From the Head of Sport

Over the past two weekends we have had a good start to summer sport. It has been pleasing to see the effort being put into training, including the joy the Touch Football boys get from training in the rain!

Just a reminder if you want to travel home from training in your sports gear, this must be BMGS branded sports uniform, not a mixture of school and other. If you do not have the correct uniform you will be required to change back into full school uniform including blazers.

Congratulations - Basketball

Eric Downes (Year 11) has had a very productive school holidays making a lot of progress in his basketball career.

Eric competed at the recent Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup (ACJBC) tournament, which was held in Albury & Wodonga Jan 14-20. The ACJBC is a week long, round robin tournament featuring the best country players from NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, ACT and NZ. 

Following state team trials held last September, Eric was selected to join the U18 NSW Waratahs team, who came 2nd overall (winning 7 out of 8 games), unfortunately losing to the Victoria Bushrangers in a very close and hard fought grand final.

 Eric's efforts in the tournament have been recognised in his selection into the NSW Country team that will compete at the U18 National Championships to be held in Brisbane, April 7-14. We wish Eric all the best at Nationals.

Congratulations - Orienteering

Alton Freeman (Year 9) has gained the attention of State and National selectors in his Orienteering and has been invited to attend the National O-league events this year for Under 20 and Open Elite competitors. This is an outstanding achievement for someone of his age.

Alton will be competing in Hobart on 17th and 18th February and we wish him all the best in this competition.

ISA Swimming Carnival

The ISA Swimming Carnival will be held on 13th March at SOPAC. Any students who qualify are expected to attend as part of the BMGS Swimming team. BMGS Swimming caps are to be worn and can be purchased from the Uniform Shop. The team list will be posted on the Sport noticeboard following the BMGS Swimming Carnival.

Winter Sport

After checking the Winter Sport survey results it is clear that a number of students have not made their selections. Nominations to ISA are due next week so I request that you give this your urgent attention.

Mountain Biking update and School events for 2024

There will be up to eight Interschool Mountain Bike events run by Rocky Trails in 2024. 

These events will be held in Western Sydney, South Coast, Orange, Canberra North Coast and Wollongong 

Details and links below; see Mrs Harris if you're interested in participating. 

BMGS rider Neil Geikie sending a jump in style at one of last year's NSW Rockytrails competition in Orange. 

Rocky Trail Academy Format:

• 3 Timed Enduro Stages, 5 Runs, Fastest On Each Counts!
• The competition will consist of 3 timed sections.
• Tracks have been designed to test a variety of skills, including endurance, speed and technical ability.
• Riders may ride each timed section up to 5 times on each track with their fastest time counting.
• Combined best times will be combined for the overall result for each rider.
• Riders earn points for school on each track
• Bonus points awarded for 1st to 5th on each track
• Overall Champion School awarded 

Don’t forget registration for next month's 2024 Australian MTB Interschools at Thredbo are still open for any last-minute entries. Years 3-12

Match Fixtures Saturday, 17th February

Mrs Megan Harris

Head of Sport

Match Reports - Touch Football

03/02/2024 Junior Boys

On Saturday, the junior boys touch football team travelled to Brookvale to play St Augustine's College for our first game of Touch Football for 2024. Unfortunately we only had one junior player as reserve so we had a few boys from the firsts team to help out.

The opposition started off strong and found the try line in a couple minutes to score the first try.  They took this as an advantage and outnumbered us in their attack and soon we couldn't keep up. Other than that, the boys put in a huge amount of effort and we are slowly getting better at our line attack and making more opportunities to score a try. 

Thank you very much to Resha for being so supportive and helping us improve every game.  Will Pierce, Captain of Junior Boys

03/02/2024 Boys' Firsts Game 1

We arrived at the Sydney Academy of Sport on a sweltering hot day to play against a strong St Augustines team. Only having 10 players we needed a couple of the junior boys to come up and play and we started the game well, scoring two tries to Augustine's three and going into halftime with confidence. In the second half, the hot weather and fatigue caught up with us as Augustine’s scored four tries to our two and ended up winning the game 7- 4. It was a great effort from the boys up against an experienced and strong opposition.  Jem Sullivan

03/02/2024 Boys' Firsts Game 2

On the weekend we had to play 2 games in what wasn’t the coolest of weather! Our second game (which is what this report is on) was a doozy. This was our first week back and it is safe to say that we have lost whatever fitness we had from the end of last year, which made this game very difficult. The opposition (St Augustines) were a very good opposition, they taught us the importance of holding a solid defensive line and talking in defence. In the first half it was a pretty close game, with only 2 tries between us, then in the second half the lack of fitness caught up to us as well as the immense heat of the day. Safe to say we weren't victorious but it was good to go out and have a run with the boys. - Hamish McLeod (Boys Touch Football Captain)

03/02/2024 Junior Girls

The Junior girls touch football team played their first game since the holiday break on Saturday. They left early in the morning and travelled to Macquarie Uni to play against Barker College. The temperature was around 35 degrees. The finishing score was 5-2 Barker's way, scoring the tries were Augie Wooldridge and Aroha Cooper. The team was hot and tired, but still pushed through and helped each other, putting in their best effort. Georgia Cooper and Eddie Halse

03/02/2024 Girls' Firsts

What a great first game back! While warming up, we watched Barker 2 gain significantly more numbers than us and began to feel a bit nervous. Luckily, we were able to borrow Auggie and Eddie from the juniors to fill in for our team members at regional athletics in Dubbo. Thank you girls! The game started off with Barker scoring the first try but soon after, we scored (Tarana) and the playing field evened out as we brushed off the holiday dust. Marley then saw the perfect gap and ran through to score an awesome second try for us! We walked off at half time surprised with the 2-1 lead. Tired, we started the second half strongly, continuing with our great defence, gaining some penalties against Barker. Assisted by Ruby and Kiah, Tarana scored Grammar’s 3rd try for the game. We held on and Natalie and Ashley stopped Barker’s numerous attempts at tries allowing us to finish the game 3-1. Awesome job girls!  Tarana Stubenrauch (Girls Touch Football Captain) 

10/02/2024 Boys' Firsts Game 1

We travelled down to Macquarie University grounds to play against St Andrews Cathedral School. It was a very early start for everyone as we arrived, we were greeted by rain and damp conditions. When we started to play both teams scored two tries each before one of our teammates Aiden got a serious injury.  Unfortunately, we had to wait for ages for an ambulance, we tried to find another field to try and resume the game however we couldn't find one. I am pleased to report Aiden is alright and recovering at home. The score ended up 2-2 as we couldn't resume.  By Thomas Curtis

10/02/2024 Boys' Firsts Game 2

With a fast-paced first half of the second match against St. Andrews we were tied in score at 2-2. Both our rolling defence and driving attack were working well, as was our line defence to hold them at 2 points for the rest of the game. The only weak-point in our gameplay was line attack as there were many opportunities to score on their line which we missed. Overall our defence was very strong and our speed up the field was excellent as well.    By Hunter Costigan

Match Reports - Basketball

03/02/2024 Junior A Girls' Basketball

Unfortunately, the girls were defeated 32-42 , particularly when the score was moving point-for-point the whole game. However, in the last few minutes of the game the girls made a couple of turnovers which the other team converted into points. The girls still played really well and didn’t give up.

03/02/2024 Junior C Girls Basketball

Last weekend the Junior C girls headed to Bowral with a skeleton team due to play auditions. The 5 girls who played really stepped up against the Oxley team. The first half saw a lot of possession and a few good baskets however the second half saw the girls improve their defense. This meant that they were able to capitalise and score a number of fast breaks and extend their lead. Well done to Daisy, Tara, Rose, Neva and Indie for running hard for the full 40 minutes. The final score reflected their efforts. A win with 25-4.

10/02/2024 Girls' Firsts Basketball

The First V played St Paul’s who are Number 2 in the competition. The girls have been practicing motion and were able to successfully include it into their game. The team worked really well together, and remained a couple of points ahead the whole game until the last 5 minutes where they pulled away to clinch the win 26-21. Jack’s feedback: it was the best game he has seen them play. They currently sit on top of the ladder with a focus on continuing the improvement running into the final games of the season.

Match Reports - Tennis

Rounds 6 and 7

Round 6 is the BMGS derby game. The BMGS Odds Team plays against the BMGS Evens Team.  One Thursday, it was Neil versus David, Alex versus Otto and Jed versus Raph. Neil, Alex and Jed from the Odds team came away with wins.  The next Thursday, it was Hugo H versus Laurits, Hugo L versus Eligh and Noah versus Oliver. Hugo L and Noah had wins for the Odds team. Laurits was the sole winner for the Evens side. The match between Hugo H and Laurits was by far the closest of the matches. Our coach Nicole was really pleased to see how both Hugo and Laurits fought for each point. They were great role models for the younger players who came for tennis lessons after us. The match came down to a tie break with Laurits winning it 7-5.

When we were to play our three doubles matches, the rain stepped in. This meant that we played our doubles matches last Friday. Neil and Alex played against David and Jed. It was a very close match made up of three tie-break sets with David and Jed coming out on top. The two Hugos played as a doubles team for the first time and also came out with a win against Raph and Laurits who have been in fine form all season. Eligh and Oliver also got a win for the Evens side against Theodore and Noah. Thanks for stepping in Theodore.

BMGS Odds won 14 sets to 7.

Round 7 was played at Springwood Tennis courts and we welcomed the cooler weather and a sleep in. The doubles matches on Friday helped them to be match fit for their games against St Stanislaus'. Unfortunately, the St Stanislaus' team only had 9 players and they had to forfeit some of their matches. Once again this shows the importance of commitment to your sport and simply showing up.  Thank you to Hugo and to Noah, who despite not feeling their best, came along to play and won their doubles match. 

The Odds team won 18 sets to 0. In tennis parlance, their opposition was bageled.

The Evens Team played against the St Stanislaus' Odds team. There were wins to Laurits, Eligh and Oliver in the singles and to Raph and Laurits and Theodore and Eligh in the doubles. David had a very close match starting off well but losing in the deciding tie-break.

The Evens team won 15 sets to 4.

Thank you to the many parents who stayed around to watch and support the team. It makes a huge difference. It was also good to see some playing with their new equipment acquired at Christmas time. The game of tennis was the winner once again. 

BMGS Tennis – Round 8

On Saturday 10th February, Round 8 was a repeat of Round 1. This is due to the small number of schools that play in the ISA Summer Tennis competition.   Once again, the BMGS Odds played Kinross Odds and the BMGS Evens played Kinross Evens.  Both teams had some wins and some losses with some very close matches.  For both teams, it was a case of history repeating itself.

For the Odds team, Neil, Hugo H and Hugo L all had wins in their singles matches with Neil and Hugo H winning in straight sets, and Hugo L fighting well to win the match tie-break. Neil and Alex also had a convincing win in their doubles. Overall, the BMGS Odds team lost 11 sets to 8.   For the Evens team, David, Laurits and Oliver won their singles matches. Laurits won convincingly, whereas Oliver and David fought hard to both win their match tie-break. As the last time these schools met, Raph and Laurits fought well in their doubles, but lost in the match tie-break.   Overall, the BMGS Evens team lost 12 sets to 9.                

I applaud the spirit in which both teams played. We often say it is not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game, and both teams were gracious in both victory and defeat. Well done team! 

Mrs Catherine Van Gelderen

MIC Tennis