Eaton Fives(?), the truth is, that until a year ago, Eaton School in Norwich were not sure. They had to send a description of their courts to a Sports Historian in order to find out what these peculiar courts were. The historian informed them that it was a game called Eton Fives, and sent a copy of the rules. Keen to try this game out for themselves, the rules were read, but, too confusing to understand, disregarded and new ones invented. Using cricket gloves and a tennis ball, a lady on the staff ran 'Fives' as an activity sport for one week, and was amazed by the keen response shown by the pupils. The experiment, having been a success, the game was then forgotten about for another year, since there was no apparent'next step'.

The next step happened without Eaton's knowledge. They were discovered! Pauli Markkanen (Old Olavian) told a friend at work that he was travelling back to London to play Fives over the weekend. It turned out that this friend had Fives Courts at school. He was at Eaton School. Norwich! Pauli gave me a call to inform me of what he had stumbled upon. One week later, I was in Norwich, having been welcomed with open arms by the Headmaster, and entire Games Staff. It was a Fives Coach's dream! Two beautiful courts in the centre of the school, with huge numbers of pupils drifting past between each school lesson. Across the day, a whole mix of girls and boys had been programmed to come out of lessons to have a go at Fives. From 10am to 5.30pm, the courts were teeming with life. Class sizes ranged from twelve to thirty pupils! It was a busy day: one's sole objective to make sure that everyone enjoyed themselves. The EFA had donated gloves and balls for the school to keep, and just the appearance of 'special equipment' caused a buzz of excitement. Some girls in particular responded so enthusiastically to the game, that the Games Staff were quite amazed - 'we thought Rachel hated sports!'

Never before have I seen so many sprawling limbs, flung with such enthusiasm, and accompanied with so many grins and smiles. The Caretaker was kept very busy, having to climb onto the roofs behind the courts each hour in order to retrieve all the balls which had found their resting place there. At lunch time, there must have been between one and two hundred school children standing and watching at any given moment. Christopher Cooley, who will be the Fives coach from September 1997, had the oriviledae of witnessing similar scenes for a whole week at the end of their Summer Term, for he travelled to NorWich to help in an activity week for Fives which was part of the recruitment drive for subscription to lessons starting next term.

The school aims to play the Leys, and Ipswich School, 'home' and 'away', and to travel to the big centres in or around London, to play 'multiple' matches across a day at a time. In this way, they can involve large numbers from their Fives Team, whilst keeping the cost of travel to a minimum. The Schools' National Championships will be the ultimate 'carrot' for the Eaton Eton Fives team members.

H.M.E.W.

Eaton School Courts at Norwich by Howard Wiseman
Created 4th June 2003
efa@etonfives.co.uk

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