Sport News

Grit

I came across a book recently, it was mentioned in another book I was reading about coaching, called Grit by Angela Duckworth. I found the book really engaging and took a lot out of it as a coach and a teacher. The key message was that effort was the best indicator of future success, much more reliable than natural talent. It is not for me to determine the reliability of the argument but I certainly took something away from it. 

Grit is the combination of passion and perseverance. Through years of research, Duckworth found grit to be a stronger predictor of high achievement than intelligence, talent and other personality traits. 

Grit is the combination of passion (a deep, enduring knowledge of what you want) and perseverance (hard work and resilience). It’s about moving in a direction with consistency and endurance, like having a clear inner compass that guides all your decisions and actions. There is a grit scale where you can measure yourself at https://angeladuckworth.com/grit-scale/. It is certainly enlightening.

I considered my own sporting experience when I was reading the book. I had always wondered why I was a pretty good football goalkeeper but quite (very) average at all other sports I tried. Reflecting on my journey as a boy into being a young man, football consumed my almost every waking minute, if I wasn't training or playing, I was playing with my mates after school, lunchtimes, and holidays. I was watching it, reading about it, and subconsciously studying my favourite goalkeepers. In summary, I dedicated myself every day (subconsciously) to improve by working on my craft consistently over a long period of time. I took ownership of my improvement through effort, though as it was my passion it never felt like work. That is why I was a decent keeper and a pretty ordinary golfer, cricketer, rugby player, tennis player. It was not natural talent for me, it was dedication and commitment to improve. This was grit in action. 

Many of our boys here at Marist will be on a similar journey, working hard to improve themselves as cricketers, rugby players, sprinters, and so on, some will naturally be talented and succeed despite their effort levels. I wonder how many boys could look at their own commitment levels to improvement and see room for improvement? I call this the mirror test. At the end of the day, the person we are most accountable to is the person staring back at us in the mirror. 

 Wet Weather

I posted a similar message to this on the College App last Friday to try and explain the situation with the fields. There was more detail about the specific round, but the message will likely be the same for the near future. It seems to be unending at the moment:

It has been a truly unprecedented year for rain so far in 2022. We have had 94 days of rain and already more than the annual average for Brisbane. In my 20 years in school sport I have never seen anything like it. 

Our fields have been affected by this. The issue is that the combination of no sun or wind to use evaporation and the extremely high water content in the ground stopping drainage through the soil means that the water is just sitting on most of our fields. With no stability in the surface it makes them unsafe. This will be difficult to comprehend as they look amazing from the road but everyone who has walked the fields cannot believe just how wet they are.

It is our absolute desire and priority to get the boys playing. It has been another disrupted year, much like the last three, and we sympathise that the boys are not getting the sports experience they and we want. 

I apologise to all boys and families who are missing out on sport. We know sport is a strong connection point for boys at school, we all miss it when we cannot play. The ground staff and the sports department are doing everything we can to get training and games on. What we need is a week of sunshine, wind and warmer weather to dry out the fields.

Round 5 Draws v Iona

Rugby Union Draw - Round 5 v Iona

Football Draw - Round 5 v Iona

Rugby Union

Another disrupted week this week. Coaches have been given the opportunity to be creative and use spaces to train or use the gym. They will contact their team directly with these opportunities, but in reality, with 70 football and rugby teams, it is really challenging to do much off-field. We have Iona this weekend at Iona for Reconciliation Round. As a school with a healthy Indigenous population, this will be significant for Marist this Saturday. 

Last Saturday saw Marist play Padua. After a week of juggling fixtures, moving games and trying to prepare fields, due to the big wet, only the 1st XV match was able to be played. Due to the game itself was a throwback to the old days, many of the boys would not have played in conditions like these before. It was a great game of rugby and the ball-handling and mentality from both teams was really impressive considering the conditions. The Marist boys were able to secure a good win in front of the Old Boys in the Cyprian, the boarding parents under the marquee and our Indigenous community, who led a wonderful Welcome to Country and acknowledgement of reconciliation ceremony through dance, which was widely appreciated by the community. Thank you to Melissa Orcher for her tireless efforts for what was an inspiring celebration of our Indigenous community here at Marist.

1st XV

Despite the relentless rain over the past fortnight forcing the 1st XV to train in unorthodox ways during the week, the boys and coaching staff were confident in their preparation coming into Round 4 against Padua College at McMahon Oval for Super Reunion Day. Stakes were high for both teams in the wet tussle, with Marist hungry to put a strong performance together at home. This hunger was evident right from the kick-off, where the Ashgrove boys connected well to build pressure in their attacking territory, forcing errors that resulted in a crack in the Padua defence, capitalised on by quick thinking from Harry Condon and Patrick Tierney, identifying space on the short side to throw a cut-out pass to debutant winger Cody O'May, resulting in a try out wide from his first touch at 1st XV level. After defending their own territory from a retaliating Padua team, Ashgrove was rewarded once more with a converted try after fly-half Patrick Tierney split the brown jerseys with an intercept to run 90 metres and score in front of the Old Boys. Another intercept by a Padua forward from a set-piece formation close to the Ashgrove line closed the gap between the two sides with Marist leading 12-5 at halftime.

The second half saw the Ashgrove boys come out firing once more, with hard work from forwards Nick Gullo, Tom Weaver and Toby Anderson creating opportunities for the outside men to take advantage of. Frustration began to creep into Padua's game, resulting in two yellow cards to the visiting side. Relentless attack from the Ashgrove boys found the home team choosing to maul off the back of a penalty, with open-side flanker Jack Billing crossing the paint for his second try of the season. Direct attack and a strong carry by no.13 Tasman Barry saw him pick up his centre counterpart Dan Witt on an offload, scoring under the posts to extend the lead to the final score to 26 - 5.

Football

"Magic Round" came to the AIC with all four football matches played at the one venue for the first time in AIC history. Football is a sport that requires a flat, reasonably dry surface. The main reason is if the ball cannot roll then we have a significant safety concern with multiple players hacking at the ball, causing serious injury. With thanks to St Laurence's College, we transferred all four matches to their full-sized synthetic field at the college. Marist versus Padua was first on the day, with the boys playing their best football of the season at times to secure a 2-2 draw. 

This Saturday sees us travel to Iona for the senior matches with the junior teams at home here at Ashgrove. Once again the weather will play havoc with training and potentially matches. Coaches have been given the opportunity to be creative and use spaces to train or use the gym. They will contact their team directly with these opportunities, but in reality, with 70 football and rugby teams it is really challenging to do much off-field. Iona and ourselves have already been discussing alternative arrangements in case we need to, to try and get as many games on as we can.

1st XI

Saturday’s game against Padua saw two sides desperate for a win to revive their season. Coming off a disappointing loss against St Edmunds, the boys were eager to take on rivals for a much needed 3 points. With uncertainty around whether the game was going to go ahead, the boys didn’t want to lose another round of football to rain. Thankfully, a late change of venue resulted in all 1stXI football teams playing at St Laurence’s synthetic field. 

The deadlock was broken midway through the first half due to a Riley Keen tap-in from a Ryan Oostenbroek free-kick, putting Marist 1-0 up. A resilient Padua side never fell away and were able to pull one back on the stroke of half-time from a corner, ending an evenly matched half 1-1. The second half saw a more dominant display from Marist, with many set-piece chances falling our way. A good corner ball in from Harry Lee found the head of Riley Keen which won Marist a crucial penalty from a handball, to potentially put us ahead. Ryan Oostenbroek stepped up and finished a cool penalty which saw Marist take the lead for the second time, 2-1. Again, Padua were able to claw one back from another set-piece, putting them back in the game. A solid defensive effort and a crucial 1 on 1 save from Michael Hayter kept us in the game, however, our dominant second-half display was not enough with an offside goal by Flynn Wiseman preventing Marist from taking the lead again. A fast-paced, high-intensity game resulted in an eventual 2-2 draw, which proved disappointing in a game that could have easily gone Marist’s way.

Golf - Mr Marcus Schrader

The AIC Golf Championships are a chance for students who love their golf to compete against many like-minded students from the other AIC schools. Nudgee Golf Club was saturated with both rain and nervous golfers who were keen to compete against the best of the best the AIC has to offer. Robert Power was our #1 and teed off first with the eventual gross winner – shooting 74 and +6 for the day in trying conditions. Joey Ikin was our #2 and impressed with 34 Stableford points, as he shape shots around the course. With their tee times falling in the later wave of the day Thomas Williams, Jackson Williams and William Nickelson got to work on the practice range, working of moving the ball left and right. They were rewarded as they shot 96, 87 and 89 respectively off the stick. Marist College Ashgrove finished 4th on the day with strong performances from many players on the hostile and water-logged golf course. 

We thank our outgoing Year 12 students who have served our golf program with honour and look forward to the many boys at Marist College Ashgrove who will nominate in years to come. 

Track and Field- Mr Derek Lennon

It is great to see more boys getting down to training already. This shows the true Marist spirit of commitment and dedication and a clear display of grit from the boys. This will augur well for our tilt at the 2022 AIC Track and Field Championships. Despite the rain, we still have had a core group of boys consistently training which is really good to see.

All boys who are interested in Track and Field are encouraged to start attending pre-season training sessions on Sunday afternoons 3:15pm-4:45pm at Jack Eales Oval.

A reminder to all boys that track and field preparation most definitely can be done alongside a Term 3 sport. Individual training programs can be organised to make sure boys get the best out of both activities. 

Quote for the week - time to work hard - “Grind now. Greatness later.” – Anonymous

Tennis - Mr Andrew Ward

AIC Season Begins

Week 6 sees us begin AIC Trials for all Years 5-10 and although having the first two sessions washed out due to rain we are optimistic that we will get some sort of tennis in this week. The forecast though is not looking good but if we all say a prayer for the rain to stop we may have some divine intervention and see the weather clear up. We can always stay positive which is a good outlook on life no matter how bad things get.

Last week we had a trial against Villanova College with our trial squad of 1st and 2nd Opens players played in fantastic spirits with our stand-in captain, Blake Harold, welcoming our opponents with a short speech. The mood amongst the boys and the coaches for this hit out was fantastic until we see each other again in Round 3. Matches were very close across the afternoon and our boys got some much-needed match play which will do them well for the oncoming season. 

Big shout out to Mrs Ward for cooking up the BBQ for which all there were very thankful.  Best Hamburger ever some boys told me and I would have to agree.

Reminder for all boys wishing to play AIC this year to please sign on for tennis via the portal. Boys need to attend as many trials as possible especially if the coaches are not familiar with your game and we need time to assess you.

Good luck to all boys trialling and we look forward to seeing you at trials.

Marist Opens Singles Championships

Any boys wishing to try their luck in this year’s tournament please send your name to MCATennis@marash.qld.edu.au to register. This will be held over 2 consecutive Fridays 3:30am-7:30pm the 10 and 17 June and food will be supplied. All Finals will be held Saturday 18 June starting 8:00am and concluding after the Final. All trophies and prizes will be awarded at the conclusion of the Opens main draw Final and winners must be there in person to win the prizes. Entries are open for students Year 7-12 and we are taking entries now. We have a cut off number so please do not miss out. Term 3 will see the introduction of matches played on Friday afternoon from 3:30pm-5:30pm for any player picked in AIC teams or Shadow teams.

This will be compulsory for 1st players to attend and 1st team reserves.

We will be offering make up lessons during Weeks 9-10 and also Week 1 of holidays for any squad members who have missed out on their private lessons. There will be some squad lessons advertised only in Week 1 of holidays.

Holiday Camp

This will be held for Three days 27 – 29 June 8 – 11:00am.

• Open to all players to get in some extra practice.
• Held at Marist Tennis Courts
• Cost = $100.00 per student 
• All bookings please email MCATennis@marash.qld.edu.au

Look forward to some good weather and some great tennis in our build-up to the AIC season.

Student Achievements

Jackson Grounds continues to do wonderful things in the world of baseball with his recent selection in the Australian under 18 team competing at the WBSC World Cup in the United States in August. We wish Jackson all the very best at this prestigious event.

Congratulations to James Milner who will be representing the College as a member of the Met North under 16 team at the AFL state championships in Hervey Bay this week.

Congratulations to the following boys who were selected from the North West Basketball Trials and are to compete in the Met North Trials in June.

•  Jack Forrester
•  Matt Pegg
•  Harry Cook
•  Leo Morris
•  Tyson Baker

Round 4 Results v Padua

Chess

Football

Rugby Union

Sport Canteens

All being well our canteen roster for this weekend is Years 5-8.

Please put your name in the SignUp by Friday, and get your hour done this weekend.

And keep that place card holder in your diary for next Saturday for a huge day out of sport and canteen - it will be all hands on deck to bring that one home.

Grandstand Main Canteen: https://signup.com/go/PzbXSyg

Flats Canteen: https://signup.com/go/WfFXePA