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Old Moorlander selected to play for Yorkshire
2009-06-02
 Old Moorlander Will Bates has been selected as part of the U13 Yorkshire rugby development squad after a tough selection procedure involving hundreds of boys from all over Yorkshire.
Schools and clubs from across the region were invited by the England Rugby Academy to put forward players to take part in 3 training sessions. At each stage, the boys were whittled down further until team squads for South, West, North and Central Yorkshire were selected.
A full day tournament was then played between the district squads and from these 100 boys, 50 were put forward to a final trials day at which the successful training squad of 22, including Will, was selected.
This squad will now train together for the next two years to develop their rugby skills with expert coaching from the Leeds Carnegie Rugby Academy with an ultimate goal of reaching the U16 and U18 England squads.
A keen rugby player from the age of 5 when he first learnt tag rugby at Wetherby RUFC, Will played his first contact rugby aged 7 at Moorlands under the experienced eye of John Johnson and enjoyed a full rugby career at school, culminating in captaincy of the team in his final year. He now attends The Grammar School at Leeds where he continues to enjoy playing rugby and also plays for Otley RFC with whom he recently toured Italy bringing back the Benevento International Rugby Tournament trophy having played against Croatian, French and Italian teams.
Will, who lists his favourite rugby moment as scoring a try on the hallowed turf of Twickenham during a national tournament playing for Otley when he was 10, is very excited about the opportunity to develop his rugby as part of the Yorkshire squad and is sure the thorough and enjoyable grounding in the sport he received whilst at Moorlands will stand him in good stead for future progress.
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Black belt success for OM
2008-12-22
Old Moorlander gets first black belt for the Moorlands Karate Club
Around 5 years ago, Sensei Brian Thornton introduced a new sport to Moorlands School: Shukokai karate. This karate style is popular across the north of England and is led by an ex England world champion, Sensei Stan Knighton, based in Sheffield.
The karate club has proved popular with children from the ages of 5 upwards, and some parents have joined the club as well. In November this year, the club produced its first Moorlanders black belts: Hani and Freddie Dresner.
Old Moorlander, Hani Dresner achieved one of the highest scores at the black belt grading, which took place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield under the adjudication of the highest ranking Shukokai instructors. Hani’s brother Freddie (who is still at Moorlands and is aged 10) achieved his black belt at the minimum allowable age.
Hani explains, “It has been hard working getting to black belt. I have been doing around 5 hours of karate a week, plus a summer camp and weekend sessions over the last year. I also do around two hours of Tai Jutsu training every week with my brother and father. This has got me fitter and added throws and wrestling to the kicking and punching of karate. There have been times when the training got a bit much, but now I am a black belt it is definitely worth it!”
Hani and Freddie both regularly compete in the Shukokai national combat championships, and Hani is the current champion in her weight class. They have an impressive collection of trophies collected over the last 5 years, which is a testament to their ability, but also to the system of junior competitions that encourages participation. Contact is minimal, injuries rare, and the sense of achievement is very rewarding for children.
Hani will be eligible to grade for her second dan black belt at the age of 14, and plans to go to university with a 3rd dan and instructor qualification. With this in mind she will be helping her father setting up their own fitness, self protection, and karate club in 2009. |
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On Saturday 20th October 2007 we had an informal Moorlands reunion. After communicating with many people again through the world of Facebook we all tried to find a free weekend to meet up. After much deliberation and toing and froing we pinned it down to the 20th in London.