SSP NEWS

Soccer

What a phenomenal week it has been for the Soccer program.

The Year 7 boys have advanced to the next round of the SSV tournament after a dominant performance against North Geelong SC 7-0, Oberon College 14-0, Belmont High 16-0 and easily dismantling North Geelong SC again in the final 6-0.

The Year 8 boys had an equally impressive day out on Thursday winning the SSV tournament with wins over North Geelong SC 11-0, Oberon High 8-0, Lara SC 20-0 and cruising home in the final beating Northern Bay College 13-0.

The week ended with our U/15 boys progressing through to the 3rd round of the National Bill Turner Cup with a comprehensive 4-1 win over the highly-rated Keilor Downs SC. The Girls U/15 were super impressive in their game against Overnewton College but narrowly lost 1-0 after dominating the majority of the game.

The boys and girls represented Western Heights College with great spirit, competitiveness, and passion. They were humble in the wins and so gracious in defeat. 

These are truly exciting times to be a part of the SSP Soccer program and the future is really looking bright!

Joey Didulica, Director of Soccer

Netball

Last week was a great opportunity for our junior Netball players to put all their training into action in the School Sports Victoria Netball Competition. On Tuesday 23 May, we had two Year 8 teams competing. Team A won their first game against Belmont High School and their second game against Oberon High School to make the Semi-Final. In the Semi-Final, Team A went down by 1 goal with only seconds remaining. Team B made it through to the Grand Final after defeating Northern Bay College, Matthew Flinders Secondary College and Lara Secondary College and ended up going down to Oberon High School. A special thank you to Ella Cook and Zoe Drake-Brockman for coaching Team B and to Jack for scoring, as well as his strength and conditioning expertise in warm up and taking a post stretching session.

On Thursday 25 May, it was the Year 7 students' turn to compete in the School Sports Victoria Netball Competition. The Year 7 team had wins against Northern Bay College, Bannockburn College and Bellarine Secondary College and finally against Oberon High School in the Grand Final to progress to the Western Region Competition. Thank you very much to Lauren Marino for assistant coaching and to Alex for scoring.

Our on-court focus for the Junior group has been on match-day preparation including what to do pre-game, meetings, warm up, feedback during breaks, match roles and post-game. The Intermediate/Senior group have been continuing to work in their specialist areas and on attacking and defending. In education, the player athletes have been working on the ‘Ideal Team Player’, traits and self-assessments.

A friendly reminder that we have upcoming selections for those boys and girls wanting to trial for the Specialist Netball Program for 2024 for Years 8-12 on Monday 5 June. Any player interested will need to register via the Western Heights Specialist Sports Program website.

Have a great week!

Stacey Dodds, Netball Head Coach

AFL

The Year 7 boys took on the SSV interschool sport competition last Thursday. They competed well all day in trying conditions and represented the school and its football program to the highest order. They played a team-first, effort and intensity-based game and proved too strong over their opposition in each game they played. 

Earlier, on Tuesday, the Year 8 boys also had an undefeated outing at the SSV competition. They finished the day with a narrow finals victory vs Belmont HS. Unfortunately, two of our players, Tom and Deegan, sustained serious injuries on the day - we'd like to wish them all the best for a speedy recovery.

It was great to see the enjoyment they got from playing with their mates and we look forward to watching both teams develop in the coming weeks as we get ready for the Western Metro Region and for the years to come.

SSV team announcements

Congratulations to Ziva Shawcross, Taya Delaney, Jack Thompson, Meyah Fursland and Bonnie Brown for their selection in the AFL Vic Team, 15 Years and Under Girls & Boys teams. 

They will represent SSV at the School Sport Australia Championships to be held at Ballarat from Saturday 22 July – Saturday 29 July.

Basketball

"Josh (Giddey) learned the fundamentals of the game and then his decision making, that’s what has helped him get to the NBA.”

“In basketball everyone plays a role, you don’t have to score, I made a career out of cleaning up the mess, rebounds, block outs and defence.”

If you want to be the best, you need to learn from the best. This week our SSP Basketball athletes were lucky enough to have 449 game NBL and Melbourne Tigers legend Warrick Wazza Giddey come down and work with them on footwork, fundamentals and decision making. 

The students had a blast - he left some words of wisdom that will stand out. We can’t thank Wazza enough and look forward to having him back again!