I am very proud of Cranleigh’s ongoing sports journey. Our primary goal is to give every pupil a desire to have a lifelong involvement in sport because of the positive experiences and enjoyable memories they gained at school.
We place a huge emphasis on enthusiastic and skilful coaching, a variety of sporting options, challenging and engaging sessions as well as wonderful facilities and regular competitive matches for all our pupils.
Over the last 10 years, we have won numerous national titles across several sports as well as produced a vast number of international and professional sportsmen and women. What makes me proud is that we have achieved this without ever forgetting that school sport should, and always will be, for all pupils and something that is meant to be great fun.
Sport at Cranleigh is a truly co-ed programme with shared expertise across all our sports. It is designed to cater for all abilities with a clear focus on the physical and mental well-being of the pupils. We don’t have major and minor sports but all our sports work together under one Cranleigh Sport umbrella. The desire is that every pupil has a go, gives their very best and has the same opportunities to reach their sporting potential.
Sporting Programme
Every pupil will be involved in our sports programme throughout their time at Cranleigh. All pupils will have a structured sport session four times a week with fixtures across all of our sports at the weekend. We play regular block fixtures on Saturday afternoons as well as entering National cups and tournaments in a variety of sports across all three terms.
We offer a wide range of sports that allow pupil choice. We are proudly a co-educational community and this is represented by the vast number of sports that boys and girls can participate in together. New sporting offerings continue to be added to our programme, including a new initiative called ‘CranFit’ which incorporates a mixture of aerobics, high-intensity Interval training and yoga.
Coaching
All our academic staff are involved in sports coaching across all three terms. This creates a wonderful atmosphere both in and outside of the classroom. Each sport has a Head or Director of that sport whose responsibility it is to develop their programme to give the pupils the best experiences.
We are fortunate to have a number of coaches who are highly regarded within their field. Their wealth of experience in developing international players, national winning sides and developing a fully engaging programme for all pupils is truly outstanding.
We are also fortunate to have some external professional coaches who help deliver our programme in certain sports. This can be seen within all our sports including our Dance programme. The majority of external staff will be focused on delivering high quality sessions for the junior C & D sides to ensure that we achieve our aim for all pupils to receive high quality coaching.
Facilities
We are fortunate to have a range of outstanding sports facilities including: two strength and conditioning centres; 12 grass football and rugby pitches; four Astro turfs; six Eton Fives courts; five cricket squares; 28 tennis courts; a double sports centre with two indoor netball courts; indoor cricket nets; a cricket-specific outdoor all-year-round bubble; 16 badminton courts; a 9-hole golf course; an equestrian centre; a dance studio; and an indoor swimming pool as well as plans for developing the sports centre to include four squash courts and a new S & C centre.
High-Performance programme
Our high-performance programme revolves around developing opportunities for pupils to achieve their sporting potential and goals. This programme includes co-ed Strength & Conditioning provision, weekly lectures and workshops on areas such as sport psychology and nutrition. There are also voluntary additional skill sessions (cross-age groups) and some individual mentoring with the Directors of Sport as well as cross-sport pupil-led mentoring.
Recent National Titles
| U16 Girls Indoor Hockey National Champions (2016, 2019 & 2020) | U18 Girls Indoor Hockey National Champions (2018) |
| U16 Girls Hockey National Champions (2013, 2014 & 2016) | U18 Boys Hockey National Champions (2011) |
| U16 Boys Hockey National Champions (2010) | U15 National Cricket Cup (2014) |
| 1st XV Daily Mail U18 Rugby Cup Winners (2019/20) | U18 National Rugby Rosslyn Park Sevens Cup winners (2016 and 2017) |
| National Schools Equestrian Association National Champions over 20 times, including four Open and Advanced Open titles in 2019 |
Recent Full Internationals
| Stuart Meaker (England Cricket) | Ollie Pope (England Cricket) |
| Seren Waters (Kenya Cricket) | Duncan Allan (Kenya Cricket) |
| Sam Arnold (Ireland Rugby) | Will Collier (England Rugby) |
| Izzy Petter (England & Great Britain Hockey) | Will Calnan (England & Great Britain Hockey) |
| James Gall (England & Great Britain Hockey) | Charlotte Calnan (England & Great Britain Hockey) |
| Jolyon Palmer (Formula One driver) | Kristy Vitek (Czech Republic Show Jumping) |
| Josh Moore (England Dressage) |
Director of Sport
E-mail: Mr A R HoustonBSc, GTP
Mr Andrew Houston is Director of Sport, having joined Cranleigh in 2009 as Director of Rugby. He teaches both Physical Education and Psychology at A Level. He is also a tutor for East.
Mr Houston studied sport science and social sciences at Loughborough University and, along with a successful rugby career has also been coaching high-performing rugby teams since the age of 20.