Sport

Welcome back!

Hello and welcome back to Term 2! Once again, we have plenty of sport on offer this term. There has been a lot of preparation going into upcoming events and competitions and we have had a record number of boys sign up for Sport this term. In football alone, more than 500 students put their names down to play in either the BAS or ACC competitions.  

Competitions that started this week or will start next week include:

• Badminton – All year levels 
• Football – ACC 1st XVIII (Wed), BAS Jnr (Wed), BAS Inter (Tue), BAS 1st XVIII (Wed) BAS 2nd XVIII (Tue).
• ACC Senior Soccer, BAS Intermediate Soccer (Wed)
• Junior House Football – start date TBC
• Liam Duggan Academy for Year 9 & 10 footballers

Other events coming up include:

• Athletics - BAS 
• Swimming - VSAC 
• Basketball - VCC 1st V 
• Golf - ACC 
• Volleyball - VVSC

There are plenty of opportunities for all year levels and abilities. The Junior House Sport (date TBC) is a great way for Year 7’s to meet new friends, get to know their teachers and participate in a fun environment. Student’s need to listen to the morning messages and continue to communicate with their coaches via MS Teams. 

Thank you to all the staff listed that are assisting with coaching a team this term. Your support of the sport program is much appreciated. 

National All Age Swimming Championships

Congratulations to Ed Meddings, Blake Scott, Matt Mace, Jack Lanyon and Tom Urquhart who all competed for their respective clubs at this year’s National Age Swimming Championships in Brisbane that was held from April 12-18. Well done to all four boys, what a fantastic achievement!

AGSV Golf Competition

Considered the most prestigious golf competition in school sport, is the AGSV competition attended to by many fine schools. Having been hosted for over 30 years by the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, the competition has now been hosted nine times by the fine Spring Valley Golf club just 15 minutes down the road. SPC have been runners-up three times in the competition, the last being in 2016.

The players were treated to magnificent fairways and teeing grounds. An overcast, still and relatively warm day greeted all in the second week of Term 2. There were 20 schools and 81 players overall in the team’s and individual competitions.  

In 2025 the SPC boys were represented by 2 Year 12 students in Paddy Klain (captain) and Warrnambool GC member and SPC boarder Hugo Artz. Two Yr 10 students in Eddie Palmer and Lachie Vanderhorst completed our team of four.  

Scores of 82, 92,92, and 97 didn’t exactly set the world on fire this year and SPC finished 16th out of 20 participating schools. With three boys playing the course for the first time and the course set up being traditionally challenging, this was a good result. Very fast greens and difficult pin positions ensured that golf was the winner on this day. Testimony to this was that the overall winner by one stroke, a lad from St Kevins College Toorak, playing of a +4 handicap, managed a par round of 71. Congratulations to SPC student Hugo Artz who came tied 28th with his score of 82. We will now turn out attention to the ACC Golf competition in two weeks' time at the Northern Golf Club in Glenroy.  

– Chris Gleeson

Clay Target Shooting

We had an impressive squad of 31 students travel to Colac for their annual 'Down the line' schools' clay shooting competition. Rainy conditions did not deter our enthusiastic and dedicated team of young men, supporting each other admirably throughout the day. 

A strong finish for St Patrick's College, with Jack Remington taking out the Junior Boys 1st place award, scoring 15/20 clays. This surprising result was coupled with a convincing Senior Boys 1st place award by Trigger Roberts, scoring 27/30 in a tense shoot-out. 

Our team at St Patrick's College are well supported by our assisting staff, Russ Roberts, Sarah Lamanna, our sports department and most importantly our families that make the effort to ensure our students are able enjoy these enriching opportunities alongside their like-minded peers. 

Our next event will take us to the sunny skies of Laang, located near Warrnambool, for our only Field and Game Clay Target Competition of the year. We are always open to new enthusiasts; it is our goal to eventually fill a whole bus soon! 

– Sarah Lamanna

Soccer: SPC Intermediate Derby 

The SPC Intermediate Soccer program kicked off on Wednesday, 30 April with a derby game between SPC Green and SPC Blue. Both teams were stacked with talented and enthusiastic players looking to begin the season with an early win. 

Tadhg Kiely of SPC Green opened the scoring with a goal early in the first half, which was quickly backed up by another goal for SPC Green knocked in by Will Steenhuis. SPC Blue were quick to respond with two goals from Kade Howden evening up the scores leading into halftime. 

The second half saw both teams refine their attack, with frequent passing and forward-half pressure resulting in goals for Michael Zeller, Kade Howden and Cyrus Fordham. Late in the game Aiden O’Keeffe kicked a close-range goal to tie the score at 4 – 4. With a minute to go Jake Remington broke free to kick the sealing goal for SPC Blue to ensure that they started their season with a win. 

Well done to all players involved, and a thank you to Mr Williams, Mr O’Brien and Mr Dwyer for their organisation of the afternoon. 

Final Score: SPC Blue 5 def SPC Green 4

Goal Scorers: SPC Blue - Kade Howden 3, Cyrus Fordham 1, Jake Remington 1. SPC Green - Tadhg Kiely 1, Will Steenhuis 1, Michael Zeller 1, Aiden O’Keeffe 1. 

– James Russell

Chess

The fortress that is Kyral Castle held the first qualifying round of the Northern Star Chess Tournament. St Patrick's sent a team of 25 highly skilled and ruthless competitors to do battle with the States best metro and regional chess players. Fierce battles ensued and the boys were left largely exhausted and bloodied (there was a papercut!) but all had a thoroughly good time. 

Notable performances included Lachlan Corte, Xxavier Ballinger and Riley Cirvydas who all qualified for the Northern Star State championships held in Term 4.

The College would like to congratulate all the students who attended this tournament and remind all members that this is only the beginning of a strong year for the St Patrick's College Chess Club. 

Our chess club at the College is now the strongest it has ever been largely due to the efforts of the senior students and participating staff in fostering a supportive and competitive chess environment. There will be more competitive Chess tournaments for our students to show their metal and competitive spirit to come. 

– Andrew Wilson

Senior Football Camp

On Monday, 7 April the SPC senior football squad travelled to Lady Northcote Camp near Bacchus Marsh for our triennial Melbourne football camp. We had two special guests from St Patrick’s College Maghera, Dara McPeake and Rory McGonigle, join us on the camp. Thanks to the Todd and Dixon families who Dara and Rory have stayed with for the two-week exchange. 

Day One started with an early departure from SPC to get to the camp where we underwent some team building and leadership activities. On Tuesday, we arrived at Essendon FC where we were greeted by former student Matt Rosa who gave us a tour of the facilities that included a kick of the footy inside the Hangar – a huge indoor space that the Bombers have. We were then given a presentation in the team meeting room by Essendon Recruiter Darren Farugia on what they look for in potential draftees, which was extremely valuable for the boys to hear. 

Following this, we popped over to the nearby UrbnSurf facility where all of the boys had a ball learning to surf. Everyone was able to successfully catch a wave including the two Irish lads and staff members Paddy O’Brien and Andrew Wilson. The day culminated with dinner at The Montague Hotel in South Melbourne with six special guests – former SPC students and current AFL players Sam Lalor, Harry Sharp, Sam and Dan Butler, Josh Gibcus and Jacob Hopper. At the end of the night, we had a Q&A with the lads where the boys got to ask questions about their journey – as well as get a couple of selfies!

On Wednesday we played a practice game against a highly-rated Caufield Grammar squad. All of the boys were given an opportunity to shine and it was a great hit out with a lot of talent on display. Both Irish lads played and the highlight of the day was Rory McGonigle kicking a goal and then being mobbed by ALL of the SPC lads that were playing.

The camp was a huge success and I would like to thank Howard Clark for organising and preparing everything for the camp as well as the outstanding work from staff members Mike Kent, Heath Pritchard, Paddy O’Brien, Andrew Wilson, Shane Hayes and Andrew Chamings who took time out of their Term 1 break to look after the boys on the camp.

– Jason Lappin 1st XVIII coach.  

Junior Football

SPC Junior White 6 – 9 – 35 def Ballarat High School 5 – 3 – 33

SPC White Goal Kickers: Ryan Cook, Griff Edwards, Joe Knobel, Kai Luak, Will Taylor

SPC White Best Players: Joe Knobel, Ryan Cook, Griff Edwards, Roy Martin, Charlie Molloy, Lachie Barr, Jack Gerdtz

The St Patrick’s College White Junior Football side played their first “away” game of the BAS season against Ballarat High School on what was a beautiful afternoon for football. The team was missing some of its usual Year 8 faces due to interleague commitments; however, the depth of SPC White shone through and other players stood up and played their role.

Before the game, we knew that we’d be in for a good contest – BHS had some big bodies and quick ball movement – this was evident early on when they kicked the first couple of goals for the game. It didn’t take too much longer for the SPC boys to settle down – we started controlling the play more and got the game on our terms. 

The game was an absolute spectacle and a pure, good old-fashioned game of schoolboy footy. The victory was the result of a great team effort – everyone played their roles beautifully. I don’t like to make individual mentions, but I would like to recognise the game of Joe Knobel. Joe played in the ruck for the entire game and was clearly, without a doubt, the most dominant player on the ground. Also worth noting the efforts of Griff Edwards who committed to playing for SPC White before then heading off to his interleague commitments.

Well done, boys. Regardless of the result, it was a pleasure to be involved in a great contest and to watch you all become better teammates each week. Next week we play against Ballarat Clarendon College Black on Hill Oval. We will also have our usual team meeting on Monday, at recess in OMW001.

– Tom Nash, SPC White Junior Coach

Communication

The best form of communication we have with parent/guardians is via the Parent Access Module (PAM). Students require permission to participate in all sport. Parent/guardians will receive the information through a PAM activity permission. Please ensure that you read the information prior to giving permission and that you also talk to students about the information. 

The daily messages are one of the best ways we can distribute information to students about sports that are on offer and where sign-up meetings will be held. Students should check the daily messages regularly.

Once students have signed up for a sport, we will be adding them into a MS Teams group where they can communicate directly with their coach. Students must communicate with their coach if they are unavailable for a match so we can find a replacement to ensure we have a full team for each match.

If students are unsure of how to sign up for a sport or want more information, they can visit sports staff in the gymnasium. 

SPC Sport Uniform

All sport uniforms can be purchased at Dobsons Uniform Shop, located in Mair St, Ballarat. Students need to ensure they are in the correct uniform to participate in Sport. We have a fantastic uniform, and students should wear the Green, White and Blue with pride. 

The general sport uniform is the navy blue polo top, navy shorts and white socks. Certain sports will require very specific clothing e.g. 1st XI Cricketers require SPC Whites, SPC cricket shirt and SPC cricket cap. Students should check with their coach as to what is required. Also remember to wear sunscreen at all times.

I wish all students and coaches the best in 2025. Always play the game in the right spirit, wear the correct uniform and respect the facilities, home and away. St Patrick’s College is steeped in sporting tradition and 2024 was an historic year for Sport at SPC. 

Please do not hesitate to contact me (jlappin@stpats.vic.edu.au) or our Sports Administrator Mr Simon Dwyer (sdwyer@stpats.vic.edu.au) at the College with any questions.