game4game3The date was Friday, March 13th 2015. For the first time in 8 years it had decided to snow in March. The persistent rain of  the previous 14 hours had saturated the ground and the temperature hovered just above freezing. At 9am Mr. Maxted stood in the centre circle as two teams bounced from foot to foot to regain an ounce of feeling in their toes. The piercing sound of the whistle broke the icy silence to signal the start of an 8 hour football marathon fundraiser. 

Pupils at Chesterton Community Sports College had been challenged to be 'Game for a Game' in aid of Comic Relief. The response was tremendous and fourteen teams of boys, girls or a combination of the two signed up for the task. Each player paid £1 to play and took a sponsor form away to encourage friends and family members to pledge as much as they could to the cause.
Each team was paired against another of similar ability and was responsible for keeping either the yellow or blue team score ticking over for their hour on the pitch.

Connor Sergeant's Year 7 'For Da Kids' Yellow team got the game underway. They were up against a strong Year 9 team captained by Jay Geagen. It was the 'Swag Lords' (Blue) that got the goalscoring for the day underway. Harry Johnson was the first scorer of the day, finishing with a well placed right foot shot from inside the 18 box, across the keeper and into the far corner of the net. In what was the highest scoring game of the day 'Swag Lords' ran the Blues into a  9-7 lead with one hour down.

game4game4The second hour was contested between Tom Lomax's Year 8 (Blue) and Lewis Speedy's Year 9 'The Back Stabbers' squad (Yellow). 'Team Lomax' started rapidly; their more organised approach and better play around the box had the Year 9's on the ropes as they rattled in four goals until 'The Back Stabbers' were able to produce a reply. This kickstarted the yellow team into action as they managed to end their hour with five goals each; moving the overall score to 14-12 in favour of the blues.

It was the girls turn next and they didn't disappoint. In what was probably one of the most entertaining of match-ups Toyah Copeland's '10 Girls and a Callum' (Yellow) battled against Amy Tinsley's 'The Best Team' (Blue). The game produced the goal of the day. A corner was only half cleared as it bounced out 24 yards from goal. This was only to be met by  Nicole Harding (Yellow) as she swept an unstoppable half volley into the top right corner of the goal. This proved to be the decisive goal as Toyah's team were 3-2 winners taking the overall score 16-15 to the blues.

Jack Lycett's Year 7 'Peter Cech Yourself' then took on Ewan Cuthbertson's Year 8 'Little Brazil'. In a tight game 'Little Brazil' added two goals to the blue score and extended the lead to 18-15.
The lunchtime game then saw the Year 11 side take centre stage against Year 10.  The Year 11's (Yellow) captained by Reece Mercer were dominant over Dom Phillip's persevering  side. Reece's team added six goals to the yellow score giving an overall draw at 21 goals each after five hours of football.

In another Year 8 vs Year 7 match, Corbin Ball's 'Caterpillar Crew' played Rihan Ahmed's 'I Don't Have a Kalou'. In yet another competitive game 'I Don't Have a Kalou' seized the initiative for the yellows and pushed them into a 27-25 lead for the first time in the day.

The final pupil game saw the first ever charity time slot draw a blank in a 0-0 draw. Both Jacob Wood's Year 9 team and Jack Ilter's Year 10 squad cancelled each other out as the slick build up play just couldn't be converted to goals.

To finish off the day's marathon of football the Chesterton staff faced off against one another. In possibly the fiercest contest of the day,  Mr Swindells'  Blue team took on Mr Mackin's Yellows. It was the blues who hit first, reducing the deficit. Another quick goal and the scores were level. With pressure mounting the yellow's found their form and in what was surely a once in a life time moment Mr Mackin scored a superb volley finish. The Blues, now chasing the game, pushed forward and the Yellow's took full advantage of the space in behind and extended their lead. As the final whistle went  the 7-6 score in favour of Mr Mackin's Yellows meant that the Yellows finished the 8 hours of football as 34-31 winners.

As well as the football marathon, Mr Young organised the sale of Red Noses and stickers for Comic Relief. Currently the total raised stands at £565.11, so many thanks to all the pupils and staff that contributed to Red Nose Day.

Mr D Maxted

Head of PE

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