Up and Coming Netball Fixtures

How do I get fit for Cross Country?

This arrival is mainly for the attention of those of you who want to get fit for cross country this year but is useful for those who just want to improve on their current fitness levels.

With us now in the cross country season I thought I'd use The blog to give some hints on how to get fit and what your weekly structure should look like if you're looking to get really fit for the Big races in February. If you're looking to get fit for cross country or sport in general this year. I would recommend that if you're an U13 athlete you train 2/3 times a week, u15 4 times a week and u17/20 up to 5 times a week if you are taking part in competitive sport. If you're looking for general fitness I would say 3/4 times a week is good for u13-20. But always remember to build up to this gradually if you're not quite there yet. 

How to structure the week

U13 
1) Athletics, 2)Interval Training, 3)Easy long run

U15 
1)Athletics, 2)Interval training, 3)Easy long run, 4)Circuits

U17/20
1)Athletics, 2)Interval Training, 3)Easy long run, 4)circuits, 5)Steady paced run. 

How long should my long run be? 

U13 30mins
U15 45 mins
U17 1 hour 
U20 1 hour 15

How long should I be working for in my sessions in my interval training? (Again this should be built up over time.)

U13 12 mins 
U15 15 mins
U17 Girls 18 mins
U17 Boys/U20 Girls 20 mins
U20 men 25 mins 

I would recommend using a combination of 2, 3, 4 and 5 minute efforts for this with a half time recover e.g 4 x 4 mins with 2 mins recovery. The times above shouldn't include recovery time but just the 'working' time. 

What about circuits?
You can use circuits similar to that what we do at school...
2/3 sets of 10 stations of body weight circuits e.g press ups, squats, sit ups etc with 20-30 seconds of work for each station with either a quick recovery like 5 -10 seconds. You could do 2 or 3 sets of this with 2/3 minutes recovery between the sets. If you do some jogging before and after the circuit as your warm up and down that's a good way to get ready for the circuit and recovery afterwards. 

What's a steady run?
A steady run is a run you know you're working fairly hard at, a pace you would struggle to hold a conversation at. 

It's important to mix your paces throughout the week so at athletics you of course do your shorter efforts/reps on the Astro/ash or Kelvingrove, Interval training should be longer efforts at cross country pace and your long run should be easy (a pace you would be able to hold a conversation at).

Good luck to all of you for this season. If you have any questions about this or on how to get fit please come and see me in the PE department. Mr MacCorquodale. 

Glasgow Netball Tournament

On Friday October 2nd the Glasgow Gaelic School sent 5 teams along to the Glasgow Netball Tournament. The event this year was run over 5 hours and again attracted a large number of teams from across the city. SGG had teams in each of the age groups from S1-S5/6. 

S1s 

The S1 team was:

Anna Horsburgh (c)

Eilidh Mchie

Sophie Whelan

Iona Cochrane

Abigail Campbell

Seona MacLeod

Alison Blain

Annabel MacDonald 

The S1s played well considering it was  their first experience of competitive netball. They came up against Holyrood 2 in their first game and were fairly nervous which was to be expected. They managed to win 4-0. In their 2nd game they played St Thomas Aquinas with Seona playing very well at Goal Shooter they won the game 9-0. In game 3 against St Andrews they won again but  they realise that all these teams will become better over time and games will be a lot closer when they faced them in the league. SGG won the group and through to the 1st and 2nd place playoff against the mighty Holyrood 1. Holyrood who played well making most of their chances won 3-2 but the girls should feel proud of how they performed as it is the best result a team from SGG has performed at a Glasgow Netball Tournament. Well done girls. 

S2s 

The S2 Team was: 

Eilidh McDougall (c)

Kara MacDonald

Jessica Gow

Shannon Craw 

Adanna McCann

Erin Moran

Abigail Cavanagh

Caitlin Watt

The S2s finished 3rd in the Glasgow Netball Tournament 12 months ago and finished 3rd again this year but played much better netball in the process. The girls had a difficult group but managed to play great netball, winning 3 games vs All Saints, Rosshall and St Thomas Aquinas and losing to Holyrood. They finished 2nd in the group and went on to face St Andrews in the 3rd-4th place playoff. The game was very close with SGG winning 5-3. The girls played some very good netball throughout the day! Keep practicing your shooting! 

S3/4s

SGG had two teams in the S3/4 age group. The teams were:

S3/4 A

Christy O'Hanlon

Katrin Swan

Yvonne Conley

Daisy Maguire

Lauren McDougall

Sarah MacKay

Morag McKirdy

Tamlin Dhinsa

S3/4 B

Margaret Driscoll

Rebecca Smith

Catriona MacLeod 

Skye MacKenzie

Niamh Robertson

Karen MacDonald

Louise Templeton

Eilidh Campbell

The A team had the toughest group of the day with Jordanhill, Holyrood, Rosshall 1 and St Andrews all together in the group of death. The team managed to win 2 games and lose 2 but played very well together in their first matches together. The A team was split 4 S4 pupils and 4 S3 pupils so it's very much a new team but showed in their games that they connected well with each other with some good link up play moving the ball down the court quickly. 

The S3/4 B team were in a similar situation as they had never played in the same team before. The girls had All Saints, St Thomas Aquinas, Shawlands and Whitehill to contend with in group C. They lost to All Saints in the first game 3-0 but came back to play better in game 2 against Whitehill, winning 2-0. The team then drew 2-2 with Shawlands 1 and lost narrowly 3-2 to St Thomas Aquinas in their last game. 

The A team finished 8th overall and the B team 10th. With only one team in the Glasgow Schools League, competition for places will be fierce so make sure you get along to training and fight for your place. 

S5/6s

The team was:

Frances Driscoll (c)

Eilidh MacAulay 

Mairi MacDonald

Charlotte Moock

Sophie Grossart

Katie Blain

Mia Paton

The girls without any subs played 3 games against experienced opposition. They played Holyrood, Bannerman and All Saints. They lost two games and drew one against Bannerman. The girls got better as the day went on and I'm looking forward to seeing how they do at the next tournament after some friendly games. Remember training on Mondays and Thursday's! 

All teams performed very well on the day. Some fantastic displays of netball on display. A big well done to you all for your effort and achievement on the day! Keep coming along to training! 

Success for the SGG Swim Team

The SGG Swim team took to the pool for the Glasgow Schools' Swimming trials to seek qualification for the finals. Abigail Cavanagh was the only swimmer to compete in a final on trials night and she added another medal to her collection in the 100m backstroke, Gold!! This is Abigail's 3rd medal at the Glasgow Schools' Championships! Patrick qualified for both his final along with Kara and Amy too! Finals night is a week on Monday, October 26th. Abigail qualified for the final of her other event the 100m freestyle. Shona Carey although not making the final competed very well in both her events at the trials and was made first reserve for the 50m fly. The standard of the Glasgow Schools' Swimming events is very high so to make a final is in itself a great achievement considering only 6 make it through. We would like to wish all swimmers the best of luck for the finals! SGG PE.