Sport

Year 8 Girls Hockey - STATE CHAMPIONS

After a solid term of training in Sport Ed, the team was finalised and the skills were developed into a solid outfit. We had games against the Year 8 Boys team to learn about defence, attack and the on-field positions. We had three girls who play outside school and the rest were cricketeers, netballer, AFL players and even a swimmer. For most, this was their first introduction to Hockey.

There were no local District teams so we settled for a match against the Year 7 Girls Frankston High School team. The girls played a very team orientated game and showed great potential.

The real test was at Southern Zone in Hawthorn. I had to leave the team in the capable hands of Mrs Deb Anderson and Mrs Kylie Grech who were looking after both the Year 7 and 8 Girls teams.  We lost Indigo Noble to a knee injury (playing cricket) in the vital position of Centre Half.  Fortunately, we had Molly Colgan to step up and play this position. The girls won all three games and most of the games were played in our attacking half for the majority of the time.

 Off to state finals we go!!

We left soon after 8.00am and after a major incident on the Monash Freeway, we had to take an alternate route to Footscray. It was going to be warm and the girls had to play three pool games and then a final to win the championship.

We played Vermont in the first game and won 5-0. It was rarely in our half and it was difficult to score through a whole team who were defending. The second game was against Warrigal. It was clear that their team had played little hockey and we won 12-0. Once again, their whole team were in defence mode and our defenders had little to do.

Our last pool game was against Melbourne Girls who had also won both their games but by less. We needed a win or a draw to make the final. They were a strong side with lots of girls who play. They scored in the first half and we needed a goal…desperately. We got the goal after a short corner and Molly made it a great shot. It was a see-sawing battle and then the game was postponed due to lightening. After 15 min, the game resumed for the last 7 min in pouring rain. Neither team scored so we went through to the final on goal difference.

We only had 10 min recovery time to play the final against Wangaratta (who had an hour break). It was a tight game and our girls looked tired.  We scored in the first half after another short corner. We needed a second goal in the second half to give us a buffer. It took a long time, but Evie scored late in the second half and the girls held on from there. The girls celebrated their amazing win but were exhausted.

After the presentation, the girls went onto the bus with ‘We are the Champions by Queen’ playing over the speaker system. Our bus driver had made the day complete.

Special thanks to Mr Brett Cook, Mrs Deb Anderson, Mr James Cameron and Mrs Kylie Grech who all played a part to make this group so successful.

Mr Rohan Edleston

Coach

Athletics Nationals in Adelaide

A very big thank you to Mrs Jodie Burton and Mr Mal Burt for their tremendous efforts in taking a group of our students to complete at the Aths Nationals in Adelaide last weekend. Congratulations to the boys team who finished 2nd and the girls team who finished 4th in the 'All Schools Challenge'. A fantastic result to finish off a phenomenal year in sport!