Sporting Alternatives Offered in the Girls' Games Programme

In games sessions, alongside our major girls’ sports, we run a supporting programme of activities which are taken up by almost a third of the girls at the College. New activities are added each year and suggestions are welcomed from the pupils.

We offer a full and comprehensive range of these other sporting activities to suit the needs of all our students during the year. These vary from term to term, with some running over two terms and some now have boys starting to take part.

Indoor Activities

• Aerobics: Taken by an extremely qualified and enthusiastic outside coach, there are three sessions a week, where the girls use a range of equipment including weights and skipping ropes.
• Fitness: The school fitness suite is available to all year groups of the school with 'girls only' sessions divided by year groups. The gym is available not only during games sessions but also in the evenings. At all times the gym is supervised by Rob Smith (BA Leeds Metropolitan and the holder of various indoor rowing world records over 3 distances) and also Anna Hopcroft (qualified in sports massage and strength and conditioning).
• Pilates: A weekly session is run for only a small number of girls who have take this to improve their core strength and control their movement.
• Swimming: This is offered in the summer months. Sessions are set at three levels to welcome all who want to be involved:  Swim Squad, Fitness Based and Back into Sport.
• Dance is a very popular option with many styles on offer including street dance. Miss Dominy leads the Dance Department and has created a variety of dance activities and groups so that students, whatever their level, can feel welcomed and have the opportunity to extend their skills. Please click here to read more about Dance as a games programme option.

Racquet Sports

• Squash is a mixed activity for both boys and girls and takes place off site at the Weald Club in Hassocks and the Triangle Leisure centre in Burgess Hill. The students have access to a court between 2-4 people so many competitions take place.
• Badminton is run as a club on a Friday but also as an activity three times a week. Internal tournaments are set up due to the increasing popularity of the sport.

Outdoor Sports

• Outdoor Pursuits are on offer, driven by a very motivated team under the guidance of Mr Fred Simkins, Director of Outdoor Education. They have the opportunity to participate in Climbing (indoors and out), Kayaking and Sailing.
• Hurst has in the past few years built up a very successful Triathlon team. The students work on the separate elements: Swimming, cycling and running on specific days and then also take part in session to bring them together. This is an activity that is taken seriously by all involved and is now starting to gain more girls.
• Cross country is an option for triathletes and also for runners only. Use of the school grounds and the expertise of Hurst teacher Chris Thomson (3rd place in 2010 Brighton Marathon) help to enthuse the runners.
• Netball Development is offered to girls in the Shell (Year 9) and Remove (Year 10) who would like to play netball but feel they need work on their skills before they would feel confident playing in a game. These sessions incorporate fun with the specific drills and hopefully prepare them for joining the teams the following year.
• We offer Senior girls the opportunity to play Social Netball and Social Hockey.  This is for girls who do not want to play competitively or take part in training to improve but who prefer to play for fitness and for fun.  These activities allow them to play games in a non-competitive  situation with like-minded girls. With growing numbers of girls the Hockey option is becoming ever more popular as a good fitness work out and can become quite competitive.
• Power walking is mainly offered in the summer term when the weather is better, but in the winter term when it gets darker earlier the girls walk for a shorter distances.  There are 3 main routes that are covered in powerwalking. In the long summer sessions the girls are taken up on the downs for a 1hr to 1hr 45min walk, in the darker months, the Middle Session takes them around the outskirts of Burgess Hill and the Short Session is a 40 minute walk up to Hurst village.
• Golf tuition is undertaking at Burgess Hill Golf academy once a week. Students are taught by the club pro and work on the driving range, putting green, chipping area. Once they have gained confidence on the driving range they are then taken to a course to practise their new skills in a real situation.