DIRECTOR OF SPORT ANNOUNCEMENT
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Mr. Karrelle Dixon as the College’s new Director of Sport from April 2023. Karrelle has firsthand experience as a student athlete, having earned three degrees in Business, Sports Science (MSc) and Psychology, the latter of which was an MSc from the University of Oxford, whilst playing rugby professionally for London Wasps. During this time he also earned his Oxford Blue in Rugby, playing in the Varsity Match.
He was also capped for England Students in the Six Nations.
After Oxford and London Wasps, Karrelle went on to have a distinguished career in advertising at Wieden+Kennedy, where he led the Nike Business globally, expanding the agency-brand relationship into new markets like Brazil, Korea, and India. He has worked closely with elite athletes and organizations to inspire and enable sports participation around the world. Under his leadership as the Managing Director of W+K Portland the agency was ranked number one on Fast Company’s Most Innovative list for Advertising.
A few years ago, Karrelle took the decision to retire from this career to spend more time with his family and to train as a teacher through the Teach First programme. An experienced coach of Rugby, Football and Basketball, Karrelle will be joining us at the start of the Trinity Term from the Aim Academy North London (Enfield) where he teaches Mathematics and coordinates extracurricular activities. He will continue to teach some Mathematics alongside his primary role of masterminding and leading all sports at the College.
Karrelle comments: ‘I am excited to be joining the St Edmund’s community as Director of Sport as I look forward to building on the success of Mr Peter Kelly and the team of amazing staff/coaches, who have worked tirelessly to establish values and norms that continue to elevate the entire school experience for students of the college. Nelson Mandela once observed “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.” I am looking forward to the opportunity to combine my passions for Sport, Maths (Problem Solving) and holistic learning in an environment that focuses on the mind, body and spirit of the future generation.’
Sport
This section gives an overview of sport at the College. For fixture information and results please click here.
Sport is an integral part of our ethos at St Edmund’s College and we strive to engage all students to lay the foundations for a life that is healthy and active when they leave. Below is our vision for sport and the core values that underpin what we deliver. We aim to promote inclusive sport and physical activity by providing a diverse range of core sports as well as a varied Physical Education (PE) curriculum and extensive activities programme.
The PE department aims to promote and stimulate pupil interest and enjoyment in the subject and to promote health and fitness for current and future lifestyles.
St Edmund’s offers a choice of over 15 sports and a competitive fixture list in our main team sports.
Boys
- Rugby
- Football
- Cricket
- Athletics
- Tennis
Girls
- Hockey
- Netball
- Tennis
- Athletics
- Football
Within our vision for sport and physical activity, our primary focus is to continue to expand the competitive sports element in other sports including, basketball, badminton and looking ahead to girls cricket and rugby. All pupils do participate in the main team sports but as inclusivity is a big part of our vision, students are also exposed to a wide range of sports in the PE curriculum and Activities programme. These sports include swimming, lacrosse, table tennis, handball, cardiovascular fitness, physical development and strength and conditioning
Aspiring Athlete Programme
The Aspiring Athlete Programme was designed to give our most talented athletes across all year groups the opportunity to improve in their various sports. This is achieved through the utilisation of numerous strategies, including resistance training, aerobic and anaerobic conditioning, as well as information regarding nutrition, psychological strategies, recovery, injury prevention and rehabilitation for those returning from injury. Those students looking to excel in sport are provided this additional support to help them work towards their sporting goals.
Facilities
We have excellent sports facilities at school which include extensive playing fields, a full-sized Hockey Astro, swimming pool, and outdoor netball courts which are turned into tennis courts during the summer months. Most recently we have developed our Chapel pitch (below) which provides a picturesque setting for 1st XV rugby fixtures, 1st XI boys and girls football fixtures.
Our sports hall is regularly utilised for a range of activities including badminton, basketball, indoor cricket nets, short tennis and netball. We have an extensive cardiovascular suite which includes a range of rowing machines, exercise bikes, cross trainers and newly replaced treadmills. In the past year we have developed the St Edmund’s College Performance Gym, which has all new customised strength and conditioning gym equipment set in an environment which was designed and painted with motivational quotes and murals by two of our A level Art students and our Head of Art.
Throughout the year we transform the large field space, to accommodate our range of sports, including multiple rugby, football, cricket, and athletics track areas to facilitate our extensive sporting programme and fixture list. We also have outdoor astro cricketing nets, additional turf cricket nets and table tennis tables.