EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS


the main sports hall and a PE classroom in the sub-levels, with the Sky Hall above the surface which is hired out for events and also used as a dance studio. Whilst touring the impressive facility, we meet Finborough School’s Strength and Conditioning Coach, Matt Stagg. The addition of Matt to the team in 2015 demonstrated the desire to improve the school’s sporting performance and is a plan that has already come to fruition in the results.


Between them, Rory and Matt


demonstrate a passion for what they do and, more importantly, a mutual understanding of the role they both play in each other’s success, perfectly confirmed by their conversation.


“They look at a student as a whole, not academic vs physical,” Rory began. “The school motto is ‘Better Never Stops’ and that drives everything we do here. We’re always looking to do better and this year we’ve achieved a lot with our rugby teams, and we did really well at the Independent Schools Association athletics meeting, and the level from two or three years ago in terms of


Now we’re at the point


where the parents will stop other people parking in the wrong place and that’s a victory in itself. Having that understanding with everyone at the school makes the job a lot easier


” 92 PC August/September 2018


sporting achievement has gone up.” Matt interjects with a similar understanding of Rory’s role and the difference he has already made: “Our numbers have really increased over the last few years, so more students means more teams and more fixtures. Having good surfaces has been key to ensuring we have had the consistency of training time to continue to develop our programmes and our athletes.” “We are very fortunate to have some fantastic young athletes coming through our system. We have students competing in academies in rugby, football, netball and cricket across many age groups, so ensuring there is continuity around their development between these organisations and the school is important to us as it puts our students in the best possible position to pursue their sporting goals.”


The clear message so far is a collective ambition for sporting improvements and a sense of everyone, from sports specific staff to teachers, pulling in the same direction. But, as we venture out of the Sky Hall towards the machinery storage containers,


Rory explains the challenges he initially faced.


“I’ve been at the school for just over a year now and I can see improvements in the pitches, we have more grass coverage and the school have been able to use them more than in previous years,” Rory explained. “It’s also been good that when I stop them playing on the pitches I get support, whereas before I think they’d go out and batter the living daylights out of them and expect them to be back in good condition the next day.” “A difference from working at a football club with professional sportsmen to preparing pitches for seven-year-olds is getting them to realise the pitches aren’t just areas of grass they run around on.” “I got the staff on board because they saw that, if they helped me, I could give them the pitches they wanted, and once they started explaining to the kids that if they walk diagonally across the pitches every day before they go out that there will be tramlines and it won’t play right, they started buying into it as well.”


“When I first arrived, parents would park


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