Sport News
CDF Sport Awards
Last Friday, I had the pleasure of attending the CDF Sports Awards at St Mary’s Star of the Sea College. It was so great to see both secondary and primary schools across the Diocese come together to be commended on their sporting success this year. We had 6 students who were nominated for awards on the night. Congratulations to these students and thank you to Breanna Creswell and Finn Carson who spoke at the awards on the night.
Lewis Mercieca - Secondary Blue Award
2024 Sport Awards
U16's Mixed Touch Football
It was positive signs from the start of the day that St Joseph’s was going to do well, as we arrived first and secured the undercover area in front of the field we were playing on. We were at Croom Road, Albion Park, for the NRL Under 16s Mixed Touch Football Gala Day.
Game 1 saw us face a strong Lake Illawarra side and we found our feet straight away and scored first. Which was advantageous as the scoring was 3 points for the first try of the game and 2 points for subsequent tries. We ended up winning 5 to 2.
Games 2 and 3 we were equally impressive, winning both games and only having one defensive error that let a try in. We topped our pool which meant we faced Holy Spirit in the Grand Final.
The teams were evenly matched at the start, but soon after, Holy Spirit College scored first with a solo try by a student with lightning fast feet and blistering pace. St Joseph's responded with a try, but were outmatched on the day, losing 4 tries to 1.
The players voted both Emily Hollingsworth and Jacob Pollard the MVP's of the tournament. With only one MVP ball to allocate, Emily kindly passed it on to Jacob to be the recipient.
A great day was had by all and I thoroughly enjoyed coaching this time.
Dance Company - Illuminate 2024
This week the St Joseph's Dance Company were selected to perform in Illuminate 2024. This performance was a culmination of Diocese High schools coming together to perform their best music, dance, drama and Visual Arts projects from this year. It was such a great show and the girls in the Dance Company were phenomenal getting the show dancing in their seats to ‘Let’s Get Loud’. Congratulations goes to Georgia MacDonald, Alyssa Shepherd, Bella Brennan and Myah Bramsdet.
Elite/Aspiring Athlete Program - Day 1 -
This week commenced the start of our first program day for the 2024/25 Aspiring/Elite Athlete Program. The day commenced in the library where students were inspired by a short video of Ellie Cole’s journey through injury, school and Olympics. They then did some reflection on what it takes to be ‘elite’ and worked through developing their own SMART goals for the upcoming months. We are lucky enough to be the first school in NSW to be working with the NSW Office of Sport on two programs which will aim to improve mental health and resilience of these athletes as well as developing themselves as a holistic athlete (not just the physical component).
We then jumped on the bus and headed into Bai Med Performance Centre to commence the baseline testing. Students completed a range of tests including, strength, range of movement/flexibility, power and cardiovascular endurance by completing the Yo-Yo test. Once they had completed their testing in year groups, they then moved into sport specific groups to go through a gym program. It was great to see them out of their comfort zone, encouraging each other and pushing to do their best. They finished the day with some reflection on their testing results to highlight some weaknesses and added these into their goals. They will head back to Bai Med in Term 3 to complete their post testing to see the improvements they have made over the 12 months in this program.
A massive thank you to Dylan Hoogendoorn who attended to take photos of our crew. We really appreciate your work.
Student Sporting Success
Jayden Mare
At the indoor hockey state champs this past weekend Jayden competed in the division 1 comp for Illawarra South Coast 1's team and won the state champs 1st division. Jayden has also made the New South Wales shadow squad. Congratulations Jayden.
Te Ari'i Aperau Bob
Te Ari'i competed in the SESA Swim Championships in Corrimal over the weekend 16-17th Nov, where he placed 1st in all his events. He is also the 'New Record Holder' for 14yr Boys - 50m Backstroke, 30.49sec [previous record 31.23sec 05/02/2022]. Next month, in December from 06/12 - 14/12/24 he will be competing in all the Backstroke events at the NSW Senior State Age Championships, held at Sydney Olympic Park. This being his 3rd State Championships he's attended. Congratulations Te Ari’i what a sensational effort.
