Co-curricular - Junior Sport Stage 3
What an amazing start to Term 2. The beginning of the Winter season was met with excitement, rain, more rain, a clean sweep across all codes for teams that made it on the pitch and Supporters’ Day. Certainly, a busy start to the Term.
Supporter’s Day was a huge success. With the majority of the Junior School in attendance, some 400 strong, the suburb echoed with the chants from the Year 5 and 6 boys. Their support created a wonderful atmosphere and I know all the boys enjoyed their afternoon. I would like to share a message I received from Mr Tatola, Head of Rugby Development:
“I just wanted to say thank you for the Years 5 and 6 Supporters’ Day. That was the best I’ve seen in my five years of coaching at the College. Their energy was incredible, and they created such a good atmosphere. I’ve never seen the First XV so proud to play in front of their home crowd and they really made a difference especially when we were down to 13 players.”
Well done to all the boys involved on Saturday. You have set the standard for the year groups that come after you.
During the last week of Term 1 and the first weekend of the Term 1 holiday, the Junior School sent two Winter sport squads on tour. Armidale was the destination for our Rugby tour group and Brisbane for our footballers. Please see reports on the tours below.
Armidale Rugby Tour 2024
On Friday 12 April, 20 students from Year 6 travelled to Armidale to represent SPC at the annual Armidale School Rugby Carnival. This year, 38 teams from NSW, QLD and ACT participated across six divisions. Our team was placed in Division 3 with some well-known Sydney rivals including St Augustine’s College, Shore School, and St Pius X College, as well as Marist College Canberra, Flinders, Toowoomba South State School, and Dalby State High School.
The team settled into the boarding house at The Armidale School under the supervision of Mr O’Connor and Mr Pasternatsky before an early start on Saturday morning. The team started the competition well with a 22-0 win over St Pius X, followed by a tough and close encounter with Shore, losing on the bell 7-0. Saturday afternoon saw some brilliant rugby played against Dalby and Marist Canberra, winning both games 19-0 and 14-12. respectively. Our final game of the day was a gruelling match against St Augustine’s, with the final score of 0-0 reflecting the tough nature of the game.
Following a well-earned rest on Saturday night, the team approached Sunday’s games with great enthusiasm. The boys won their first game against Flinders 10-0, and this set them up for the final game against South Toowoomba where the boys finished on a high with a huge 31-0 win. With five wins, one loss and one draw, the team earned the title of Champions of their division – a fantastic result!
At the conclusion of the tournament, students voted for the Player’s Player award which was taken out by Joseph Youssef, and the Coach’s Player award which was presented to James Burnicle.
Special thanks to Mr Pasternatsky, Mr O’Connor and Mrs Tatola for all their hard work in the lead up, early morning training sessions and their supervision and coaching of the team, and to Mr Brendan O’Connell for capturing fantastic photos throughout the tournament.
Macquire Tatola
Head of Rugby
EREA Football Carnival 2024
On Tuesday 9 April, 24 Year 6 students travelled to Brisbane to represent SPC at the EREA Year 6 Football Tournament. The competition was split into two groups of five teams and the teams from SPC were the only schools representing NSW, up against eight teams from Queensland. The SPC teams were placed in two separate groups, the Black and Gold teams.
We arrived from our flight to Brisbane at 8:00 PM, collected our luggage and had a 30-minute bus ride to the boarding house at St Josephs’s Nudgee College. We organised the boys to their rooms and rested before a big few days ahead.
Day one, both teams were in action:
- first game for Black, winning 4 -1 against St Laurence College and Gold winning
19-0 against Ambrose Treacy College - second game Gold vs St Laurence’s College winning 5-0
- third game Gold team vs St Joseph’s College winning 2-0.
Conditions on the day were tough, with the Queensland weather putting on hot conditions.
Day two saw an early kick off:
- Black team had their first game against St Marys College, drawing 1-1
- second game for Black vs St Joseph’s Nudgee College, winning 4-0
- third game for Black team drawing 2-2 against St James College
- Gold Team in their first game winning 5-1 against St Joseph’s Nudgee College
- Gold's second game against St Patricks College QLD, winning 5-0.
The results over the two days put the Gold team into the final. Unfortunately, due to a change in the competition format this year, the Black side missed an opportunity to play in the finals.
St Patricks College Strathfield Gold vs St Marys College QLD was the final game, being the top finishers in their pools. The Final was a tough affair early, with windy conditions taking a while to adjust to. Once the SPC Gold side found their feet, they powered through the game, coming away with a 10-1 WIN. This is the third year in a row that an SPC team has come home from Brisbane victorious. An outstanding effort!
Special thanks to Mr John Locke and Mr Brett Davidson for all their hard work in the lead up, early morning training sessions and their supervision and coaching of the team.
Overall, a very successful tour for all the students and staff, we thoroughly enjoyed the time away with the boys.
Jason Falzone
Head of Football
As we move into the second week of the Winter season, there have been a few changes to the training schedule. This has been done to allow teams a little more space in which to train and due to some changes in coach availability. All changes can be found on the training schedule on the College App and are in effect this week. Please make sure you are aware of the times, days, and venues for your son(s) training. Those boys training at offsite venues need to be collected promptly from the venue, otherwise they will be walked back to the College for pick up.
Looking forward to a dryer weekend, fingers crossed, and some more exciting fixtures. The best of luck to all the boys and their coaches.
John Locke
Head of Co-Curricular Stage 3