This Friday: we meet St Michael Prep School's county and national Girls Hockey champions. Plus, Bartholomew Hall speaks to former Kent schoolgirl Kit Windsor as she prepares to row 3000 miles across the Atlantic!
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Hello and welcome along to Invictus Sport, the only show on your TV dedicated to wrapping
00:21 up all of Kent's sporting action.
00:23 I'm Bartholomew Hall and here's what to expect on this Friday 24th November.
00:30 Hat-trick stick-tory!
00:32 Double hockey crown delight for Sevenoaks schoolgirls.
00:36 Three thousand miles, former Kent rower set to cross Atlantic in extraordinary 40 day
00:42 challenge.
00:44 And action replay, we once again look at the sporty clip sent in by you, the KMTV viewers.
00:53 But before we get to that, a round-up of the week's headlines.
00:56 An Ashford United football club this week revealed the devastating news that one of
01:00 its players has died at the age of nine.
01:04 The club says dozens of tributes have been pouring in after Felix Stevens passed away
01:08 at the weekend.
01:09 He's been described as a funny and happy boy, well respected by other players.
01:14 The youth player started his football journey in the summer of 2021 for the Pilgrims Black
01:20 before joining Ashford United this year.
01:22 This weekend, all teams in the Ashford District Youth League will hold a minute's silence
01:27 in memory of him.
01:30 Next in this week, we found out Kent Cricket's club 2024 fixtures with a home county championship
01:36 match against Somerset setting things off in April.
01:40 Daniel Beldrummond will begin his captaincy on home soil after taking over as skipper
01:45 from Sam Billings at the end of this year's season.
01:48 Next cricket season will see a familiar fixture list with seven county championship games
01:52 in the opening eight weeks, whilst the T20 Blast campaign will begin against Middlesex
01:57 on the 31st of May.
01:59 The full fixture list can be found by reading Kent Online's sports section.
02:05 Building the momentum is key, according to Gillingham's head coach Stephen Clements.
02:09 The new boss, now almost a month into the job, says he puts his first league win down
02:14 to confidence, which his team played with last weekend against Salford.
02:19 The Gills beat them 3-1 last time out, seemingly ending the League Two's side's dry spell
02:24 of goals.
02:25 This weekend, Clements will take his side to Merseyside, where they're set to face third
02:29 from bottom Tranmere Rovers.
02:30 Here's the Gills boss speaking this week about the recent success and about how he shapes
02:35 up his opponents.
02:36 No, it's obviously always nice when you win on a Saturday.
02:39 It was really nice to get in front of the home supporters.
02:42 What I was really pleased about was obviously how they got behind the lads and I thought
02:47 the confidence the boys played with, especially in the second half.
02:50 The boys have to take enormous credit for the way they played.
02:53 I'm excited, I'm looking forward to it.
02:55 Obviously, Tranmere have got a very experienced manager in Nigel.
02:59 He's been around for a long, long time.
03:01 Someone that I have a lot of respect for.
03:04 I know it'll be a difficult game.
03:05 He'll have them well organised.
03:08 He's got some good players in the team, which obviously we will be aware of.
03:12 But we're looking to go there to try and get a result.
03:16 Well with that in mind, let's take a look at the fixtures now that are coming up this
03:20 weekend.
03:21 As we mentioned, Gillingham are set to play Tranmere Rovers this weekend.
03:24 Nigel Atkins' side are also coming off a big league win, having taken three points from
03:28 a 3-0 win over Forest Green Rovers last time out.
03:31 However, with Gillingham still in eighth after a strong season start, they remain the favourites.
03:38 On to the National League then, where Ebbs Fleet are also travelling away.
03:41 The fleet are facing Oldham Athletic for the very first time as they travel away to Boundary
03:45 Park.
03:46 Oldham are currently tenth in the league, which is ten points ahead of the fleet, who
03:50 are down in the relegation zone in 22nd.
03:53 In the National South, things are returning to normal after the VAR's escapades last
03:57 weekend.
03:58 Quite the league spread at the moment, with third-placed Maidstone set to face St Albans,
04:02 whilst Dover Athletic, currently down in second bottom, are hosting Western Supermare.
04:07 And in the Idsmerean Premier, a huge game is bubbling up, second versus third between
04:11 Chatham Town and Enfield.
04:12 Both will want to pick up three points to stop current leaders Hornchurch from pulling
04:16 too far clear, currently with a ten-point gap at the top.
04:19 We'll have all the reaction to that on Mondays in Victor.
04:23 But for now, two hockey teams at St Michael's Prep School have recently become champions.
04:28 The school's under-13s have just won the Tier 2 County Hockey Championship, whilst their
04:33 under-11s have become Kent champions.
04:36 More a week later, taking home the IAPS National Championship title soon.
04:40 Well, to find out how all that success came about, I went to meet them this week.
04:45 Winning a championship isn't an easy task, but for the schoolgirls here at St Michael's,
04:50 they seem to come in threes.
04:52 First, back in October, the school's under-13s became Kent champions, when they beat Cranbrook
04:58 School 5-1.
05:00 Weeks later, and the under-11 squad took on the task of retaining their IAPS National
05:05 Girls Hockey Championship over in Somerset, which they duly won.
05:09 But that's not all.
05:10 As just three days later, that same under-11 squad kept the winning streak going with a
05:16 trip to Canterbury, where they fought off Seven Oaks Prep 2-0 to become county champions.
05:22 Helping them reach their win, Captain Elizabeth scored more than ten goals across both competitions,
05:28 whilst the defensive brilliance of Alex in goal saw them keep their opponents at bay.
05:34 It was unbelievable how we've gone from our first pool match to win the finals.
05:41 We also played a team that was, like, it's ground built and it's not even, probably takes
05:49 like 15 minutes to get there.
05:50 So we travelled all that way and played a team that's not very far away.
05:55 As for the county champion winners, the under-13 squad, their win meant their last competition
06:00 as a full group.
06:02 We move schools next year, so we won't be in the same team, but we probably still will
06:06 play hockey.
06:07 I think it's really nice that our last proper match together and our last tournament together
06:11 is a win.
06:12 So I think that's a really good thing to remember as well.
06:15 Hockey I think is a really up and coming sport.
06:17 I think it's getting more and more exposure, obviously with the success of our international
06:21 teams as well.
06:22 It's just becoming a higher profile sport.
06:24 So I think there's a lot of growth for hockey and a lot of kids haven't done it before and
06:29 they're kind of like, "Oh, hang on a minute, this is quite fun."
06:33 But how can one school reach such success?
06:36 Headmaster Nick Pears believes it all comes back to the passion of the children themselves.
06:41 Children come running to school and not want to go home at the end of the day here at St
06:44 Michael's.
06:45 We know that they love coming to school and a big part of life at school for us is sport.
06:49 You know, sports, music, drama, all of those things, the rounded education that they get
06:52 here.
06:53 So for the girls to come in and just give 100 per cent in their sports, you know, every
06:56 morning, they come in, I mean look at it, it's raining, they don't care, they just want
07:00 to be out playing and enjoying it.
07:02 So from county champions to the top of the national pile, the three pronged success of
07:07 St Michael's Hockey Department is sure to live in the top shelf of memories for years
07:12 to come.
07:13 Bartholomew Hall for KMTV in Ottford.
07:18 Well congratulations to those girls.
07:20 Now before we head to a break, it's time to remind you that you can keep up to date with
07:23 all our sports news, interviews and features by heading to kmtv.co.uk and clicking on our
07:28 sports tab.
07:29 There you can watch some of our interviews, like this one about Jim Garrett, the 78-year-old
07:33 badminton player from Faversham who is still out winning international medals.
07:37 Take a look.
07:38 Retired teacher Jim Garrett from Ashford has been playing badminton since the age of 19.
07:44 Almost six decades later at 78 and he's just returned to the county after having won two
07:49 gold medals at the World Senior Championships in South Korea.
07:54 Originally from Manchester, Jim moved to Kent in the 50s where joining the Kent squad skyrocketed
08:00 his love for the sport.
08:01 Now part of the England senior team, Jim tells me that age isn't a barrier and his record
08:07 proves it, winning gold in both the men's doubles and mixed doubles, plus taking a silver
08:12 medal in the over 75 singles.
08:14 I think most people are genuinely pleased and surprised when you say your age and sometimes
08:22 more than surprised.
08:24 But when you look around the playing side of it, it's been joyous really.
08:32 If you feel you can do it, just do it.
08:34 That's the message to everybody isn't it really, just keep going as long as you can and you'll
08:40 be fine.
08:41 And of course I couldn't come along without getting a bit of a demo from the man himself.
08:44 As soon as one of these courts are free, Jim and I are going to partner up and he's going
08:48 to show me the ropes.
08:49 Wish me luck.
08:51 With some fierce competition, Jim and I battled on and came away victorious.
08:55 I'd love to take the credit but I must say Jim did all the hard work.
09:00 So from Manchester and Kent to taking on the world in South Korea.
09:04 Shuttlecock and racket in hand, it's clear that Jim Garrett's story is not just a rally
09:09 of wins but a smash hit.
09:11 Bartholomew Hall for KMTV in Faversham.
09:15 Most of the people who play badminton, that's what they play for, the enjoyment.
09:18 You saw at the club that you were at how people were enjoying themselves.
09:23 It's a local club, people come and if you like start there.
09:27 They have a junior section.
09:29 So it's for everybody and the fact that I'm still playing in my dotage means everybody
09:38 can play.
09:39 So like you said earlier, 19 when I started, all this time still playing, still hoping
09:45 to play a lot longer.
09:46 Well I was wondering, you started at age 19, that's when you first picked it up.
09:51 At what point did you realise, ok this is going to be quite serious now, I'm going to
09:54 start competing?
09:55 Oh probably 10 or 12 years further down the line because I was involved in football then
10:01 so badminton was just a sideline.
10:07 Children were growing quite young, they started to play and my wife.
10:11 So it was more a family idea that we could all take part in.
10:17 And then as you go along that route, you get more involved in a sport, less distractions
10:24 and then eventually with coaching you got really involved in the sport.
10:30 And then when we moved north to south, it took on because football disappeared, too
10:36 old for that and badminton became the number one sport as far as I was concerned.
10:42 We interview sports stars of all ages on this programme.
10:47 What's your advice to somebody who's maybe young now and is thinking about, they've got
10:51 their whole life ahead of them and all the sporting things they could do.
10:54 What's your advice for somebody like that?
10:57 Well I've always said to younger people, never specialise too early because you don't really
11:06 know whether that's going to be, too often, particularly in badminton, we see that a lot
11:13 of the younger players don't really last.
11:17 I mean I was really fortunate when I came into the Kent squad, there were internationals
11:21 still playing but there are less and less of those and I think people specialise too
11:26 early so if you're going to pick up a sport, add two or three strings to your bow and then
11:31 if one doesn't work, there's another one.
11:33 Don't specialise too early.
11:34 Well Jim, thank you very much for joining us, it's really good to have you on and I'm
11:38 sure we'll follow with your story as it continues.
11:42 Now we've reached half time which means it's time for a break but coming up I've been speaking
11:45 with Kit Windsor of the Ace of Blades all-woman rowing team who are preparing to travel 3,000
11:51 miles across the Atlantic, all for charity.
11:53 See you in just a few minutes.
11:55 [Clapping]
11:57 [Music]
11:59 [Music]
12:02 [Music]
12:04 [Music]
12:06 [Music]
12:08 [Music]
12:10 [Music]
12:12 [Music]
12:14 [Music]
12:16 [Music]
12:18 [Music]
12:20 [Music]
12:22 [Music]
12:24 [Music]
12:26 [Music]
12:28 [Music]
12:30 [Music]
12:32 [Music]
12:34 [BLANK_AUDIO]
12:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]
12:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]
13:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]
13:14 [BLANK_AUDIO]
13:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]
13:34 [BLANK_AUDIO]
13:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]
13:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]
14:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]
14:14 [BLANK_AUDIO]
14:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]
14:34 [BLANK_AUDIO]
14:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]
14:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]
15:04 [MUSIC]
15:10 Hello and welcome back to Invicta Sport Live on KMTV.
15:14 Now, don't forget, you can keep up to date with all the latest
15:17 Gillingham FC news by reading Kent Online.
15:20 But did you also know you can have your weekly digest of Gilles news sent
15:24 directly to your email inbox?
15:26 Just search Kent Online email alerts and sign up on the website for
15:30 all the latest written transfer news, match reports, and interviews.
15:34 And if Gilles isn't your cup of tea,
15:36 there's plenty more email alerts that you can choose from on that website too.
15:39 Now moving on, it's time to meet our next guest this evening.
15:43 After two years of preparation, former Highstead grammar student Taz
15:48 is set to take part, sorry, having a slight technical issue there with our script.
15:55 She's set to take part in a four-woman team that will row 3,000 miles from
15:59 Tenerife to Antigua.
16:01 The feat could take the group up to 40 days, in which time they will take turn
16:05 in shifts to row nonstop from tough conditions to the darkness of the night.
16:10 I spoke with her earlier today.
16:12 So I'm joined by Kit now here virtually.
16:15 Kit, thank you very much for being here and welcome to Invicta Sport.
16:18 Now 3,000 miles across the Atlantic,
16:21 I get seasick when I go across the channel to France from Dover.
16:26 How are you gonna manage to deal with this?
16:28 >> So some people sort of ride it out, the seasickness.
16:36 You can get patches that you stick just behind your ear, but
16:40 they can make you go temporarily blind, so not necessarily ideal.
16:45 So we've got a variety of things on board from that fisherman's friends to
16:51 the patches, and I think it's going to be a case of just seeing how we feel and
16:57 yeah, sort of figuring out how we manage our seasickness and
17:01 trying to keep food down as well and just keep hydrated throughout the row.
17:05 So yeah, I think hopefully after a couple of weeks it will go down though.
17:09 >> Yeah, of course, and I'm sure it won't be the only thing in your mind either.
17:11 You've got this kind of enormous challenge at hand and
17:15 you've been preparing since 2021 if I'm right.
17:17 What's that been like over the last two years?
17:19 >> It has been, I don't think we can all quite believe we're in here standing
17:27 sort of five days away from flying out to the start line now.
17:30 It's been a really fun long journey to sort of raise the money to get to
17:37 the start line, coming together as a crew, getting our boat as well,
17:42 training out of Exmouth all through the summer.
17:45 It's been a journey of complete highs and lows, and
17:50 I think we're all just sort of, yeah, really excited to get to the start line now.
17:54 Yeah, sort of, it's one of those things that was a dream and
17:59 now we're standing actually facing the reality of it, which is really exciting and
18:04 also mildly terrifying at the same time.
18:06 >> Well, I mean, it does sound absolutely exciting and
18:08 we'd love to follow you as the journey goes on as well.
18:11 You've got three others, Liz, Laura and Beth with you on this.
18:15 Talk to me about the group.
18:16 You've got to be quite close with each other.
18:18 And how did it come about?
18:19 How did you find each other?
18:20 >> So I've wanted to do this for quite a long time.
18:24 I worked at the London Boat Show in 2016 and saw a crew there.
18:29 So that's sort of when the seed was planted in my head that this is something
18:32 that people do, and then I have a friend who I know from
18:38 a company I used to work for who shared something online that Liz shared about
18:43 trying to get a crew together, and then so
18:47 that's how I met Liz on Instagram, as you do these days.
18:50 [LAUGH]
18:52 I put something out, and then Laura, I've known Laura for the last ten years.
18:57 We went to university together.
18:59 We rode together at university.
19:01 She sort of was like, you're going to do this with me, aren't you?
19:04 So I was like, yep, you're in.
19:06 And then Beth, we had another team member leave us in August last year.
19:12 And then Beth came in to the team who we'd all met before at Laura's brother's gym.
19:19 And sort of since then, we've been a formidable force, and
19:24 I think you could probably call us.
19:26 >> It really has been the kind of work of years of kind of this friendship and
19:29 also the preparedness for this particular challenge as well.
19:32 So I'm wondering about you personally.
19:34 You grew up here, or you went to school here in Kent.
19:37 Was the kind of, is that where the kind of adventurousness goes back?
19:41 When did you first start rowing?
19:42 >> So I first started rowing at university in Lancaster.
19:48 So I sort of drew a circle around Kent and
19:51 was like, I'm not going to university anywhere in this area.
19:53 [LAUGH]
19:54 And then after university, I worked for a flotilla company for
19:58 two years called Sailing Holidays.
20:00 So probably a little bit of adventurous spirit came from there.
20:05 And then I rowed with Maidstone and Invictor Rowing Club for a few years.
20:12 And then, yeah, sort of took a stopgap from that for a little while.
20:17 But I think in terms of the adventurous side,
20:20 I was in Air Cadets when I was at school as well.
20:22 So I think I've always had a bit of a taste for doing silly things a little bit.
20:27 But this is definitely the biggest and silliest thing that I've ever done.
20:30 >> Not silly at all.
20:31 >> Today, anyway.
20:33 >> Not silly, no, absolutely not.
20:34 It's known as the world's toughest row.
20:37 I've been reading up on it, and it's quite an extraordinary challenge.
20:41 Am I right in saying it can take anywhere between 29 to 74 days?
20:46 Do you know kind of whereabouts, how long it's going to take for you?
20:49 Why is it such a scale?
20:54 >> So you have fours, trios, pairs, and soloists doing it.
21:00 And then you've got men's, women's, and mixed groups of the pairs, trios, and fours.
21:07 So I think that's where the mixed sort of time frame for completing it comes from.
21:14 The average time for a women's crew is 44 days.
21:20 We are hoping to do it in under 40.
21:24 But if we don't do it in under 40 days, then we have said to ourselves that we want to have done ourselves justice
21:31 and know that we've left everything on the ocean, essentially, and get across as safely as possible,
21:38 be even better friends than we are now when we get to the end, and to have just really done ourselves proud.
21:46 But the goal is 40 days. But that is entirely weather dependent as well, because some years,
21:53 for example, 2017 was a record-breaking year for the men's and the women's fours.
21:58 Their average wind speed was 22 knots per hour going across the Atlantic,
22:03 whereas the average wind speed going across on a normal year is 12 knots an hour.
22:09 So it's completely weather dependent.
22:13 >> Absolutely. I mean, it's such a long time. And you take shifts as well.
22:16 I know you're going to be rowing nonstop through that time. I mean, how do you split that up?
22:23 >> So there are three rowing positions on the boat, but we'll only be using two of them at a time.
22:30 And we row for two hours on and then you have two hours off, which is continually.
22:35 So we'll be rowing for 12 hours a day. And it can be about 40 degrees in the cabins during the day.
22:43 So a lot of ex-rowers that we've spoken to say that sort of in the day, make sure you get your food in,
22:50 get your stretching in, do any boat maintenance, make your water during the day as well.
22:56 And then so that at the night shifts, when you come off the oars, you can literally just have a drink,
23:02 roll into bed and then set your alarm for an hour and 45 minutes later to then be able to get up,
23:08 just get back on the oars so that you get more rested at night than you do during the day.
23:13 >> And Kit, just before we wrap up here, you are doing this for the support of a few charities,
23:18 Macmillan Cancer Support, the Outward Bound Trust and Prostate Cymru.
23:23 Can you just tell me how you came to deciding that you would support these charities and what they mean to you?
23:28 >> Yeah, of course. So we've all got personal connections with the charities that we're representing or rowing for.
23:36 And I think we are just really proud and can hand on heart say that we are rowing for those charities.
23:44 They've all got a very special and close connection to us. So, yeah, we've all been influenced by them.
23:51 So, yeah, it's just sort of a, it's the things that are going, they're the thing that, doing it for the charities is the thing that's going to keep us going whilst we're sort of in the dark moments, remembering why we're doing this.
24:02 >> Well, Kit, you've got a massive challenge ahead of you. Best of luck to all four of you.
24:06 And hopefully we can catch up once it's done.
24:09 >> Yeah, absolutely. Thanks very much.
24:11 >> Thank you. Bye bye.
24:13 >> Really good to speak with Kit Windsor there. And of course, we wish her and all of the Ace of Blades team the very best of luck as they set off from Tenerife on the 12th of December.
24:22 Now, we've reached full time on today's episode, but there's just a few minutes of extra time to take a look at this week's Action Replay.
24:28 It's the segment where we take a look at clips and pictures that you, the KMTV audience, have sent in of you taking part in sport.
24:34 Let's see what we've got in store on this week's Action Replay with Tony Mizanaty-Cheetah.
24:39 >> Hello and welcome to Action Replay, where we take a look at the sports clips that you, the viewers, send us.
24:46 First, we head to Margate, where we have a clip of a goal being scored by the Canterie City High Street store at the McDonald's Run charity football event for the Ronald McDonald House charity.
24:57 Next, here we have from the University of Kent in Canterbury, hoping to join the UKC volleyball team,
25:04 a player who's rising up to the challenge to deliver a powerful strike to the opposing team during a training session between the UKC development team.
25:12 He is honing his skills and hoping one day he'll be able to represent UKC as a star player.
25:18 Finally, we take a look back at Ramsgate FC's thrilling 9-1 win over Phoenix Sports, with the number nine Joe Taylor finding the back of the net four times, making it 23 goals for the season so far.
25:31 Taylor is setting no targets for himself, but he is well on his way to beat his previous tally of 37 goals last season.
25:38 Well, that's it for this week's Action Replay.
25:40 Send in your pictures and videos on social media and it could be you in next week's edition of Action Replay.
25:48 Now don't forget, if you want to appear in next week's Action Replay, you absolutely can.
25:52 All you need to do is tag us on social media @kmtvkent or send us an email to sport@kmtv.co.uk.
26:00 Lots of submissions at the moment from those at the University of Kent, but it doesn't matter where you are or what it is you do.
26:07 Just tell us what that is and we'll get you in next week's episode of Action Replay.
26:11 Well, that is full time on today's episode of Invicta Sport.
26:15 If you want more from KMTV, then you can watch all of our other special programmes.
26:19 We've got the Kent Politics Show, Made in Kent, Kent on Climate and the Kent Film Club.
26:25 And you can watch those by visiting our website, kmtv.co.uk.
26:29 Now, I'll be back on Monday with another episode of Invicta Sport with more sport from across the county.
26:35 So make sure you get in touch with all your sporting stories.
26:38 If you think you deserve a spot here on the sofa, we'll get you involved.
26:42 But for me and the rest of the team here, goodbye.
26:44 [MUSIC]
26:54 [MUSIC]