SPORT 

Diocesan Athletics Carnival Wrap Up

In chilly and blustery conditions at the Tamworth Athletics Centre, 25 of our students represented St Patrick's at the Diocesan Athletics Carnival. The day started off with a march past, in which Annie and Lachie had taken part as part of the welcome ceremony and once this had concluded, the carnival officially commenced with the 800m races. Jessica and Grace F competed first and they came 1st and 10th in their heats. Jessica came 2nd overall. Emily was our only representative in the 11 Years Girls Section and she placed 8th in her heat. Annie ran in the Senior Girls 800m Final and she led all of the way, placing 1st as well as breaking the diocese record by two seconds. Benji and Shaun ran in the same heat with Benji coming home 2nd and Shaun 4th.  Like Emily, Henry was our only representative in the 11 Years Boys Section and he was placed 8th in his heat. Nate and Lachie then competed in their 800m heats with Nate coming 5th and Lachie coming 1st and 5th overall.

Next, the large majority of our students competed in the 100m heats and all of them went exceptionally well with a number of narrow defeats. 

Our students then competed in the school relays. Our three teams that competed performed very well as we were the youngest team competing in each of our heats as well as the smallest school, where we had to compete against schools from Tamworth, Armidale, Gunnedah, Moree, Inverell, Glen Innes, Narrabri and Wee Waa.

During this time, we had a number of students participating in various field events. In the shot put, Grace S came second overall in the Junior Girls Section and gain selection in the Armidale Diocese squad. Katie placed 12th in the same event. In the Junior Girls Discus, Jessica placed third and Digby came 6th in the Junior Boys Discus .  Lilah came 5th in the 11 Years Girls Shot Put, Tom placed 6th in the Junior Boys Shot Put and Henry 's efforts saw him finish in 9th position of the 11 Years Boy Shot Put.

This year we had a record number of students including: Albert, Annie, Grace S, Hamish and Emily participating in the high jump in their designated age groups and all of these students should be proud of their achievements. Digby and Jessica also participated in the Long Jump. Digby placed 16th in the Junior Boys and Jessica came 15th.

Next came the 200m and a number of our students were placed in the top three of their respected heats. Special mention goes to: Josie and Grace F who were in a photo finish in their heat with Josie piping Grace F by a very small margin! Also Annie came second in her heat resulting in her being placed second overall and gaining selection to represent the diocese in this event at the Polding Athletics Carnival.

The final running event of the meet was the 1500m and our three participants went very well. Jessica placed 2nd overall in the Junior Girls, Annie came 1st in the Senior Girls and Lachie came 2nd in the Senior Boys. All three students gained selection to represent the Armidale Diocese in this event at the Polding Athletics Carnival that will be held in October.

As mentioned earlier, Annie had a fantastic day as she came first in the 800m and the 1500m, second in the 200m as well as smashing the Senior Girls 800m record by two seconds. Her achievements were acknowledged as she was awarded the Senior Girls Champion, which is an outstanding achievement as only six out of six hundred students were given this award.

Thanks again to the parents and grandparents who attended and supported our students on the day! It is very much appreciated. We wish Annie, Jessica, Grace S and Lachie all of the best when they represent the Armidale Diocese at the Polding Athletics Carnival on Friday 13th October at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre.

Tennis For Sport

Our next tennis session will be tomorrow, Friday 25th August. A big thank you goes out to Mrs Emma Wauch who will be leading the session.

Diocesan Football/Netball and Small Schools Gala Day

As mentioned previously, St Patrick's will be entering teams in both football and netball as well as in small schools competition at the Sports Gala Day that is going to be held at Tamworth on Friday 15th September. I have been informed that it has been a number of years since St Patrick's has participated in a gala day like this and there are a number of excited Years 3-6 students who have been practising their football and netball skills in designated physical education lessons as well as during recess and lunch time. Our team squads will be announced next week.

The school has already organised a bus for all students to travel to and from Tamworth and more information, including costing and permission will be sent home via the Compass early next week.

St Patrick's Primary Sports Handbook

St Patrick's now has an official sports handbook. This book is designed to give all members associated with our school a clearer understanding of when our school conducts our various sporting carnivals, the processes/qualifying times involved for students who want to represent our school at Diocesan sporting events as well as an explanation of the representative sporting pathways your child may want to undertake in their respective sports.