Sports Tours

Touring is part of a Dragon's make-up. The school has toured in various countries in recent years and there is often more to a sports tour than just playing matches.

In July 2004 Dragon boys and girls flew to Rio de Janeiro to play soccer, netball, volleyball and even cricket. It also involved a variety of cultural exchanges with the children of the Favelas and there are exciting developments for the school's charitable work that have emerged as a result of the tour.

In July 2005, the Boys 1st XI cricket squad visited Sri Lanka for the first time. As well as the games, the party took in the sights of the tsunami-hit areas such as Galle. In the same month the girls 1st XI hockey squad toured South Africa for the first time to participate in an international tournament in which they came 2nd. They played their matches in the Western Cape but then travelled north to stay in a Game Reserve to end the tour. Whilst it was new for the girls to travel so far for a tour, it has become a tradition for Dragon rugby teams to visit South Africa, and we tend to go once every four or five years. 22 boys headed off for a pre-season tour in August 2006 which was excellent preparation for the season ahead. They won four of their six matches and came back better and hardened players.

Easter 2007 saw the netball team head off to Malta and a year later a group of 34 children ventured to Majorca for some pre-season tennis and athletics training, a trip that will be repeated in 2009. Running at the same time as this will be the tour for the 1st XI cricket squad to South Africa, again based around the Western Cape.

Not all the tours are to such far flung destinations with the girls hockey squad, for instance, benefiting from an early season trip to Norfolk to play Greham's School. Other similar trips are being planned for other sports.