SSP NEWS

SSP NEWS:

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and Term 3.

Our SSP Leader Renee Lane will be on Long Service Leave for Term 3 (this was scheduled prior to Renee commencing her role in 2024). Susie Robinson will be Acting SSP Leader for Term 3 and we wish her all this best throughout the Term!

Huge congratulations to our Year 8 Girls Netball, Year 7 Girls Soccer and our Senior Boys AFL who all advance through to the State Finals for SSV. 

Team Selection Process for Tournaments and Competitions

It is an exciting time for WHC with over 530 students in our Specialist Sports Program. However, this also creates complexities around team selection for tournaments and competitions. It is simply not possible for all student-athletes to be selected.

Please understand that although student-athletes are a part of the SSP, this does not guarantee automatic entry to any WHC interschool or representative team. Head coaches are responsible for team selection and any factors contribute to this process, including; skill, ability, team dynamics, effort, behaviour and attendance.

We know that non-selection can be difficult for parent-carers, but we thank you for your understanding and support of our program and all student-athletes, whilst we move in to a heavy phase of competition over the next three terms.

Netball 

It’s been a very busy start to term 3 with students participating in the School Sport Victoria and Netball Victoria School Championships Competition. We are proud and excited to have both girls’ and boys’ teams participating in all competition year level groups which is an amazing effort.

This week’s Netball results:

SSV

SSV – Intermediate Girls A – Champions (undefeated)       Intermediate Girls B 1W 2L

SSV Senior Boys Champions def Nth Geelong 12-9

SSV Senior Girls Champions def Surfcoast SC 19-8

Netball Vic School Champs 

Junior Girls A - 6 wins, 2 close loses

Junior Girls B (our Yr 7 Girls) had a successful first tournament as a bottom age group with some great performances.

Congratulations to all students on their performance and the way in which they conducted themselves and represented the school on the day. A huge thankyou to Olivia Alleblas and Mackenzie Payne our C Grade Badged umpires who umpired at the NVSC Junior Tournament and did a sensational job. Well done Girls!!

In education for our juniors, we have focused on the Feedback Cycle and Communication. Students learnt the concepts and were able to apply and use in a group activity and match day experiences. During Match Review we utilised the feedback cycle and process to assess individual and team performance.

We have also begun understanding match analysis and statistics and how they are utilised in netball during live matches and in post-match review. Students have been exposed to advanced statistics kept at elite level netball. We will continue to explore ways to collate information and how to interpret and use high performance data.

We look forward to continuing our tournament phase over the coming weeks as teams head into Western Metropolitan Region Stages and State Finals. We wish all teams all the best for the upcoming matches.

The Netball Crew

AFL

Rebecca Clottey

Congratulations to Rebecca on her selection in the U/18 Victoria Country AFL Squad. This is a fantastic achievement for any young footballer but particularly for Rebecca given her minimal time in the game. She has developed immensely in her time at Western Heights and representing the Geelong Falcons, we wish her all the best.

Yr 7 Football

Yr 7 boys represented the school at the Western Metro Regional Final on Thursday. Across the day they played 3 games, in which they put on a dominant display in the first two, to make the final against Maribyrnong. Unfortunately, Maribyrnong proved to be too strong of a contest physically, taking the victory by 3 goals, however the boys tried hard to implement the systems we have been working on thus far this year. 

Well done to Chad Cook, Phaestian Velisha, Brody Ambrus, Lachy King, Lachy Riley and Luca MacDonald who the coaches deemed to represent the school the best on the day.

Yr 12 Football

Yr 12 boys had a great day on Tuesday, taking out the title at the Western Metro Regional Final. They began the day with 2 convincing wins, executing the game plan to a high level, they entered what proved to be a tougher contest in the final against Lakeview Secondary College.

Beginning the second half down by a goal, the boys lifted their intensity to overcome a strong opposition to walk away with a 6 goal victory.

Well done to Hudson Maddelena on his leadership for the day, Mason Williams, Rory Phillips, Cooper Ward, Ashton Lovell, Ben Pennisi and Jett Modola were the best players as deemed by the coaches.

Yr 8 Football

Yr 8 boys had a fantastic day on Wednesday, coming away with 3 dominant wins to seal their place in the Western Metro Regional Final in Term 3. The level of skill and application shown by the group across all 3 games was a great reflection of the development of all players in their time within the AFL Program.Well done to Daniel May, Charlie Fantella, Gabriel Saunders and Max Mills who were the best players on the day.

Basketball

Soccer

The Soccer Program continues its unbeaten run in the SSV competition steamrolling its way to more Championship wins. 

This time it was the Intermediate Boys and Girls who delivered impressive performances throughout the day. The boys beat Grovedale College, Belmont High School and Lara Secondary College in the group stage with a whopping 16 goals for and none against. In the Final it saw two soccer programs up against each other, Western Heights College against North Geelong Secondary College. It would prove to be a one-sided affair with Western Heights winning 6-0 in a 26-minute game. The boys played with maturity and class and showed why the Western Heights  program is so well regarded within Victoria’s schooling system. The boys will now head to compete in the Metro Competition West where it should meet powerhouse Maribyrnong College in the final.

The Intermediate Girls, like the boys proved their dominance once again, easily dismantling the opposition in the Geelong secondary Schools Competition. Each game nearly reached double figures which is a great indication of quality individual players coming together in a team environment and gelling together well. 

The Final was won 6-1. “All the girls were simply brilliant. They played well, their attitudes on and off the field was impeccable, and they really are an asset to the Western Heights College”.

The intermediate girls will now head up to challenge for the Regional Championship, which if they win, will allow them to qualify to play off for the State final.

Bill Turner Cup:

Historical achievement for Western Heights College with the u/15 Boys being the first school team from a  Regional area to represent Victoria in the last 16 of the Bill Turner Cup. 

With over 850 schools from NSW, QLD, ACT and Victoria participating this is a massive achievement for Western Heights. 

This is the 44th year of the Bill Turner Cup and on their way to become Victorian Champions, Western Heights have beaten heavy weights, Rowville College and Maribyrnong College. 

The program has only been running for 1 year and 1 term, so to be even competing, let alone beating these well established football programs is a great testament to all coaches, teachers  and players involved. The schools support has also been amazing. 

The U/15 Boys will be travelling to Albury on Tuesday to play against the best team in the ACT and the best in country NSW. If they are successful, then they will be travelling to Newcastle to compete for the prize of Australian Champion ! 

We wish them all the best !!