District Basketball

Coach Kale – PE Teacher

Last Friday, 1st September. NMPS took a mix of Year 5 and 6 to compete in the AVDSSA District Basketball Tournament. Both the Boys and Girls teams had five games each and displayed fantastic teamwork, skill and sportsmanship throughout the day. The boys team won four out of five games and placed 2nd in their pool. The girls’ team had some fantastic matches and placed 3rd in their pool.

All players showed great determination and improved their skill and strategy as they progressed through the day. I was extremely impressed with the team's ability to take on feedback from the coach, communicate effectively with teammates and especially their sportsmanship. Each player from NMPS went out of their way to shake the opposing team's hands at the end of each match and were respectful to all officials.

Thank you to all parents that came to support and cheer them on throughout the day and congratulations to all players involved. We are very proud of you!

By Poppy D (6D) & Abbey G (6A)

At 8:45 we made our way to Keilor Park Stadium. All the Year Six girls were very excited!!! We versed a lot of skilful teams. Celeste and Kale came along to coach and cheer us on, they were very supportive! Ben took us through a few drills the day before, which really helped with our confidence. After all that hard, work we came third!!!!!

Division Athletics

From Ben, PE Teacher

Congratulations to our students who competed at the Division Athletics event last week. Braving the cold and howling wind, our students gave their best and had some excellent results on the day, with some students progressing to the Regional event next term!

Well done to the following students. We are very proud of your efforts in representing NMPS!!

Xavier C - 200m, 800m

Grace L - Hurdles

Jaz D - 800m, 1500m

Matthew L - 800m, 1500m

Max P - Shot Put, Long Jump, Relay

Rufus P-L - High Jump

Mica M - High Jump, 100m, Relay

Eric P - Relay

Frieda P - 1500m

Henry H - Relay

Thank you to the parents of these students who drove their children to and from the event.

Report by Max P, 6B

As I walked towards the athletics track, I felt a rush of adrenaline, I was really nervous about how well I would perform. I had three events that day, shot put, relay and long jump.

My first event was shot put. I had high hopes for shot put, I wanted to progress to regionals more than anything else. I walked over to the shot put area, looking at my competition “they’re big,” I thought to myself. I nearly lost hope in myself. Ben, the school's PE teacher was coincidentally part of running the shot put event, he told everyone to sit down and for the first division to start their throws.

I watched the first division go through their throws, it looked like they were throwing the shot 8 or 9 metres, which made me think that I had no chance of winning, but I still did not lose hope. After what felt like an hour, my division was up. We had one practice throw and then three measured throws. I watched how everyone used their own different technique, I used the glide technique. I carefully kept track of how far other competitors threw, then it was my turn, I lined up, walked to the back of the circled and started the glide. "Thud!" The shot hit the ground, it looked close to what the other competitors got, but I think I threw further. Relief filled my body, but I could not even be relaxed for a minute, because they started marshalling for relay, so I had to do all my three attempts in one go and then run to relays. None of my throws felt too exceptional, and I could not even get my results until after relays.

Me, Mica, Eric and Henry were the four runners in the relay. We met on the grass field getting ready to be sent to our spots and run as fast as we possibly can, maybe we could even win the race. I did not think we could get that well of a result, maybe second at most. I was the third leg in the relay so I had to run around the whole curve. Henry being the first leg got us into third place, passing the baton into Eric's hand with speed, Eric lost some momentum, but he was still in the middle of the pack. I started to run a bit as Eric ran into me passing the baton, I put my jets on and sprinted as fast as I could, I maintained the position pretty well. Running towards Mica, I used all of the strength I had left and passed the baton to Mica, although we fumbled the passing a little bit, no speed was lost. In the end, we got fifth, not the best result.

After relays, I ran to Ben asking for the shot put results. Ben told me that I got first, I had done it, he gave me a ribbon, and I will be progressing to Regionals.

Long jump, my last event of the day. I expected to get third, maybe second, so I had some expectations. On my practice jump, I stepped over the line by quite a lot, so they told me to be more careful next time. After everyone did their practice jump, it was clear who would get first, but everyone else was neck to neck. On my first jump, I was extra careful on where I put my foot, then I jumped as hard as I could, I soared through the air, but the landing was tough. In the end, I got a poor result I knew would not make the cut. On my second and last jump, I played it a bit risky and tried to place my foot as far as I could, but I still made sure to not step on the line. Soaring through the air, I felt good about this jump, it was going to be far. I stood up ready to walk back to my line, but then they told me I stepped on the line, I knew for sure, one-hundred percent I did not step on that line, but it is was it is. I didn't even get to know my place, which was disappointing.

I had a great time at athletics divisions, and I hope I can maybe even make it through to State for shot put.

Congratulations to: Jaz, and Xavier who also made it to Regionals, and Mica, Henry, Eric, Rufus, Matthew and Frida for making it into divisions.

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