SMCC Rugby League

Sam Harreman

Rugby League Coordinator

Hello St Mary’s Community,

Introducing myself, my name is Mr Sam Harreman and I am new to the staff this year at St Mary’s Catholic College. When I’m not in the classroom teaching my role is to push the development drive of Rugby League for both males and females at the College. Along with Mr James Will, we will be working hard to ensure all students of all skill and experience levels have as many opportunities as possible to engage in Rugby League activities. We aim to develop skills and values integral for success both on and off the field. We hope to use the qualities of success in Rugby League to invite students to make a difference in their world both as footballers and everyday human beings.

This year we have many exciting opportunities for all students. Things are heating up at the back of Term 1 with our 12-13yrs boys competition on Wednesday afternoon as well as the 14-15yrs & Opens Cowboys Challenge competition starting first week back in Term 2. We appreciate the behind the scenes work you do as parents and caregivers to ensure your children have these opportunities and appreciate your patience and attentiveness during this busy time, especially with the implementation of new systems and procedures!

Below is a brief update and key information to hopefully guide you:

RUGBY LEAGUE GAMES:

Our Baby Salties team (12-13yrs) have their 4 week round robin worth of game starting this Wednesday the 11th of March. The details of the draw and what to bring has been published on social media platforms and hard copies have been given to the students as well as online copies emailed. Our Junior Salties (14-15yrs) and Senior Salties (16,17,18yrs) teams have their games starting in the first week of Term 2. These games will be at Jones Park, Mann Street, Westcourt and will start at 4:00pm for our Junior Salties and 5:00pm for our Senior Salties. Finer details including draws and updated schedules will be released soon, stay tuned.

RUGBY LEAGUE TRAININGS:

We have seen an outstanding turnout at our full school Rugby League training sessions on Monday and Wednesday after school from 3:30-4:45pm. The energy and enthusiasm at these sessions have been extremely pleasing! Not only that, but during our Wednesday sport allocations (period 5 & 6) the boys have been engaging ‘fuelling the bus’ sessions which focus on cultural development, team vision, goals and direction as well as bonding together as one big St Mary’s Rugby League family. Exciting times ahead for members of our program! We are calling all boys and girls who still want to be apart of our journey – it’s never too late! Come and see Mr Harreman or Mr Will for questions but better yet… come to training! (Training is always on, rain, hail or shine. In case of wet weather we have many Rugby League activities planned for the indoors)

GYM: STRENGTH & CONDITIONING:

We are excited to officially start our gym training programs for all year levels in week 8/9 of this term and continuing all year round. All academy members will be adequately assessed catered for and will have personalised programs to suit the need of each individual. The St Mary’s Rugby League Academy values strength and conditioning as an integral tool for success for player athlete development that transfers to improvements on the Rugby League field but also in general day to day health and fitness. As a general rule, Salties will not be introduced to basic weight training until year 9 unless their physical development is at a reasonable maturity to start weight training or fitness tests, previous experience and parent permission suggests otherwise. Session will take place during lunch periods and all students will be required to bring a change of clothes, towel and water bottle. More details are to be released, stay tuned!

ACADEMY SHIRTS

We are excited to announce the soon to be released academy training shirts that will be an optional purchase for all members of the St Mary’s Rugby League Rugby League Academy. The design of these shirts went to vote by all students and an one particular option received an overwhelming response. The shirts will be branded for Rugby League which will allow all members to be identified as being apart of the RLA. We anticipate the arrival of these shirts towards the end of May or the start of June and will update you on cost, how and where to purchase. Students are only eligible for purchase if they’re signed up and attending over 85% of our regular training sessions, games and events. The shirts can also be warn at other Rugby League events (fundraisers, etc) but will not be apart of the regular school and sports uniform and can only be warn outside of school hours. Further updates to come!

REPRESENTITIVE FOOTBALL

On Friday the 6th of March our Junior Salties and some members of the Senior Salties attended the annual TCS trials at Gordonvale’s Alley Park. An outstanding day of football with our players always demonstrating our PRIDE values. Excitingly, 4 members made the teams. Charles Brain and Joshua Papworth made the under 15’s team whereas Hamish Davis and Malachy Magill made the Under 18’s team. On Tuesday the 10th of March the boys went and trialled to make the Peninsula team at Jones Park and did extremely well. Congratulations boys!

HAMISH DAVIES – Peninsula Under 18’s & Northern Pride Mal Meninga Cup

A special mention goes to Year 12 student Hamish Davies who made the Peninsula Under 18 Rugby League team for 2020. This is an incredible achievement for Hamish who has also been juggling his Northern Pride Under 18 Mal Meninga and Edmonton Storm club commitments. Hamish fly’s down to Tweed Heads this Saturday the 14th for 1 of the Mal Meninga competition (which is the highest level of regional Rugby League for his age). Hamish will continue playing for school, club, the Pride and will also juggle his Peninsula sessions before the Queensland State Championships at the Sunshine Coast at the end of May. Good luck Hamish, go get em’ boy!

CANVAS

Parents and students are advised that an official ‘St Mary’s Rugby League Academy’ CANVAS is currently being created and modified for all students. This will be a one stop shop for both students and parents which will have all information for Rugby League. This includes Rugby League curriculum, procedures, game times and draws, training details, forms, calendars etc. This will eliminate all confusion with communication home and enables our students to be extremely interactive online with Rugby League. More details of this will be evident soon, we can’t wait to share this with you!

SPONSORSHIP

We are excited to announce our new sponsorship packages for 2020 and beyond. If you’re interested in sponsoring our Rugby League program and helping our current touring Confraternity team travelling to Brisbane in July, please contact me for further information about the costs, terms and benefits involved.

Any questions or queries about Rugby League should be sent directly to:

Sam Harreman

Rugby League Coordinator

St Marys Catholic College

Email: sharrema@cns.catholic.edu.au

James Will

Assistant Rugby League Coordinator/Manager

St Mary’s Catholic College

Email: jwill@cns.catholic.edu.au