Junior School Sports Wrap Up for 2023

It is hard to believe that we have reached the end of the year. As we celebrate our wins in 2023, we are also preparing for the busyness that accompanies the start of the 2024 school year.

We wish to remind families that the Term 1 2024 sport registrations are now open. Please refer to the tables below for the sports and carnivals on offer at the start of next year.

Sport	Start	Finish	Day Played
Tennis – Girls Year 5/6	20 February	9 April	Tuesday
Soccer – Girls Year 1 – 6	22 February	4 April	Thursday
Flippa Ball* Come and Try Day	18 February 8 February 2024		Sunday
Girls Year 6 AFL Gala Day	6 March		Wednesday, 1 team per school (Year 6)

* All flippa ball dates are TBC – details will be confirmed with registered families as soon as they are received.

Carnivals

Carnival	Date
SMC Swimming Carnival	Tuesday 13 February
JSSATIS Swimming Carnival (Interschool)	Monday 25 March
STCPSSA Swimming Carnival (Interschool)	Friday 5 April

For further information and/or to register your child to play in one of the sport rosters above, please fill out this form: Term 1 Sport Registrations - JUNIOR SCHOOL

2023 - What an awesome year of sport in the Junior School it has been! We have had our highest rate of participation at all carnivals and most sports have been well presented. There’s no better example than our triathlon team. This year we have our biggest team yet with 68 students from Years 3 to 6 participating – that’s more than double from last year!

In our sport rosters, netball and basketball continue to have high participation rates and it was great to enter not one, but two touch football teams in the Term 4 roster. Going forward, I would love to see sports such as cricket and tennis grow in numbers.

Our year started on a high with Mia Styles, Year 6, winning the Bill Henderson shield for being the best Year 6 female swimmer at the JSSATIS swimming carnival. To cap the year off, Tatum Smith (Year 3) broke the Year 3 Girls 200m record at the JSSATIS athletics carnival – this record has stood since 2008!

The biggest success of sport this year is the way our St Mary’s College students have conducted themselves on and off the field and at representative carnivals. At each game or sporting event, students continually demonstrated the four R’s of respect, responsibility, resilience and relationships. Our students always show great sportsmanship and most importantly have fun. I am always very proud to see our students participate at any level.

Fiona Rhodes

Sports Coordinator (Junior School)

Senior School Sport Term 1 Registrations

Guess what?! Term 1 Sport Registrations are OPEN!

Even though everyone’s still in 2023 mode or dreaming about their upcoming summer break, the Sports Team at St Mary’s is already thinking about all the fun we’re going to have with sport in Term 1!

Due to the short turn around at the beginning of the year, it’s crucial that we get as many sign ups before the end of January to ensure no one misses out on playing. The table below lists all of the sports on offer and on what days they are played. As you can see there are plenty of opportunities for you and your friends to get active, have some fun and start the new year with a bang.

Years	Sport	Day Played	Roster Starts
7 & 8	Soccer	Wednesday	21 February
	Volleyball	Monday	19 February
	Cricket	Thursday	22 February
9 & 10	Soccer	Tuesday	20 February
	Volleyball	Monday	19 February
	Cricket	Thursday	22 February
11 & 12	1st & 2nd Grade Basketball	Wednesday	28 February
	1st & 2nd Grade Tennis	Thursday	29 February
	1st Grade Volleyball	Tuesday	20 February

For those new to St Mary’s, just some information regarding our after-school sports:

All SSATIS sports are:

Played after-school (games start at 4:15pm) at various school grounds around Hobart
Playing in a SSATIS sports roster is FREE OF CHARGE
Parents are responsible for transport to and from games
The school provides all equipment such as match balls, bats, helmets, stumps and a first aid kit
Parents can sign up for a number of team roles such as coach, manager or match day supervisor

If you have any questions about the sports on offer or would like more information, please email Mia at mblignaut@smc.tas.edu.au

Alternatively, you can sign up via the link below or by visiting the St Mary’s website under the co-curricular tab.

Term 1 Sport Registrations - SENIOR SCHOOL

Senior School Triathlon

Over 70 Year 7 to 9 students attended the Schools Triathlon Challenge last Thursday at Bellerive Beach. In what was a typical Tasmanian spring day, we experienced all four seasons from cold, windy rain showers to warm sunny weather.

Through it all the girls still had a blast, tried their best and represented the school with pride and good sportsmanship! Well done to every athlete. I can’t wait to see you ready to swim, ride or run next year.

A big thank you to our lovely HPE staff who helped out on the day, cheering on the girls, carrying clothes back to the tent and patching up the odd injury, without your support this event would not be possible.

High School Regional Basketball Tournament

Over the weekend of 25 and 26 November, St Mary’s fielded four teams in the High School Regional Basketball Tournament held at Kingborough Sports Centre. After the regular rostered games, our St Mary’s Year 7/8 Blue and St Mary’s Year 9/10 Division 1 teams made the grand final and after two great games, walked away with silverware topping off another successful year at the tournament. Our Year 7/8 team will now head to Launceston for state finals this weekend and we wish them all the best!

Can you believe that St Mary’s had not one, or two but three pairs of siblings playing over the weekend? It was great to see the sister combos of Hayley (Year 9) and Ella (Year 7) Geard, Isobel (Year 9) and Leila (Year 7) Geard and Sienna (Year 10) and Paige (Year 7) Nowland in the blue and green.

Shout out to our other two teams, St Mary’s Year 7/8 Green and the St Mary’s Year 9/10 Division 2 team for a successful weekend as well.

A special thank you to all the parents who have given up their time over the years to help with coaching, team management and assisting with tech bench duties.

Touch Footy

Last Wednesday, our Year 9 Touch Football teams made history when they finished first and second in the Year 9/10 roster. The grand final started out as a very even contest with teams going into half time with two tries each. In the second half however, SMC Green got a burst of energy and speed resulting in a flurry of tries.

Well done to both teams and coaches on a great season and we hope to see you back in action in 2024!

Mia Blignaut

Sports Coordinator (Senior School)

Rowing Tasmania Club Regatta 3

Well done to our SMC rowers on their efforts at the recent Rowing Tasmania State Club Regatta 3 at Lake Barrington.

Students competed across a range of events, representing SMC with pride and supporting their clubmates from St Virgil's College.

A big thank you to all helpers, volunteers and supporters on the day.

Notable results from the weekend include a win in the U19 Womens 8+, with a SMC/TUBC composite boat that marked the first win for this event for the College in recent history. Additionally, Sarah Thomas placed fourth in the U19 Womens single race at just 15 years of age. Well done to all who participated!

From the Principal

Damian Messer