Schools develop teams in sports such as football, cricket, rugby, netball, hockey and basketball. Why not fishing? The number of active fishing teams within schools has drastically reduced from the 1970s and 1980s.
Before, several hundred pupils would participate in the schools' national championship and in county knockout-style events. Clubs, too, would hold countless inter club junior matches. For example, the small Shropshire village of Grindley Brook had a thriving fishing club from the late 1970s through to the early 1990s. Records show that in 1984 it held eight matches home and way against other clubs or school teams in 1984.
Providing opportunities
We believe that every young person who wants to should have the opportunity to represent their school as part of a fishing team and our Let’s Fish opportunity for schools is designed with that objective in mind. For the schools who contractually sign up to participate in the schools section of the national celebration, the opportunity currently comes free of charge to the school.
When they discovered the opportunity, St Peters School jumped at the chance to get involved. They teamed up with the local Let’s Fish delivery club, Stoke on Trent Angling Society who delivered the coaching. How many different kids attended and how many events were held before the celebration and locations.
Thanks to a generous local charity it proved possible for Let’s Fish at SOTAS to kit out the six participants with everything they needed for the big day. St Peters went on the take gold in the junior school section with Pelsall juniors retaining their 2021 title in the cadet section.
In their words
With the help of Stoke Angling Club, Let's Fish! and Canal & River Trust, 2022 turned out to be a fantastic year - many thanks to all involved. We have put together these words to show our journey from novices to winners.
- Learning = knowledge, study, education, scholarship, enlightenment
- Patience = forbearance, tolerance, serenity, restraint, calmness
- Enjoyment = pleasure, liking, fun, delight, entertainment, joy, happiness
- Leadership = authority, control, influence, command, premiership, captaincy, governance
- Rewarding = satisfying, fulfilling, valuable, productive, worthwhile, beneficial, enriching
- Teach = instruct, coach, inform, educate, drill, tutor
- Winner = victor, champion, master, champ, conqueror, prizewinner
We are looking forward to retaining the shield in 2023.
