Yesterday, six months after kicking off the 2024-25 Hans Woyda season with our annual friendly against SPGS, we were at long last on our way to the final. There was a palpable tension around the school site and an unmistakable atmosphere of excitement and anticipation, making it abundantly clear that the entire school had their minds on that afternoon’s Mathematics fixture. As I set off for the match with Yidong (4 th ), Shyamak (6 th ), Adavya (L8 th ), and Eason (U8 th ), accompanied by Dr Stoyanov for moral support and intimidation, pupils and staff had even gathered by the towpath to wish them well; unfortunately, they all seemed to be facing the wrong direction, but it was touching nevertheless. We made our way to the City of London School (which offered its services as neutral territory for the final), discussing tactics on the tube and working through a set of warm-up questions. We met the King’s College School Wimbledon side in the lobby as we arrived, and based on previou...
I had been watching the girls’ school’s results so far with growing unease; while the nature of the competition makes it difficult to compare scores between matches, I couldn’t help but notice that they had beaten our totals in the last two rounds, and I had not forgotten the speed and accuracy on display from their squad in the mixed friendly we hosted back in September. However, there was no doubt in my mind that if anyone could give them a run for their money, it was Yidong (4 th ), Shyamak (6 th ), Adavya (L8 th ) and Eason (U8 th ). One thing was certain; it would be a thrilling match. Both teams started strong on the starter questions, but an early mistake from SPGS gave us a 2 point lead after the first four. I started to imagine that lead snowballing into an insurmountable gap, but in a sign of things to come, a slip on our side in the remaining questions brought the two teams back level. Up next was the geometry section, all of which concerned overlapping isosceles trian...