Beach Cup Champions

On Tuesday 7th of March, Blackburn High School entered a Year 8 Fours Division team into the Volleyball Victoria Beach Schools Cup. There were 27 teams across the state were entered into the competition at South Melbourne Beach. The 3 year 8 students, Jack, Joe and Ace all executed amazing focus, efforts and skills, resulting in them being undefeated in their pool. The students progressed to the final, coming away with a gold medal.

Jack and Joe have also entered into the Australian Beach Cup which will take place in Queensland over the 30th-2nd April. Good luck!

Congratulations Jack, Joe and Ace

Term 1 Sports Report

The Interschool sports program at Blackburn High School has yet again started with a bang! Students have started the year strong by continuing to demonstrate their commitment and pride through high participation and positive involvement in a range of sports this term.

Each year students continue to demonstrate the school values through all areas of their sporting endeavours. Students show high levels of enthusiasm and respect and strive for excellence when representing the Blackburn High School community in sport. It is an honour to be able to take so many students out to represent the school, not only as players but as coaches to junior teams.

So far this term our Senior and Intermediate students have had the opportunity to compete in a range of Whitehorse Division competitions. We have entered teams for Tennis, Cricket, Netball, Volleyball, Hockey, Softball, and Baseball.

We extend our congratulations to the following teams who won the Whitehorse Division Competition and have advanced to the Eastern Metropolitan Region Finals later this year:

Intermediate Boys Volleyball (March 27th)

Intermediate Girls Volleyball (March 27th)

Intermediate Girls Cricket (Oct 12th)

Intermediate Girls Softball (April 27th)

Senior Boys Hockey (July 18th)

Senior Girls Hockey (Aug 3rd)

Good luck to the Year 7 and 8 students who have their Volleyball and Softball/Baseball competitions on 23rd March and 3rd April.

We have seen some very positive growth during Sport Education classes and look forward to seeing the success.

Have fun and do our school proud.

Ms Lauren Van Der Westhuizen,

Sports Coordinator

BHS Senior Cricket SSV Whitehorse Division

Match Report

On Tuesday, 28th February BHS Senior Cricket team played in a round-robin limited-overs tournament at Koonung Reserve in the Whitehorse Division.

Results

Round 1: BHS 2/80 (8 overs) defeated Box Hill HS 10/32 (10 overs)

Highlights: Ned 29*, Felix 21, Cody 15*, Clay 5/6 off 2 including a hattrick, Finn 2/8, Felix 2 stumpings

Round 2: BHS 2/44 (6 overs) defeated EDSC 6/42 (10 overs)

Highlights: Clay 2/6, Adam 2/7, Felix 2 stumpings, Deep 24*

Final: BHS 9/85 (13 overs) were defeated by SEDA 9/89 (13 overs)

Highlights: Felix 31* & 2 stumpings, Adam 23 & 5/13, Cody 2/23

BHS comprehensively outplayed an inexperienced and less talented Box Hill HS and Eastern District SC in the opening rounds. These games did, however, provide an opportunity for BHS players to get valuable game time, execute their skills in match conditions and establish tactics ahead of the final against SEDA. Ned, Felix, Cody, and Deep were amongst the runs but the major highlight was from a non-cricketer Clay.

Clay had a dream game taking a Scott MCG Boxing Day Test Match like 5/6 off 2 overs including a hat trick. This is a performance that Clay and his teammates will never forget. Congratulations Clay.

Playing SEDA (a specialist cricket school) in the final would provide a greater challenge for BHS who went into the game as underdogs. SEDA batted first and compiled 89 runs off their 13 overs. Wickets fell at regular intervals which helped keep the score to a reasonable target. Wicketkeeper Felix was outstanding behind the stumps executing 2 stumpings (a total 6 for the day) and Adam was dangerous with the ball taking 5/13. BHS was set a very achievable run rate of 7 runs an over to win the final. A disastrous start ensued with Blackburn High School losing 3 key wickets in the first 2 overs. All looked lost until Felix and Adam came together to begin the rescue mission. Over by over Blackburn High School slowly but surely started to chip away at the now unsurmountable target. Well, cricket is a funny game and there is nothing better than a rear guard counter attacking fightback. The innings changed the moment Felix got hit in the helmet by a nasty bouncer. It was like red mist descended over him. He then proceeded to unleash fury on every ball he faced. One over went for 24 runs: 4 byes, 6, 6, 4, 4. BHS then believed this game was ours to win. Unfortunately, Felix had to retire at 31* but then Adam stepped up and kept the momentum going hitting a further 3 boundaries. With 3 overs remaining, BHS needed 8 runs with 5 wickets in hand. This should have been a relatively simple task, however, the hardest runs to hit in cricket are the winning runs. This adage was confirmed with the lower order struggling to lay bat on ball in the last 3 overs. The pressure of the occasion combined with some quality bowling, a bouncy pitch, and inexperienced

batsmen proved all too much with BHS losing its final wicket still 4 runs in arrears. A disappointing result gave the heroics of Felix and Adam that put BHS into a position to win the game. Nonetheless, it was a fantastic game of school cricket and the boys should be proud of their efforts.

Mr. Couzens - HPE Teacher

BHS Intermediate Boys Cricket SSV Whitehorse Division

On Friday, 24th February Blackburn High School Intermediate boys played in the SSV Whitehorse Division tournament at Koonung Reserve. We were blessed on the day with perfect conditions for cricket: fine, sunny and 30 degrees.

Round 1: BHS 6/78 (13 overs) were defeated by Box Hill HS 4/80 (13 overs)

Highlights: James E 25, Jake Stone 17, Fynn WJ 8, Aarav P 2/6

Round 2: BHS 5/94 (15 overs) defeated EDSC 8/70 (15 overs)

Highlights: Fynn 18, Aarav 18, Partaj 14, Hugo D 10, Rishi 10* & 3/7, Daniel 2/11

The Box Hill HS game was a thriller going down to the final over. Unfortunately, Blackburn High School went down with a number of dropped catches and misfields throughout the innings being the difference maker. This was a disappointing result as Blackburn High School were in control of most of the game until the last 5 overs. In these short over games, every ball is magnified and one run here or there can be crucial in the end result. Blackburn High School's final game was against a less experienced EDSC. The lineup was changed to ensure all players in the team had an opportunity to bat or ball and Blackburn High School won comfortably by 24 runs.

Despite the loss to Box Hill HS the boys enjoyed their day in the sun with their friends playing Australia’s favourite summer sport. Thanks to Year 12 students Deep and Cody for assisting with coaching, umpiring and scoring.

Mr Couzens - HPE Teacher

Senior Netball

On 28th February, our Senior Netball teams headed out to Heathmont for the Whitehorse Division round-robin competition. This was held on our student-free day so it was fantastic to see a full quota of teams from Blackburn attend. We entered 3 teams – Girls A, Girls B, and Boys A and all three teams performed amazingly all day. Our girls A team was defeated only by Box Hill HS finishing in 2nd place.

Our Girls B team were dominant in all the matches, winning the B competition. Our Boys team, which had some first-timers to the competition, finished in a creditable 3rd place for the day. I would like to congratulate all teams but a special mention to those in Year 12 who have represented Blackburn HS in Netball every year since Year 7 – Charly, Sharnah, Laura, Isla, Harrison, Hannah, Jade, Grace and Olivia.

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