Sport & Co-Curricular
Senior Co-Curricular Sports
Term 4 Information
Our senior sport teams will return to action in Term 4, Week 1 with the first round of games taking place on Saturday 18 October.
All students who nominated to participate in Term 4 sport would have received an email with their team details this week.
Co-curricular Sport Information
Sports Award Night
On Wednesday, 17 September we celebrated the outstanding achievements of our young athletes across both Junior and Senior Schools. In Junior School, 17 awards recognised SAPSASA selection across five sports and more than 30 MVP and Best & Fairest awards across 11 sports. In the Senior School, 18 awards recognised state representatives and team selections across many sports. We also celebrated our athletes with MVP and Best & Fairest awards and presented commitment badges to students who have represented the College in a sport for four or more years.
Guest speakers Lauren Frew from the Adelaide Thunderbirds and Katelyn Pope from the Port Adelaide Football Club inspired the evening, reminding us of the vital role sport plays in our lives. They spoke about overcoming challenges and setbacks, highlighting the many benefits that sport brings. Students were encouraged to set goals, avoid comparing themselves to others, embrace the joy of sport, and make the most of every opportunity.
Please click HERE for the full list of students who received awards at the 2025 Senior School Awards Night.
Knockout Sport
Congratulations to the Knockout Soccer team who participated in the School Sport SA Division 1 soccer finals on Tuesday 23 September. After a strong win in their first match, they advanced to the Grand Final, facing off against Roma Mitchell in a high-level and hard-fought game. They came away with the silver medal, a fantastic result and a true reflection of their teamwork, determination, and skill. We are so proud of you all!
Athletics
The South Australian All Schools Athletics Championships are being held on 25-26th October 2025 at Mile End. If you have a child interested in competing at this event, you can find further information by clicking on the link below:
https://www.athleticssa.com.au/our-events/sa-all-schools-championships/
If you plan to participate and are keen for some additional training sessions with accredited athletics coaches, please contact Sophie Hage – Sophie.Hage@Loreto.sa.edu.au
Rowing Brunch
On the weekend, the Loreto Rowing community gathered in our beautiful Indigenous garden to celebrate the season launch. We heard from our Captain and Vice-Captain of Boats, welcomed our 2025/2026 coaching team, and christened three brand-new boats. A wonderful morning and an exciting start to the season!
Student Achievements
A huge congratulations to Issy R, who has been selected to represent South Australia in the U17 Girls Water Polo team. Issy will compete at the National Championships in Canberra during the upcoming school holidays. This is a wonderful achievement, and we wish her and her team every success as they take on the best in the country.
Congratulations to our Loreto Old Scholars on their netball grand final win on Monday 22 November! Well done, girls, it’s wonderful to see you playing and enjoying your sport through the Loreto Old Scholars Association (LOSA)
If you have any questions about co-curricular sport, please contact me on Sophie.Hage@loreto.sa.edu.au
Sophie Hage
Director of Sport and Sport Performance
Junior Co-Curricular Sports
Netball Finals Wrap
PRELIMINARY FINAL
Our Year 6 White team faced Marryatville in a preliminary final last week. The game see-sawed each quarter, with never more than a goal or two separating the sides. There were plenty of tense moments in the second half. Shooters Quinn, Jamie and Esther held their nerve. Marika put in a dominant display at centre. Penny and Ella had their hands full in the goal circle with Marryatville’s very tall shooter. Kate picked up plenty of intercepts at wing defence while Erin was elusive at wing attack. In the frantic final stages, Ella had to come off with a foot injury – Audrey stepped in and performed brilliantly. The game finished in a tie!
We went down by 2 goals in extra time, however it was a brilliant game of netball and our team should be proud. Well done to Marryatville who won the semi-final in overtime, then beat us in the preliminary final in overtime, and finally went on to win the grand final by one goal!
GRAND FINALS
A healthy crowd full of families, students and staff braved the cold conditions at Campbelltown netball courts to support our Year 5 Red and Year 6 Blue teams in their grand finals.
In the 12 o’clock match, Loreto Yr 5 Red had the better of a tense opening, holding a three-goal quarter time lead. Imogen, Tiana and Ella were combing well around the goal circle and Lucy and Eva were strong in defence. In the second half Kenya and Ellie picked up some crucial intercepts while Arabella, Millie and Amelia controlled the midcourt. It was a hard-fought game though we managed to extend our lead at each break, eventually running out winners by 8. Coaches Charlotte and Izzy said that they couldn’t be prouder of the effort, both today and throughout the season.
In the 1:30pm match, Loreto Year 6 Blue burst out of the blocks and raced to a 12-3 quarter time lead. Some clever interplay between Goal Shooter Bella and Goal Attack Everly meant that we were constantly taking our shots close to the goal ring. Charlotte was the team’s energizer bunny at Centre while Sibella and Rihanna provided plenty of run. Delilah and Savy were resolute in the defensive goal circle and Paloma showed her versatility, excelling in a number of different roles.
We controlled the match and played some dazzling netball at times, running out winners 38-17. Unfortunately, Inez was unavailable due to injury but it was great to see her there supporting the team. Coach Megan praised the team for their undefeated season. This was the first Sub Junior 1 premiership Loreto has won for 16 years.
Congratulations to both teams and to their coaches Megan, Charlotte and Izzy. Premierships are difficult to win and you should be very proud! Thank you also to everyone who came out to support the teams!
Year 6 Rowing
Our Year 6 classes have had the chance to do some rowing activities during their PE lessons this term. If students enjoyed these sessions, they can sign up for Loreto’s Year 6 “Learn To Row” program in Term 4. Register here.
The Learn To Row program runs for 6 weeks. It involves some fitness and basic skills sessions at Loreto before finishing with two introductory sessions on the water at West Lakes.
Please click on this link to see the Loreto Rowing Handbook for 2025-26. If this link does not work for you, please view it via Loreto Connect > Sport > Senior School Sport > Rowing.
Volleyball
Well done to our Loreto Diggers volleyball team who finished Term 3 with a barnstorming win over Concordia. We won all three sets, 25-11, 25-10 and 25-11. All players have improved their serving and recently our returns and rallies have jumped another level. Congratulations to Audrey, Hattie, Holly, Lucy, Elise and Vera on a great term!
Year 2 Netball
Thank you to all the players and coaches who attended our preseason trainings this term, in preparation for our debut summer season. I hope that you had fun at the sessions! At the most recent training, Year 4 netballers Claire and Hazel taught the Year 2s the all-important Loreto team song.
Sports Awards
Many thanks to all the students, families, coaches and staff who came along to our inaugural Junior School Sports Awards event last week. We awarded Best & Fairest medals and Most Valuable Player certificates for each team. It was great to hear from Port Adelaide Power footballer Katelyn Pope, who took us on her sporting journey which also included playing cricket for the SA Scorpions. There was also a special presentation for one of our long-term aerobics coaches Ruby Tynan, who is off to Prague for the World Aerobics Championships next month.
Thank You, Coaches!
Many thanks to all the family members, senior school students, Loreto staff and old scholars who coached teams this winter. Loreto is very lucky to have you!
Coaching primary school students as they start out on their sporting journey is fun and rewarding, though it can also be a challenge. It is often easy as coaches to see the things the players need to work on however it’s not as easy to put yourself in primary school children’s shoes and get a feel for what they will find engaging and fun. What motivates them? What do they find important? What keeps them coming back to the sport? At times as a coach I think I get on the right wavelength… sometimes not so much.
The Legend of John Cena (The Soccer Ball)
When I was coaching one of our soccer teams, we had a training kit full of white and yellow soccer balls. One week a rogue blue soccer ball turned up in the kit bag. The blue soccer ball became something of a celebrity at our trainings. Everyone wanted to use the blue soccer ball. Every game had to be played with the blue soccer ball. The players even named it after John Cena, the wrestler. I’m not sure why.
This little quirk started out as a bit of fun but soon became problematic. Every drill had to be done using John Cena. When players were split into pairs there were arguments about who got to use John Cena. If John Cena got lodged in the hedge, we couldn’t just grab another ball and keep going. Training would grind to a halt while he was rescued. Whose turn was it to have John Cena…? Arguments. You had John Cena last time… arguments.
After a couple of weeks of this, I’d had just about enough of John Cena. At our next training, the blue soccer ball had mysteriously disappeared from the training kit. Where’s John Cena? It soon dawned on the girls that John Cena wasn’t lost and that in fact I’d removed it from the kit bag. I explained that I thought it was becoming a distraction in our trainings, that it was causing too many fights and arguments, we weren’t getting through all our activities and training would work better without him.
I thought there would be a bit of initial disappointment but then training would get underway and we’d have a much more enjoyable and worthwhile session. I thought wrong. The players put in the most listless, dispirited training of the term.
We got to Friday afternoon’s match and the players approached me before the game with a piece of paper. They’d put together a contract that said if they beat Seymour this afternoon, I had to promise to bring John Cena back to our trainings. They’d included a bunch of behaviour clauses on their part and had all signed it. They promised not to argue, that they’d share, take it in turns, not cause delays etc. I ummed and ahhed. They’d gone to all this trouble and showed some creativity… but I certainly didn’t want John Cena back at training. Seymour hadn’t lost a game for the whole season so I thought this might end up solving itself. Against my better judgment, I signed.
At half time we were 1-3 down. This was working out perfectly. In the second half though, with John Cena on the line, the players dug deep and played their most inspired half of football of the season. We scored just after half time and then equalised 3-3 with about 5 minutes to go. No! Where had this amazing soccer come from? I panicked and quickly subbed off our two best players, but it was no use. Momentum was on our side. We scored again to go ahead and then once more just before the final whistle. The goal celebrations were outrageous. Winners 5-3 and at the end of the game there was one very happy Loreto team and one very dejected coach. John Cena was back. I couldn’t go back on it either. They had it in writing.
As I watched the post-game celebrations through gritted teeth, I realised that the motivation of the John Cena soccer ball had produced better soccer than I’d managed to get them to play for the whole season. I didn’t really understand why. I guess as coach you have to pick your battles and sometimes just go with the flow.
Ben Johnswood
Sport Coordinator