Senior School Sport & 

Co-curricular 

Co-curricular Report

Joe Priest, Director of Sport & Co-curricular

It has been a busy fortnight in cocurricular. We have had our bands at the Cowra Eisteddfod, played the second round of the Western Region Chess Knockout, competed in Debating, sent students off to representative hockey and swimming and have students preparing for the end of their Cadet journey. It has been a long period of time since the school has been this busy.  

Congratulations to Erica Stuart. She has continued in the Stuart family tradition and excelled in the sport of Polocrosse. Last week, Erica was selected in the Australian Junior Polocrosse team to play a test series against New Zealand in Narrabri - July 8th – 10th.

Congratulations to Bianca Fuller and Kyla Brown. They attended the Open Nationals Swimming trials. Competing against the best swimmers in the world, both girls performed exceptionally. A wonderful achievement and incredible experience. This was a fitting end to the representative swimming season for two students who have dedicated themselves to the KWS swim squad. 

Music

The stage band and concert band travelled to Cowra to compete in the Cowra Eisteddfod. Our students played exceptionally in both sections.

Open Band – Concert Band placed first

Open Stage Band – Stage Band placed first

Congratulations to all students involved and a special thanks to the staff who work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that our bands sound so fantastic. 

Chess

Last week the Kinross Wolaroi Senior School Chess team competed in the second round of the NSW Junior Chess League competition that includes a wide variety of schools from across the Western region. In this round we were playing against Orange Anglican Grammar School, the previous winners of the competition for the last two years. 

Our Board 1 player Harrison Crisp started out from a strong position and made consecutively good moves, establishing a firm grip on the match and ultimately coming away with the victory. 

Our Board 2 player, Ben Jones, struggled throughout the early game after losing a valuable piece and position, however he held strong under relentless pressure and eventually found a way to manoeuvre his way back into a strong position, eventually securing a checkmate. 

Our Board 3 player, Krishan Kandeepan had a very long game, however throughout the entire match he slowly pushed forward to gain an advantage in both pieces and position, eventually achieving a win. 

Lastly, our Board 4 player, Kajan Kandeepan played a great game, securing a lead from early on and pressing on without any blunders to secure his own checkmate. 

Overall, the team was very happy with their matches, defeating the reigning regional champions, and they are looking forward to the next round of the competition in the weeks to come.

Debating

KWS had a very successful fourth round of the HICES debating competition. There were Four debates held online over two days, 19-20 May.

• Opens KWS 2 (year 11) defeated Scots All Saints, debating a topic about changing the voting system.
• Opens KWS 1 Year 11) arguing the same topic had a very narrow loss against Blue Mountains Grammar
• Senior KWS 2 (Year 9 students) Defeated All Saints Belmore debating the Issue of Australia becoming a republic
• Middle KWS 1 a team of year 8 students Won against All Saints Belmore which was a debate about Teachers pay.
• Senior KWS 2 is undefeated in the four rounds so far. 

With one round left of the competition it is hoped they can record a win and qualify for the finals.

WAS Cross Country

The Cross Country team travelled to Scots All Saints to compete in the WAS Cross Country earlier in the month. In what turned out to be genuine cross country conditions, we had over 40 students compete on the day. Well done to the following students who placed 1st in their age group:

• Oliver Garard - U13 boys WAS champion
• Rahni Jarick - U13 girls WAS champion
• Sophie Martin - U17 girls WAS champion
• Kathryn Cornally - U18 girls WAS champion

Equestrian

The Kinross Equestrian team will head to Coonabarabran for five days of competition next month at the Northwest Equestrian Expo ably lead by 2022 Captain, Jock Stuart.  Our team consists of 34 students from Years 7 to 12, we look forward to having a great time and bringing home a few ribbons.

AICES U18 Hockey

Congratulations to Taylah Hobbs, Phoebe Poole and Charlie Tink who travelled to Sydney last week to play in the CIS Open hockey trials. Taylah and Phoebe played well throughout the day and were crowned as NSWCIS U18 Hockey champions. A fantastic effort. 

Hockey Report

KWS 1st vs Confederates

Braving the cold breeze on Sunday morning the KWS 1st XI Hockey team came away with a win against an experienced Confederates side. All players held their own during the 1 on 1’s and ball movements. An overdue goal from Chloe Muddle in the first half sparked our confidence, and we were able to secure a hard-earned 3-0 win. The KWS XI Hockey have the foundation for an outstanding hockey team this season and will be the ones to watch in the Orange First Grade competition. 

KWS U14 Knicks

The Knicks have started the season with mixed success. We had a 2-2 draw against OAGS, a 2-0 win against Confederates, 5-0 loss to the Lakers and another loss to OAGS. Stella Davis is the captain and Bell Clinton is the vice-captain for the season and they are already leading the team diligently.

We have many new players to the sport this year and this means skill development, practice, keeping feet out of the way, making sense of positions and a very steep learning curve. Everyone is embracing the learning and moving forward on their own hockey journey.

KWS Thunder 

The girls played well in their first game together, keeping most of the possession in the first half, leading 1-0. The game got tougher in the second half with Thunder equalising and defending well, but the girls kept up the intensity, with Georgia Sweetapple scoring her second goal securing the win. A great first game from them all.

U16 Cavaliers Vs Molong Collies – loss 4-2

A close game on Monday night with the Cavaliers fighting hard for the win. A tough start with no goals scored in the intense first 20 minutes, both teams eager for a goal. Great saves from the goalie, Lucy McIsaac. Molong Collies ahead with 2 goals with minutes to go in the first half, Ruby Smith in great positioning hits the ball straight into the goal, scoring for the cavaliers. Elke Sweetapple and Lolli-Rose Pasquali playing strong in defence. Ava Peterson intercepting the ball and running down the field to enter the circle and scored a brilliant goal. Unfortunately closing the game with Molong Collies in the lead, however fantastic teamwork demonstrated from the Cavaliers throughout the match. 

KWS Warriors vs KWS Raptors 4-3 win

A come-back for the ages.

The mighty Warriors had to dig deeper than ever on Monday when they took on the KWS Raptors. The Raptors were fast out of the blocks and were giving us a lesson in good hockey teamwork. Poor decision making and lots of panic saw us 3-0 down at half time.

The team was drawn together for a half time strategy briefing. After some animated words (of encouragement and direction) the team decided enough was enough. It was either make excuses or rise to the challenge…….. And rise they did.

With Lulu and Sophia taking control of the centre field, Grace and Zoe were able to get their mojo back. Slick passing and fine support from the Kandapan connection allowed us back into the contest. By hiding Henry near the posts, we were able to claw back the confidence we were missing in the 1st half. Jess provided solid defence and helped Max around the back of the field keeping Zac out of trouble. The resurgence was on.

KWS Lakers Vs Confederates – 3-2 win

Great sportsmanship demonstrated from the Lakers on Friday night. Players from the Lakers assisted the opposition who were short of players. Spencer Williams had a great game running from end to end. Katie Ivey and Lucy Robb were great in attack and Katie Lawler was excellent in goals. Mack managed to score a late goal to close the game out.

KWS Raptors vs KWS Warriors

Monday night saw the clash of KWS with the Raptors facing the Warriors. The Raptors fought hard all game, scoring some fantastic early goals, all of which were the result of fantastic teamwork all the way from the backs through to the strikers. We are improving every week and who knows how good we will be by the end of the season J Special mention must go to Amayah Shipp who was sensational in goals, we appreciate each week that we have a volunteer for goalie, it is never a preferred position, but everyone takes a turn and is fabulous!! 

Football

It’s been a big few weeks for football at KWS. The season is in full swing and the teams are all starting to click. 

The Year 7 team coached by Mr Johnston has made some huge strides in their passing and ball control and had a close game against Millthorpe. 

The U14’s team had a great game against Waratahs with Chloe McGilvray scoring two goals in the midfield, with the backline working hard to keep the opposition scoreless. Ashton Quinn-Woonton was immense in goal making many great saves.

The Seconds started the season with a great 3 all draw against one of the more fancied sides in the division. A couple of great goals from Gordon Suthers and big contributions by the new players to the men’s competition led to a great game. 

The Men’s 1st have had a tough start to the season but had an excellent 2-2  draw on the weekend. There was some great ball movement through the midfield with standout performances from Will Gaston, Ryan Turnbull and Oli Wong. Dan Hunter in goal kept the result safe with an excellent last minute save from a threatening Barnie’s attack. Whilst injuries and sickness have not allowed the first-choice team to get on the field yet, better performances are predicted. 

The Women’s 1st have entered the newly created Orange Women’s competition. Whilst there aren’t many teams there is huge interest in making sure this competition continues into the future. Whilst the first result of the season was unfortunate the second game against the same team saw a reverse in the result and a huge boost to the team. There were some excellent performances with Phoebe Gordon, Ruby Smith and newbies Xanthie Tozer and Harriet Englund. It looks to be a fun season coming up for the Ladies. 

Rugby

Last weekend’s washout round was very disappointing to say the least. Our boys and their coaches have been working away on improving our Rugby and last weekend was an opportunity to measure our growth. Whilst many players took the time to recover from illness, we had just over 50 boys attend the optional skills and fitness session last Saturday. Commitment like this from our young men will prove valuable for our ISA Competition.

Whilst the Sydney weather denied most of our boys the chance to play, our 1st XV and 2nd XV travelled to Sydney to take on Sydney Grammar. In wet and overcast conditions it was attrition Rugby. Both our teams recorded come from behind wins with the 1st XV winning 15 – 12 and the 2nd XV winning 19 – 12. These wins were just reward for the training that our boys have put in thus far. The fact that both teams fought hard to come from behind demonstrates  the true grit that we are building at KWS Rugby.

As we turn our attention to Cranbrook this Saturday, this is our last trial game before our ISA Competition.  A lot of learning and hard work has led us to this point and this Saturday is a time to take some wins and gain the confidence we need to compete in the ISA Competition. It will be a massive day of Rugby and we encourage all our players to stay and support our 1st XV.

Upcoming Events

• Friday 27th – Cadet Dinner
• Monday 30th May – Year 9,10,11,12 and catch ups for year 7 & 8- 1500m Athletics - girls
• Wednesday 1st June – AICES Cross Country
• Friday 3rd June - Year 9,10,11,12 and catch ups for year 7 & 8- 1500m Athletics – boys