SSP NEWS

Open Night

It was great to see about 85 families gather at Western Heights College for the SSP Open Night on Wednesday night. The prospective families gained a deeper insight into what our SSP entails, with talks on each of our programs running from 6-8pm. 

Thank you to all the staff involved in the night - we look forward to seeing these prospective students at our trials throughout the year. Anyone that's seeking further information about the SSP and missed out on yesterday's event can contact Susie Robinson or Cate Johnson.

Netball

Welcome back everyone to a busy and jam-packed Term 2 in the Specialist Netball Program. We have hit the ground running, heading straight into defensive court structures which forms part of our early assessments of understanding a concept, and ability to explain and apply on court in match play along with Player Tracking and Performance Analysis. Term 2 will have a strong focus on Specialist Area skills and court craft. Student athletes will group in these regular sessions to develop, consolidate and implement skill strategy, application, and assessment relevant to their position.

We have a majority of our netball students currently training and playing with representative sides that will come together for Netball Victoria’s Association Championships in May. These championships are one of the major Netball Victoria Pathways events where Talent Academy Programs are selected, leading into Victorian State squads and teams. It has been great to view the Junior, Intermediate and Senior students participating in the Barwon Junior Netball Competition on Monday nights as they prepare for Association Champs.

Term 2 will also see the commencement of junior SSV netball carnivals with trials happening and teams selected which all players are pumped about. In a busy term where student-athletes are managing multiple commitments outside of school including club, associations and other Flyers commitments, we have had important discussions around load management, listening to your body and recovery. We are so fortunate to have an extremely talented and competent S&C, wellbeing and medical team to help educate, navigate and support our students. Mid-term, we will focus more on the education of athlete management.

Stacey, Ainsley, myself and Cate have been out in the community over the past few weeks exposing and promoting the Specialist Netball Program and we held our open night on Wednesday which had a great response. Potential student athletes for 2024 from both a Year 7 intake and Years 8-12 will have the opportunity to trial for the select entry Specialist Netball Program. For more information on the Netball Program please contact me or Cate Johnson.

Have a great week!

Susan Meaney, Director of Netball

Basketball

Basketball students have started the term well - they have all come back eager and keen which has been fantastic. We had a number of families come to our Open Night which is exciting for the program and continued growth of the school. This term we have welcomed back Aimie Rocci, it's fantastic to have her back after the WNBL season and she has already come in with great sessions and ideas for the program. 

Over the holidays we had some stduents play in NBL 3x3 Hustle Nationals held in Ballarat. Ragge Abeil, David Costea and Tyrese Kuridu played extremely well making the semi-finals. 

Kaleb Sclater, Co-Director of Basketball