Slade is a current England International and has played in two World Cups, including the 2019 final in Japan. He is a key part of the highly successful Premiership side, Exeter Chiefs.
Two ex-Plymouth College boys have represented England A; four have gained Blues at Oxford or Cambridge and many have represented their county at senior level and played for some of the major club sides in the country. Will James, OPM, was capped by Wales during the 2007 Rugby World Cup and numerous ‘old boys’ play National League rugby both locally and around the country. Phil Beak, who was Captain of the First XV in 2008, achieved a Blue in Rugby League while studying medicine at Oxford University.
Most recently, Charlie Short represented the South West at Under 18s and Marcus Rayworth was selected for the Lambs Under 18 side. Zac Cinnamond - a recent member of the school First XV - achieved England Counties honours in the U20s and more recently, Seb Tooke was capped at Under 18 level for England counties.
Numerous players from Plymouth College represent either Devon or Cornwall at county level. Our most distinguished rugby playing ‘old boy’, Paul Ackford, represented England in the 1991 World Cup Final and added to the honours he had won for England and the British Lions.
Each team, throughout the school, from U12 to the 1st XV, has experienced coaches. We field six teams involving a high percentage of boys in the school. At senior level, there is a full programme involving strength and conditioning, skills training, matchplay and nutrition.
The aim of the programme is to ensure that players can follow the appropriate pathway and achieve the level of representative rugby they are capable of.
The fixture list includes many of the South West's leading rugby schools. Our seven-a-side teams compete in tournaments in Hereford, Taunton, Brecon and Rosslyn Park.
In recent years, the First XV have travelled further afield to play Llandovery College and Christ College in Brecon to name a few.
Our junior teams play in the county cup competitions; a collection of traditional fixtures and, in the U15 level, the National Cup. Rugby at the college is inclusive and welcomes players of all abilities.
Netball
Netball at Plymouth College continues to go from strength to strength.
The club takes place during the Winter in the Autumn and Spring Terms. Each Year group has its own squad, training regularly throughout both terms.
Netball is coached by Mrs Riley-Harling. Mrs Riley-Harling has played netball for her county, for her club team in Regional League 1 and is an ex-Team Bath Netballer. She brings a wealth of knowledge about the sport and this is being passed on to our pupils during their training sessions.
Our Netball squads have grown in numbers over the past couple of years, giving the girls more competition and therefore increasing their motivation and progress. We have some extremely talented Netballers coming through into our Senior squad this year and we hope to continue to build on this with future generations.
Player development is enhanced by the Strength and Conditioning coaches that we have working with our players each week. During training sessions a proportion of training is given over to the fundamentals of movement for netball, enabling good movement patterns and reducing the risk of injuries in this sport.
Lots of our players also play for Firebirds Netball Club, a local club who train at Plymouth College in the evenings. Attending a Netball club outside of school gives our players the opportunities to be coached by another coach, learn more, play more and play with other girls, which can only help to enhance their playing abilities.
Plymouth College also led a Senior Girls Sports tour to South Africa last year where they played both Hockey and Netball. The netball was a great standard and the girls learnt a lot from this trip, playing both independent and local schools.
We are also excited to be launching our very first Junior Sports Tour in Easter 2020. Our Year 8 & 9 Netballers are off to Disneyland Paris to take part in an International Netball Experience, being coached by international England players and coaches and playing against other schools and clubs from around the world.
Cricket
Cricket at Plymouth College follows a year-round program that is built on high quality coaching, a very strong fixture card at senior level and the clear provision of pathways to the professional game via District, County, University Centres of Excellence and First Class cricket.
The school has toured Sri Lanka in 2013 and 2019 and South Africa in 2015 and 2017 with an Under 15 development squad.
At the junior level the school provides several County representatives year on year and has begun a program of playing County sides, hosting the winter training program for Devon girls and pre and in season fixtures from Under 10-15 age. These strong links are crucial in the development of our most capable boys and girls.
The one2one coaching program that has been running on Saturday mornings for over 10 years between September and March provides highly specialist individualised coaching covering all three disciplines – batting, wicket keeping and bowling. The coaches employed are all Level 3 qualified and are heavily involved in West Devon and Devon cricket in managerial and coaching roles.
The winter programme involves strength & conditioning support combined with tactical and technical input. This runs at lunchtimes and before school.
Numerous players have represented Devon, Somerset and Cornwall at junior level and notable alumni include James Burke (England U19, Devon CCC & Surrey CCC), Jake Libby (Nottinghamshire CCC), James Degg (Devon CCC) and Tom Dinnis (Cornwall CCC) all of whom have played Minor Counties Cricket or represented a professional county. In addition, Ben Beaumont was selected for the U15 Bunbury Festival in 2018.
