- Adrian Pettigrew was born on 12th November,
1986 in London. He attended St. Matthias Primary School in Hackney
and he arrived at Raine's Foundation School in 1998, following
in the footsteps of his sister Joanne (currently studying at
University) and brother Richard (currently at Sixth Form College).
He had not competed in any sports before coming to Raine's Foundation
School but, encouraged by his Physical Education teacher Sean
Reed, broke into the sporting field as no other pupil has ever
done, nor probably will ever do.
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- Raine's Foundation School has always had
a strong reputation for basketball and by the end of his first
year at school, Adrian's school team were unbeaten in the Borough
championships and had won the Regional championships. In his
second year (1999-2000), he also became active in basketball
outside the school and joined the East London Royals Basketball
Club. He led the East London Royals team to the English Passerelle
National Basketball Championship title beating Manchester in
the final. Adrian scored the winning basket with the team winning
by one point! It was on the strength of this performance, in
that game, that Adrian was selected as a member of the Tournament
All-Star Five, voted for by the competing coaches. As a result
of this, he was selected for the U14 England basketball team
playing its first competition in Andorra against Spain, Andorra,
Switzerland and France. The following year he played for the
Raine's Foundation School U16 team in 2000-2001, alongside his
brother Richard and against a team that were almost 2 years his
senior. Here, he helped Raine's Foundation School to win the
English Schools National Basketball Championship title, beating
Bluecoat Boys School of Liverpool in the final. In 2001-2002,
he continued to represent England as part of the U16 England
Cadet team, winning a tournament in France and receiving the
"Most Valuable Player Award". He would certainly have
continued to play for the England National Basketball Cadet team
in the 4 Countries tournament in basketball last season but it
was at that stage he chose to concentrate on football. However,
Adrian has continued to play for the East London Royals Basketball
Club Team, which has maintained its record of winning the National
Club Championships every year that he has competed.
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Adrian Pettigrew -
has represented England in Basketball, Football and holds a British
Athletic record
A high resolution
version of this graph can be downloaded from:
http://www.DavidASpencer.com/rainesfoundation/images/adrianpettigrew.jpg
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- Humphrey Long, the East London Royal's Coach,
describes Adrian as an outstanding talent:
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- "Adrian is a precocious talent who
has already achieved a high level of success in basketball. He
is a very personable young man, one who has not allowed success
to spoil him."
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- This year, Adrian has decided to concentrate
his winter season efforts on football rather than basketball.
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- As with basketball, his football career also
began at Raine's Foundation School and his talent was spotted
very early. In 1999, he was signed for the Chelsea Academy (which
includes the U9-U16 age groups) after also receiving offers from
Charlton Athletic and Arsenal. He currently trains with the Chelsea
Academy four times a week, playing centre-half. When Adrian was
only 14 in 2000, he was selected to play in the England U16 football
team and competed in his first International competition against
Northern Ireland, Spain, Scotland and Israel. The England U16
team also won the Victory Shield competition, beating the home
countries of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Adrian played
in further competitions such as the Walkers Tournament (against
Germany, Holland and Spain), the Ballamina Competition in Northern
Ireland (against the USA, Israel, Wales, Scotland, Norway, Belgium
and Northern Ireland) and in the Nordics Competition, where again,
England won the competition against Sweden, Denmark, Norway,
the Faros Islands, Finland and Iceland. Currently, Adrian is
15 but playing for the England U17 football team.
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- Adrian's third sporting accomplishment is
in athletics. In his first year at Raine's school (1998-1999),
Adrian high jumped an astonishing 1.70m a British record
for his age group. He was the London Athletic Champion
in hurdles, high jump and as part of the 4 x 100m relay team.
Further high jump successes continued the next year with a 1.75m
at the Borough championships and, then, 1.82m in 2000 breaking
the British record high jump for the second consecutive year
in his age group. He also led the national rankings in hurdles,
winning the London Championships again. He was selected to represent
London in two events at the England Schools National Championships
and he ran the 80m hurdles, finishing in an astonishing 11.4
seconds, equalling the national record. His all round athletic
nature is apparent in his participation in a regional pentathlon
where he won both an individual title and was part of the winning
team.
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- Adrian's is also finding time to study at
Raine's Foundation School and he is registered for 11 GCSE examinations
and is expecting passes in the A-C range.
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- In 2001, Adrian was one of the ten finalists
in the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in a competition
that attracted 600 nominations. His exceptional sporting achievements
to date have been rewarded by an appearance on Blue Peter with
the England football team.
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- So what is the future for Adrian? A quiet,
talented and unquestionably driven sportsman, he hopes that football
will be his future:
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- "I hope I can make it as a professional
footballer Arsenal appeals, I don't support Chelsea!"
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- Although Raine's Foundation School has produced
many outstanding sports stars in basketball, athletics, cricket
and football, for example, there has never been one who has achieved
national levels of recognition in three fields.
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- Adrian Pettigrew is a name to watch out for.
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