Harry Wilson (Year 8) has been selected for the Northern Ireland Under 12 football team which recently participated in the prestigious Mediterranean International Cup which took place 22 to 27 March 2016 at Palamos, Costa Brava, Spain playing against teams from all over the world . The squad had a very successful tournament . Harry is presently in his second year of the Club NI elite player development programme and has also represented Northern Ireland against teams from Ireland and Scotland . Harry plays his club football at the Glentoran Academy .

The 1st XI girls receiving the Junior Sports Team of the year 2015 award at the North Down Sports Awards. The girls won the award jointly with the 1st XI boys.

EPTA (Belfast) pianist Rowel Friers (Yr 9) came first in the UK in the final of the EPTA (UK) piano competition 2016 held recently in London.  He is the only person to have won it  twice, he won in 2015 & 2016 back-to-back. Rowel was competing against pianists from all over the United Kingdom to achieve his well-deserved Win. Rowel is pictured here with his adjudicators who are distinguished world-class classical Concert pianists: Noriko Ogawa, Leslie Howard and Artur Pizzaro. Big congratulations go to Rowel and his teacher Christine Isdell. Some of the comments: – Noriko Ogawa who said of Rowel: “Fantastic dynamic range, powerful performance with original and individual ideas. Had a style of a real musical performance. ” “Intelligent pedaling”. *Leslie Howard (Australia) said: “played with marvelous confidence and control.” *Artur Pizarro said: “Confident, communicative performance. Good characterization”. Photographed with Rowel centre are the adjudicators named in order as listed above left to right. Rowel also performed for Head of Kawai Europe by special request. Mr Takuya Sekine, Managing Director, Kawai Europe was visiting the music AA store Mr. Takuya Sekine was visiting AA Music in Lisburn and having been told of Rowel, the talented young Irish pianist who performs in Parliament each year. This interested Mr. Sekine, he requested AA Music to arrange a private performance from Rowel. AA music phoned and Rowel, delighted to have been invited, rushed to Lisburn through rush hour traffic after school had finished. The skills Rowel displayed on the K. Kawai Grand Piano’s Ivories brought smiles all round and especially to special guest Mr. Takuya Sekine, Managing Director, Kawai Europe.  Right after Rowel’s performance Mr. Sekine spoke again with Rowel and offering his support to Rowel in any way that he could with his musical carrier. Mr. Sekine then presented Rowel with his card saying, “I will be in touch.” With that Rowel had to rush back to attend to his violin, organ, Piano and of course, homework! Pictured   Mr. Takuya Sekine and Rowel Elesio Friers

Congratulations to the Sullivan Upper Senior Rugby Sevens team who were runners-up in the Annual Campbell 7s tournament.

Scott Miller (11E) took part in the Ulster Under 16 Close Championship in Ardglass over Easter. The format of the competition was on day 1 (Wednesday 30th) the top 16 boys qualified for Matchplay. Thursday morning was last 16 which Scott won on a play off hole. Thursday afternoon was the last 8 boys in the 1/4 final and won his match 7&6. Friday morning was the semi final which was played in 40-50 mph winds and Scott won his match 7&5. The final was due to be on Friday afternoon but due to  dverse weather was postponed to 7.40 am on Saturday morning. Scott won the final 3&1. The photograph below is with Mr Alasdair Gibson (left) GUI Honorary Treasurer and Mr Terry Murphy (right)  immediate Past Captain of Ardglass Golf Club.

Ulster Badminton Finals On Friday 4 March three Sullivan teams qualified to play in the Ulster Finals. This was a great achievement. In the morning the Senior Boys team of Joe Heatley , Benn Cuthbert, Connor Trimble and Chris Cree played Royal and Prior in the final of the Cup. Despite some close games the boys lost against strong opposition. At the same time the Year 8 Girls were involved in their Cup Final against Friends. This was a rematch of the final of a tournament earlier in the year where we were victorious in a very close match. Hannah Boyd, Sarah Baker, Lucy Cunningham and Rachel White competed in singles and doubles again in a close match. The doubles ended one each and the singles were close with the final result this time going to Friends 4-2. The standard of play for year 8 was very high and the decision was made on the closest of margins with one set finishing 21-20. Finally the Junior Girls played in the afternoon against Bloomfield for the Division 2 league. Hannah Boyd in Year 8 was playing up alongside Erin Camlin. Ella Thompson and Jenna McKearney. This also proved to be a hard fought final, and in the end it was a 3-3 draw. However, Bloomfield won on sets, two of which on the day we lost 21-20. Sadly it proved just not to be our day despite some great matches.

In a repeat from the McCullough Cup semi-final from December, Sullivan met Friends School, Lisburn in the semi-final of the Burney Cup. Friends worked hard and did not allow Sullivan to play the way of their previous match, breaking down Sullivan’s attacks. Sullivan finally broke through with a goal from Callum Carson. Half-time Sullivan 1 – Friends 0 The second half was harder work and both teams had players ‘carded’. During a period when Sullivan were down to 10 men, Friends won and converted a penalty corner. Sullivan were soon back to full strength, Friends goalkeeper made a number of saves from open play and penalty corners while Sullivan’s goalkeeper had much less to do. Sullivan took the lead through Fergus Gibson who followed up from another save by the Friends keeper. Final score Sullivan 2 (C Carson & F Gibson) – Friends 1 The final will be on Wednesday 16March at Lisnagarvey HC starting at 2.30 pm. The team would really appreciate as much support as possible.

Sullivan class, 10S, question Rory McIlroy Questions for Rory McIlroy from Year 10 pupils at Sullivan Upper School1In your career so far, if you were given the opportunity to replay one shot, which would it be?  (this question from a boy who plays golf for the school) Rory: I’m afraid there are no replays or second chances in amateur or professional golf, and that’s the way it should be. I’ve missed cuts in big events by one shot – perhaps a putt that didn’t fall – and was upset that I’d come so close. But I was missing the point: we have to take the mistakes on the chin, learn from them and try to ensure we hole that putt the next time. 2What is your favourite memory of your time at Sullivan? Rory: The summer holidays? No, I’m joking, of course. I have hundreds of great memories with the friends I made, both during term-time and after school. Because I lived so close to the school and walked there every day, I used to enjoy the school bus trips. I’m sure there was an educational angle to the trips (I think one was to the Ulster Museum) but it was the fun and banter I had with my friends I remember the most. 3What was the worst thing you did in school but were never caught for?   Did you ever have a detention and, if so, what for? Rory: In all honesty, I never actually did anything wrong (in my eyes, at least) at school or misbehaved in any big way. If it was anything, it was probably just a lot of clowning around. I was detained a couple of times but that was for not handing in homework because I was playing golf or not present because I was playing golf. There was a theme evolving… 4If you could change something about your time at Sullivan what would you change and why? Rory: I would change nothing, just as I said before. Okay, then, maybe the food in the canteen!  But in a serious sense, wanting to change something from the   past doesn’t work for me – change something you don’t enjoy now rather than regretting it later. 5Who are your sporting and non-sporting role models or sources of inspiration? Rory: Leaving golf aside for the moment, I’d choose Roger Federer as a sporting role model, Muhammad Ali for a sporting and non-sporting role model and Nelson Mandela as a true and lasting inspiration. I believe that anybody with Mandela’s capacity to endure hardship and then forgive is a born leader and example to us all. 6When did you realise that golf was beginning to dominate and that you needed to leave school to fulfil your dreams? Rory: I think there came a time – probably when I was about 13 – when I started to struggle with an increasing volume of schoolwork and the demands from my   golfing schedule and aspirations. I’m not sure if the decision to leave school was very clear in my mind then but I did know that in the juggling between the two, my energies were most definitely in the golfing direction… 7When you were a child did you ever think that you were going to become one of the world’s best golfers? When did you start to realise your   potential? Rory: I don’t really remember but from about the age of five I told anyone who would listen that I was going to be the best golfer in the world. They were, mostly, kind enough to humour me with a pat on the head and say: “Of course you are, son”. But I started to really believe in myself, and my abilities, when I won the World Under-10 championship in Doral, Florida. I was nine, and saw for the first time that I was amongst the best players in the world for   my age. This was a massive confidence-builder for me. 8What has it been like to go from living in Holywood to travelling the world? Rory: I was very excited when I first started to travel so much. In fact, I was amazed that people were paying me to travel to play the game I loved. I wouldn’t say the novelty of travelling to great places has completely worn off but it is more like a job now and gets tiring towards the end of a season. Now, the flight I’m most excited about is the one that takes me back to Northern Ireland to visit family and friends. 9What was your favourite subject in school?  What other activities did you do at Sullivan? Rory: Sport was an obvious favourite of mine, and not only golf. I was, and still am, a big rugby fan and have stayed friends with the Ulster and Ireland rugby   player, Darren Cave, another ex-Sullivan pupil. I still go to all the Ulster and Ireland rugby games when I can. It may come as a surprise but I also really started to get into history while I was at school. I found the projects about the Second World War fascinating – perhaps when I get the time again, I could pick up where I left off. 10If you weren’t a golfer, what would you be? Rory: That’s such a hard question. I’ve just been playing golf for so long (I was a two-year-old!) that I find it difficult to imagine another profession. Thinking about it now, though, I can, in some other life, see myself in some kind of sport or fitness instructor’s role – perhaps even a Physical-Ed teacher. Fitness plays such an important role in my life now, and an integral part of my golf structure, that I think I might be quite good at teaching others the benefits of sport and fitness. But now that I’m getting the hang of this golfing business, I’ll stick with it for the meantime… Rory was the Ulster Schools Senior Golf Champion 2004 at Valley Links, Royal Portrush Golf Club Rory was part of the Sullivan team who won the 2nd place Silver Salver on Thursday 25 March 2004 at Valley Links, Royal Portush Golf Club Rory visited Sullivan Upper School in June 2011 after winning the 2011 US Open.

Sam Rutherford, 9C, has been continuing his winter sailing schedule by training and competing at the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Venue in Weymouth.  The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy is team GB’s high performance sailing centre, where the top GB sailors are currently working towards qualifying for the Rio Games.  Over the weekend of 5-6 of March  2016, Junior squads from Great Britain, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland arrived in Weymouth to competed in the Laser 4.7 class. Conditions on the first day suited Sam as he likes the stronger winds leaving him in 9th placed boy overnight but as the winds eased on the second day the breeze favoured the lighter sailers and he dropped a few positions overall. Sam finished the competition as 12th boy and the top Northern Ireland male competitor. After the next NI squad training on weekend of 12-13 March 2016, which is at home here at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club in Cultra, Sam heads for Baltimore at Easter and the 2016 Munster Championships.

Congratulations to Rowel Friers (9W) who has won Round one of the EPTA Piano Competition in Belfast.  He will now compete in the UK National Finals in London.

Congratulations to Tom Robson (Yr12), Fergus Gibson (Yr12) and Harry Morris  (Yr11) who have been selected to play for Ireland in a three match series against Scotland from the 25 to 27 March 2016.

Congratulations to Tom Robson (Yr12), Fergus Gibson (Yr12) and Matthew Morris  (Yr11) who have been selected to play for Ireland in a three match series against Scotland from the 25 to 27 March 2016.