Sport Development Leader

As we glide past the halfway point of the term, sport and fitness is not showing any signs of slowing down.   This year has been a whirlwind affair so far with the change of structure for CaSSSA.  I must admit the challenge of organising ongoing sport while recruiting and grading the following term has kept us busy.  From where we sit almost halfway through the year, it appears the change is a good one for the planning of students and families alike.

We have seen a big return to sport following a tough year of restrictions in 2020.  We are grading for Term 3 and sorting through some of the largest numbers we have had so far - a  credit to the students wanting to be active with their peers.  Where we can we are operating social and competitive teams - it is important to recognise that sport is meant to be enjoyed by everyone and not all seek to be the winning team.  A win-at-all-costs mentality is not part of our Franciscan nature.

We do seek to mold the best sportswomen from our players, and the empathy and support shown in most of our teams align perfectly with the culture we are trying to set.  We are still on a pathway to change the accountability and pride in representing the College in representative teams, but a change is certainly in the air.

We have doubled down our effort in carnival sports, with our best result in fifteen years at Swimming.  Tomorrow we send a 50-strong team to represent the College in Cross Country.  We have seen a marked increase in fitness of these runners after attending four lead-up meets and the training by Noel and his team of coaches.  We wish them the best of luck as we look to improve our finishing position in this event.

We are all excited at the fact that Athletics season is upon us.  As Cross Country winds up we jump straight into sprints, throws, and jumps.  We had great attendance in 2018/19 and hope to build on this for 2021.  Our inter-house carnival will be the first event of the season, held on Monday 14 June at UQ Sport.  This will be followed by another four lead-up meets and then the CaSSSA Carnival on 16 August.  I encourage you to look at the information letter in Student Notices and sign up to be part of the Athletics team for this year.

Let’s wish our runners the best of luck for tomorrow!

Josh White