Sport News

Mr Luke Caplick

Congratulations to our College Hockey team who won their Brisbane Hockey Association Schoolboys Metropolitan Grand Final on Friday evening with a hard-fought 4-3 win against St Edmund’s College. With shortened season due to the COVID-19 lockdown earlier in the term it was great to see our boys adapt and win the “big dance” after losing to St Edmund’s in the round stages of the competition. Special congratulations to Jacob Anderson who was awarded top goal scorer for the competition. Thanks also for the time and organisation required for our Hockey team to take the field, especially Coordinator Kathryn Badini and coaches Jordan Cabot, Tyler Newell and Cooper Cabot. Full match report below.

The final round of AIC basketball, rugby league and tennis will be played this weekend v St Patrick’s College. Last week saw our basketball teams have a hugely successful round against St Peter’s, only losing two games across the whole program. This is a testament to the work done by coaches throughout the season and also the wonderful organisation by our coordinators, Michael Connolly and Jane Wilcox. Congratulations to our 11B and 7C basketball team who remain unbeaten as they head into the final round.

The 9B and 8B tennis teams are still undefeated and hoping to win an outright premiership if they can get the win against St Pat’s on Saturday. At the end of the day, we can only control what we do this weekend. Nevertheless, the expectation is the same for all students. We train hard, play hard and give our very best for our team and the College. I am sure that our boys will not take the opposition lightly as I know they have a hunger to come away with the silverware after this weekend.

It has become embarrassingly obvious that boys are turning up to Saturday Sport wearing non-MCA hoodies, slides and Birkenstock’s. It is our last official round of sport this weekend. Please ensure you are all in the correct MCA uniform. Playing attire must be as below, and if you require a jumper, it must be MCA and you must wear covered in shoes to and from your sporting fixture. If you are supporting you must be in full College winter uniform.

We ask all boys to keep up the excellent efforts at Track and Field training. After this week we can solely give Track and Field our full attention as the basketball, rugby league and tennis programs will be finished. Last Thursday our boys competed in the first AIC Track and Field meet at the State Athletics Facility. Please note parents are welcome to attend these events but are asked to stay out of the grandstand and view from the surrounds. There is a canteen in operation for the evening if boys wish to purchase something to eat. Please ensure if you are taking your son home from SAF that the student informs Mr Fitzgerald before they leave so we are not chasing up boys when we depart on the bus. This will be a massive help for the teachers at the end of the night. It is important boys who are participating in these T&F meets are wearing the correct MCA uniform, either Athletics/ Cross-Country singlet or MCA training shirt, MCA running shorts and MCA socks (either blue or white).

This Thursday, we have another meet set down for SAF, which will be our last official AIC meet of Term 3. Please note we will have two holiday meets on Thursday 23 September and Thursday 30 September from 8:30am – 11:30am at University of Queensland. Details of these meets will be posted on the College App. We encourage all our T&F athletes who are present in Brisbane to attend these meets as they will be integral to the final selection of the AIC team. Holiday training programs will also be posted on the app once they have been confirmed. We expect full attendance by all squad members after this week as we only have four more weeks of training before the T&F champs are held Friday and Saturday 8-9 October. Things are coming along nicely but we do require a full commitment by all athletes as we build into the last four weeks of the T&F program. Our full attention and commitment to training and to all meets must be placed high on our priority.

Thanks to Year 7 Rugby League Coach, Mr Gregory Lynch, who has worked with our Year 7 Rugby League teams all season. Not only did Greg coach the Year 7 team but he also provided an opportunity for boys who missed selection to be part of a development squad who trained every Monday afternoon, building their rugby league skills. Last Tuesday afternoon the development squad and the Year 7 team joined forces to play a game on the Main Oval. It was a tightly fought contest, but most pleasing was witnessing the way the boys enjoyed playing the game and also having the support of the 1st XIII boys to help with warm-ups, forming a tunnel, match interviews on the PA and music which added to the experience for our Year 7s. Thanks to our 1st XIII players and to Mr Gregory Lynch who made this experience possible.

As mentioned above, the final round of AIC fixtures this weekend will see us up against St Patrick’s. This will be the final time that our Year 12 students will play basketball, rugby league and tennis in the blue and gold. I thank these men for their contributions over the years and wish them the very best this weekend. Let’s go hard till the end boys and please enjoy!

Individual Achievements

Congratulations to Jasper Barry, Tom Howard, Bailey Caplick and Leo Henry (injured) who have been selected in the U/15 Emerging Reds Cup teams. The Emerging Reds Cup is designed to create a strong first step in the Queensland Reds pathway. Players will have the ability to showcase their skill alongside the best players from across the state with the opportunity to be selected in the Reds U/15 side. These boys will compete in the ERC from September 18 – 23. https://reds.rugby/news/2021/08/31/emerging-reds-cup-teams-named

Congratulations to Ned Rosenbrock and James Milner who won Best & Fairest awards in the Brisbane Junior AFL Division 1 competitions. Ned won the U/16 and James U/14. Outstanding efforts from both boys, particularly given their commitment to balance multiple sporting programs within the College.

Zack Newsham ran Queensland’s most spectacular ultra-run last Saturday. In the 28km run Zack finished 2nd in the men’s and third overall. Zack said, “It was a really great experience and I actually ended up running alongside the girl who won UTA 100 the whole way. I just thought I would stick with her as long as I could and it worked out well for me. It was a very challenging race, lots of creek crossings, it rained, there were leeches etc… but I am looking forward to concentrating on track for a bit now and having a break from the long distances”. Well done Zack.

Congratulations to Josh Pope (6W), Frank Heenan (7S) and Will Easter (7G) who have been selected to represent North West District Cricket (10-12 years) at the Met North Regional trials, to be held 8-9 September.

Hockey

Even though Hockey is by far the smallest sport in the College, it shows the best of Marist – a team of boys from every Year 7 – 12; from every House; Boarders and Day-boys; boys who’ve made state teams, with boys who are completely new to the sport; all just playing together. And then on to top that, in Finals, we always have a merry assortment of Staff and Student supporters, most of who wouldn’t be able to explain the difference between a short or long corner in Hockey but are happy to come along to support Marist. The returning Old Boys coaches and the ever-supportive parents just top it all off.

And all of them lifted on Friday for the Schoolboys’ Grand Final against St Edmund’s College. An early corner from Eddie’s led to the score being 1-nil in the first five minutes. Luckily, our supporter reinforcements finally arrived from battling the M3; and our team was boosted, ending the first half 2-1 with goals coming from Zander Holliday (Year 10) and Jacob Anderson (Year 12). It wasn’t going to be an easy win for us. However, after Nick Keir (Year 10) scored again, Eddie’s got back-to-back goals, levelling the game to 3-all. Keen to avoid penalty shoot-outs (and potentially what happened with the Kookaburras in Tokyo), the boys needed to remain strong as a team and quickly find the perfect opportunity to strike. And that they did – in the last three minutes, Nick scored a lovely team goal. It was then our Backs turn to shine, however, with Eddie’s receiving a short corner in the last 30 seconds – which again our boys combined against, with the final result being 4-3 to us.

A huge congratulations to the team and a big thank you to all those who came out in support. Bring on 2022!

Tennis

What a weekend of matches vs St Peters!

We started in absolutely picturesque sunshine as we were all nervous that the rain would play a major part in stopping or preventing matches from going ahead.

Our Open 1st IV boys team took to the court in their last home game of the season. We knew from the start we were going to be in for a fight with our No. 1 for this week Patrick Newman playing in a tough match with the scoreline not really indicative of how close the match was. Every game was hard fought by both but the Peters No. 1 showing too much polish at the end of points showing the difference between the two. Unfortunately, the same trend followed for the rest of this tie with our boys losing but showing us glimpses of what they can do on court and sharing some memorable moments. I am sure they will be fired up for St Pats this week and our last round of the season.

It was a very hard day at the office with only three teams getting the wins against a full time coached outfit which was quite evident. Great wins by our 11A, 9B, 8B teams where our 8B win this weekend will secure their premiership.

We have also some other teams vying for premierships as well so let us finish strongly boys.

Some other close performances from last week that need a mention are the 8A team losing 3-5 where a couple of matches I believe the line calls from the opponent he should have gone to speck savers to see what everybody else could see. Also, our 6A team going down 3-5 as well. Unlucky this time but good encouraging signs with some great players coming through the ranks.

This week I am hoping that our boys saw the difference between a school that devotes time to their sport outside of the AIC season and the results that will come with perseverance, hard work and dedication to their sport.

Unlike most sports tennis is mostly an individual sport and every student plays a different style. Therefore coaching is paramount to success if you want to excel at it.

MCA Tennis has not only delivered over $100,000.00 in coaching over the past AIC season but we are offering the cheapest coaching probably in Queensland with our launch of the MCA Tennis Club and what benefits members will receive. Our Squad structure although new and in its infancy stage will continue to grow saving parents a small fortune in squad lessons and private lessons included coached by quality coaches.

Numbers are limited so please don’t miss out if you are wanting to take advantage of this offer from MCA Tennis.

GROUP COACHING

WE are currently taking bookings for all group coaching for Term 4, 2021.

Classes are on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Beginners 3:30pm – 4:30pm.

Tuesday, Thursday intermediate to advanced 4:30pm – 5:30pm.

MARIST OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

We are holding the Marist Open Singles Championships on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 October. Anybody interested can enter via email. The cost is $20.00 or is free for MCA Tennis Club members. Winners will not only win prizes but have their names recorded in history here at Marist forever.

MCA Tennis logo Competition

Please keep the entries coming in as we will be using the winning design to promote MCA Tennis Club.

Swimming

Official AIC Swimming training will commence on Tuesday 5 October at 3:20pm - 4:30pm. There will be training for swimmers every day and swimmers can attend as many sessions as they would like. (Please see below Term 4 training timetable.)

Squad training sessions are open to all boys, boys wishing to qualify for the AIC swimming team, and boys attending for fitness training; there is no obligation to attend AIC meets in Term 1 2022.

AIC Swimming trials will be in Term 1; meets are run as time trials, and these meets are open to all students who wish to qualify for the AIC Swimming Team held on Tuesday, 8 March.

Swimmers attending these squad sessions have the opportunity to be a part of the MCA swimming fraternity to make friends and prepare for the College’s main swimming event - the AIC Swimming Championships.

Boys who commit to squad training in Term 4 2021 may be invited to attend the senior swim camp in January 2022.

If your son wishes to attend these training sessions, he will need to bring the following equipment: Goggles, Kickboard, Pull Buoy, Short Flippers and Mesh Bag