Brody Neely (Year 11) has qualified for the under 15 European Championships in Madrid in July representing Ireland. He smashed the target weight of 177KG and lifted a total of 180KG to qualify. He is now Irish Age Grade Champion in the U15 71KG category too and current British no 1 in the U15 67KG category - a few pictures here from Cork Weightlifting Club.

Congratulations to Polly Smith (Year 9) who has retained her U13 Irish Nationals table tennis title. Polly turned up the heat in the semi-final to overcome a very defensive player from Munster and then had to step up another gear to beat one of the close Ulster rivals in the final.  This ends her time in the U13 category apart from hoping on a call up for the inter pros now which are due to take place in Ulster in April this year.  Well done Polly! During January and February, Toby Caldwell (Year 11) travelled with both the Ulster and Irish Table Tennis teams, to competitions in Ayrshire, Derby, Sligo and Craigavon. He won medals both in the individual and group teams. Most recently Toby competed in the Ulster Table Tennis Championships 2025, he achieved gold in the under 17s and silver in the under 15s. Pushing his Irish Under 17s ranking to 3rd.

The Mathematics Department held their annual pi-day competition on Friday, March 13th (3.14). The winner is the pupil who can recall pi to the greatest number of decimal places.  We had pupils across years 8 to 14 taking part and all impressed with their ability to recall the random list of digits.   If you have been following our pi-day story over the last few years, you may remember that Holly Robinson achieved 1000 decimal places two years ago when she was in Year 12.  She did not participate last year, though had promised she would enter again this year, her last chance to do so before she leaves Sullivan for adventures further afield.  Holly did not disappoint and achieved a phenomenal 1 415 (one thousand four hundred and fifteen!!!!!) decimal places.  In all it took her about 10 minutes.  The teachers checking all was correct were left in awe.  We presented Holly with a special personalised mug to recognise her unbelievable efforts.   Winners in the other age categories were at Key Stage 3  Luca Jordan (Year 8) with 262, Amy Walker (Year 9) with 296 and at Key Stage 4 Andrew Greer (Year 12) with  297.

We have more news of some outside school Drama Success. The Youth Lyric have just finished four fabulous shows of Alice in Wonderland, feathering Erin Williams (Yr 13) as a fantastic Caterpillar, Poppy Wilson (Yr 8) as 7 of Hearts and Olivia Currie (Yr10/11) as a member of the Queen's Counsel. Over 100 people audition for a cast of 24 and these girls were successful to be cast in the show - Directed by Lynn McElroy, They have been rehearsing every Saturday since November for this show, involving dancing, singing and acting. What a slick, fast paced and professional show ! The Mayor of Belfast & other VIP guests attended Friday's production.

Year 13 English Literature pupils enjoyed an interesting visit to the Seamus Heaney Homeplace at Bellaghy on Wednesday 5 March. They were treated to a lecture, a seminar, lunch and a tour of the exhibits. An inspiring day was had by all!

Emily Ridout (Year 12) and Annabel Ridout (Year 11) won the Ards and North Down Borough Under 18 Sports Team of 2024 Award. The Awards ceremony was held at the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel on Friday 21 March and had over 300 attendees. The award was to celebrate achievement across the breadth of sports within the Borough.

The 6th and final round of the 2024/2025 N Ireland Junior Foil Series was held last Sunday 16th March in the Sullivan Upper Sports Hall. Nineteen SU fencers took part across 6 of the 7 age group categories.   U12s The boys’ U12 event had Shion Suto-Murphy, Ronan O’Hagan and Miller Lu representing SUFC, Ronan and Miller both in their 1st fencing competition. All 3 were knocked out in the last 16, though Ronan almost made the last 8, narrowly losing his L16 fight 9-10. In the girls’ U12s Olivia Morse made the semi-finals after a strong performance in her poule, but lost her semi fight to finish with a bronze medal.   U14s Sullivan fencers Grace Tsang and Amy Walker met at the quarter-final stage of the girls’ U14s, Grace winning through to the semis, where she was then knocked out by the eventual U14F winner. Lydia Hamilton made the other semi-final, but also lost, ending up joint 3rd with Grace, with Amy 5th. In the boys’ U14s three SU fencers made the quarter-finals: Eric Hutchinson, William Penny and Thomas Morrow. Only William made it through to the semis, but was beaten there by the eventual U14M winner to finish with bronze. Thomas and Eric were 5th and 8th, while Flynn Woolsey-Jensen, Oscar Duddy and Mark Ross finished 11th, 12th and 13th.   U16s The girls’ U16s had 2 SUFC fencers competing, Cassidy Ogle and Erin Keough. Cassidy made one semi-final and Erin the other, but they were both beaten there by their season-long Dublin based rivals, ending up joint 3rd. Four SU fencers made the boys’ U16 quarter-finals: Tom Woolsey-Jensen, Sam Snoddy, Patrick John and Ethan Dilworth. Ethan and Patrick were knocked out at this stage to finish 5th and 6th, while Tom and Sam met in one of the semi-finals, a very close fight with Tom winning 15-14. This earned Sam a bronze medal and Tom a place in the final, which he won convincingly 15-10. This was Tom’s first ever NIJFS gold medal win, won in his last fight of the last round of his last year as an NIJFS fencer!   This was another excellent SUFC competition turn-out, with a total of 1 gold and 7 bronze medals won.   Sullivan Overall Series Results   After totalling of points from the best 5 results of the 6 NIJFS rounds, Sullivan fencers finished in the following series positions. An unusual number of joint placings occurred this year where fencers finished on equal points and the NIJFS points system tie-break rules failed to separate them.   U12 Girls 2nd (joint) Olivia Morse U12 Boys 6th Shion Suto-Murphy, 12th Ronan O’Hagan, 13th Miller Lu U14 Girls 2nd Lydia Hamilton, 3rd Amy Walker, 4th Grace Tsang U14 Boys 3rd Thomas Morrow, 4th William Penny, 6th Flynn Woolsey-Jensen, 7th Eric Hutchinson, 8th (joint) Mark Ross & Oscar Duddy, 11th Zach Fyffe, 12th Daniel McBride, 13th Cormac McCleary U16 Girls 1st (joint) Cassidy Ogle, 2nd Erin Keough U16 Boys 2nd (joint) Sam Snoddy & Tom Woolsey-Jensen, 5th Ethan Dilworth, 6th Theo Beggs, 7th Patrick John, 8th Adam Sugar, 10th Oliver Stevenson   This was an amazing year in terms of junior competition results for SUFC, finishing with Cassidy Ogle in a joint win of the N Ireland U16F junior fencing championship title, along with another 7 SU fencers winning 2nd and 3rd place championship trophies: Olivia Morse (2nd U12F), Lydia Hamilton (2nd U14F), Amy Walker (3rd U14F), Thomas Morrow (3rd U14M), Erin Keogh (2nd U16F), Sam Snoddy (2nd U16M), Tom Woolsey-Jensen (2nd U16M).   David White SUFC Coach 19 Mar 2025

Congratulations to past SU pupil and fencer Victoria Morris on receiving an Oxford Blue award! This was on selection to compete for the university’s women’s foil first team in the 117th Oxford-Cambridge Varsity Fencing Match held last Saturday 8th March. Victoria is in her 2nd year of study at Jesus College, Oxford.   Go to https://www.youtubetrimmer.com/view/?v=MzUs6gmqJrg&start=8761&end=8832&loop=0 to see a clip of Victoria (on the left) playing her part in the Oxford team’s victory over Cambridge in the women’s foil event.   David White SUFC Coach 12 Mar 2025

Sullivan Upper Fencing Club hosted the 5th round of the 2024/25 NI Junior Foil Series on Sunday 23rd of February in the Sullivan Sports Hall.  Eighteen SU fencers took part across U12, U14 and U16 age groups, 4 of whom were year 8 beginners in their first competition. In total SU fencers won 11 medals, 1 gold, 4 silver and 6 bronze   U12s Year 8s Olivia Morse and Shion Suto-Murphy both performed well, Olivia winning silver in the girls’ U12s and Shion bronze in the boys’. The other 2 beginners, Oscar Duddy and Mark Ross, although also year 8s, are placed in the U14 age group due to their birthdays being in 2012 and not 2013.   U14s Unfortunately Mark and Oscar met in the last 16 of the U14 boys’ event. This was an epic battle, with Mark going through to the L8, narrowly defeating Oscar 15-14. He was then knocked out by Thomas Morrow, who then kept on winning right up to the final, where he put up a strong fight against the age group points leader, but lost 12-15 to take silver. William Penny, Eric Hutchinson and Flynn Woolsey-Jensen all made the quarter-finals. Lydia Hamilton, Amy Walker and Grace Tsang were the SU representatives in the girls’ U14s. Lydia beat Grace in one semi-final, while Amy lost in the other to the U14F points leader. Lydia then lost to the same fencer in the final. These were hard fights for Amy and Lydia, against a top U14 from Dublin with international competition experience.   U16s In the girls’ U16s Cassidy Ogle made the final, but lost there to her Dublin based rival for the U16F championship title. Cassidy still has a small championship points lead, but the title win will be decided at the next (last) round. Erin Keough made the semi-final stage to take her 4th bronze medal of the series. Sam Snoddy put in a superb performance in the U16 boys’ event, winning his first gold medal of this year’s series. Tom Woolsey-Jensen and Adam Sugar also performed well, finishing joint 3rd. Ethan Dilworth and Patrick John both made the quarter-finals ending up 6th and 7th.    Well done all 18 SU competitors and a big thank you to the SU staff for preparing the Sports Hall for us and to all the fencer parents for their support.   Round 6, the final round of the 2024/2025 NIJFS season, will be on Sun 16th March in the SU Sports Hall.   David White SUFC Coach 26 Feb 2025

Just before half-term, the weekend of the 8th and 9th Feb, Cassidy Ogle travelled over to London to compete in her 2nd UK national competition of the year, the Leon Paul Foil Open. Finishing 10th in the Saturday open event, then 5th in the Plate event on the Sunday, Cassidy is continuing to develop her fencing at national level. David White SUFC Coach 16 Feb 2025

On Saturday 1st February the Shankill Leisure Centre was again the venue for a round of the N Ireland Junior Foil Series. This was Round 4 and 14 Sullivan Upper Fencers were in attendance, 8 of whom brought back medals, 3 silver and 5 bronze.   U14s In the boys’ U14s event SU fencers William Penny and Tom Morrow both made the semi-finals. Tom was knocked out at this stage, while William went through to the final, but only after a close fight that went to a tie-break.  William lost in the final to come away with the silver medal, while Tom took bronze. Eric Hutchinson and Flynn Woolsey-Jensen finished just outside the medals in 5th and 6th. In the girls’ U14s Lydia Hamilton and Amy Walker met in the semis, Lydia winning through to the final, leaving Amy with bronze. In the final Lydia lost to the current U14 points leader to finish with the silver medal.     U16s In the boys’ U16s Sam Snoddy made the semi-finals after a close 15-14 win in the quarters, while Tom Woolsey-Jensen progressed from the last 8 by defeating Ethan Dilworth. Both Sam and Tom were beaten in the semis, finishing joint 3rd with Ethan taking 5th place. Oliver Stevenson, Adam Sugar and Patrick John were 7th, 8th and 9th. Unfortunately, during the girls’ U16s, Cassidy Ogle suffered an asthma attack and had to withdraw from the competition. This denied her a place in the final, but she had progressed far enough to be placed 2nd. Erin Keough was the only SU finisher in this category, coming in 3rd for bronze.   P.S. After a brief visit to A&E, Cassidy made a full recovery.   This was a strong set of results, well done to all 14 SU entrants. Round 5 of the NIJFS will be on Sun 23rd February 2025 in the SU Sports Hall.   David White SUFC Coach 4th Feb 2025

The Open is N Ireland’s premier and largest fencing competition of the year and was held last weekend the 25th & 26th of January in Thornhill College in Londonderry. Five Sullivan fencers took part, Amelia Penny, Myles Wilkinson, Tom Woolsey-Jensen, Lennox Brown and Sam Snoddy.  At the same time Cassidy Ogle was competing in a European Fencing Confederation (EFC) U17 event in Riga, Latvia. Cassidy had been selected to represent Ireland in the individual and team competitions.   In Derry on Saturday 25th Amelia made the final of the women’s foil, finishing up with the silver medal. Meanwhile Cassidy and the Irish foil team finished 21st in the team event in Riga, having been knocked out by Ukraine. Back in Derry on the Sunday, in the men’s foil, Myles and Tom made the last 16 in 13th and 14th places while Sam and Lennox finished 18th and 20th. In the Sunday individual competition in Riga Cassidy faced a tough world class international field with competitors from as far afield as Australia, Brazil and the USA as well as the European nations. She finished in the last 128 in 107th place, a respectable first full international performance at age 15, and the only NI fencer currently competing at this level.   The next event for SUFC fencers will be for U12s, U14s and U16s at Round 4 of the NI Junior Foil Series on 1st February in Shankill Leisure Centre (postponed from 18th Jan.     David White SUFC Coach 29 Jan 2025