SSP NEWS
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Netball
Over the past month, our coaches and junior/intermediate netball athletes have had the pleasure of working with Grade 5 and 6 students across a range of local primary schools in some Netball Clinics, engaging them with some progressed concepts of Netball. This has been a fantastic opportunity for the junior netballers to add to their skill set and share their netball knowledge out in the community. They assisted by demonstrating tasks, setting up and packing up rotations, sharing and role modelling the rules of Netball during match play and interacting with the primary school students. Well done to all our player athletes that assisted and has fun doing so!
On Wednesday 15th November, the Intermediate and Senior netball athletes headed to the Melbourne Sports Centre- Parkville for a Melbourne High Performance Netball Experience. The player athletes started the day with a 2 hour training session on the Melbourne Vixen’s netball training court. The on-court session incorporated footwork, ball work, attacking, defending and match play. Then we had a tour of the gym and headed to the Recovery Pool where the athletes walked around the Cold pool, then the Hot pool and continued to move between the two pools. It was then time for a break and some lunch.
The player athletes finished the day in the Theatrette, where they had the opportunity to listen to two Guest Presenters. Milli Bilson was the first presenter. Milli is a Performance Analyst for VIS, Victoria Fury and the Victorian Underage Teams. She demonstrated how she uses the program, Hudl, to analyse each Netball game and how she organises the data to give feedback to the coaches and players, throughout and after the game. Megan Simpson was the second presenter. She spoke to the athletes about her career as a player and her netball pathway, to her current role, as a female in leadership as the Melbourne Vixens General Manager- Performance and Pathways. These Guest Presenters were a great opportunity for the netball athletes to see what careers are available in the Netball Industry. A big thank you to Susan for organising this special experience for the player athletes!
Enjoy your week!
Susan, Stacey, Ainsley and the Netball Staff
Soccer
It is now official !!!
Western Heights SC are now title holders of the Victorian Futsal title in the year 7 Boys category and girls 7/8 category.
The finals were held last Thursday at Darebin International stadium in Thornbury.
The Girls continued their undefeated run in the Victorian competition and cruised into the final without conceding a single goal. It was Keilor Downs Secondary they faced in the final, and our girls saved their best performance for the Grand Final, winning 14-1. It was an impeccable display of futsal and the spirits were high. These Girls just continue to improve at a rapid rate. Their chemistry together after 8 months continues to grow and they look like they’ve playing together for years.
The Victorian Futsal winners are : Zoe Mustard, Andi Carti, Willow Rugers, Isla Galluccio, Nakita Stojanovki, Mikaela Witt, Levynnah Wader, Valentina Purija
The Boys Year 7 competition was a fiercely fought affair, with winners from all regions coming together. Keilor Downs Secondary College were favourites coming into the day, but that was soon to be changed when Western Height SC knocked them out winning 1-0 in the toughest fought battle of the Day. It was Balwyn SC that Western Heights would play in the Grand Final. Balwyn SC, who are a very technical team couldn’t match the toughest and intensity brought on by Western Heights. Every member of the squad contributed in the final with WH winning the game 2-0.
The Victoria Futsal winners are : Jobe Davies, Gabriel Juric, Richie Mahon, noah Grootveld, Taich Hayashi-Burrows, Albion Ibrahimi, Will Morrish, Sam Pino, Aldo Siketa, Alex Sobevski, Pheonix Stangel, Tycho Willis
It truly was a wonderful day for both groups and a terrific day for Western Heights College. In their inaugural year in the SSP program, Western Heights is making a name for themselves in the school soccer world, and this Victoria title is testament to the students and a program working day in day out to be better than the day before.
Joey Didulica, Soccer Coach
AFL
The SSP AFL group recently completed a series of hills culminating with the Fyansford Hill Challenge. All students from year 7 to year 12 climbed Cementies 3 times from bottom to top. The benefits of working towards and achieving a physical and mental challenge are well documented. In addition to obvious fitness and resilience boosts, students developed a new perspective on what they are capable of. The support the group showed each other and the palpable sense of camaraderie upon finishing an initially daunting task was wonderful to watch. Congratulations to you all. Cementies has broken many a strong heart but it did not break ours. Big thanks to Will Sexton for stepping the students through the gradual build up.
In exciting news, Finnbar Maley from our first year of SSP AFL (2021) has been drafted pick 2 in the AFL Rookie draft to North Melbourne. Though Finnbar’s leap and athleticism stood out, his hard work on his fundamentals throughout the year paid off. We look forward tracking the progress of our first drafted player. We are very proud of him.
Keep coming to school for the final 2 weeks of the year legends. Finish the year strongly. Things we value most are contribution, community and attendance.
Susie Robinson, AFL Coach