SSP NEWS

News

A massive congratulations to Zahlie for her recent performance at the Australian Age Swimming Championships. Zahlie had some incredible performances, most notably – she won gold in the 200m freestyle event with a super-fish time of 2 minutes and 3 seconds.

Zahlie also won the 400m Freestyle event and made the finals for: 100m F/S, 400m Individual Medley and 800m F/S. 

Zahlie has also been selected to attend the ‘Next Wave’ invitational competition camp – one of only 64 swimmers selected nation-wide.

Zahlie, we are so very proud of your athletic achievements and love the way you are also able to continue to do great things in the classroom with your learning as well. Keep up the terrific work! 

A huge good-luck to our very own Arlo Shawcross who is off to Turkey to compete for

Australia in the World Team Cup Wheel-Chair Tennis competition. Arlo will compete in both the singles and doubles matches against athletes from all around the world.

Leo and Paddy have both recently featured in the Slam Australia Magazine. Both boys received a 2 page spread, recognising the wonderful things they are doing in the skateboarding world! Well done Leo and Paddy.

Drawstring Bags and SSP

We are requesting that all student-athletes continue to bring their drawstring bags to SSP for all of time tabled sessions. No WHC backpacks should enter into the green building – ever! Back packs are to be stored in student lockers. Drawstring bags and boot / shoe bags are permitted for training / in the green building. Please remind your child of this process.

SSP - Competition and Team Selection Friendly Reminder

It is an exciting time for our program with over 600 students across the four pillar sports: AFL, Basketball, Netball and Soccer. However, this also creates complexities around team selection for tournaments and competitions. It is simply not possible for all student-athletes to be selected.

Please understand that although student-athletes are a part of the SSP, this does not guarantee automatic entry to any WHC interschool or representative team. Head coaches are responsible for team selection and many factors contribute to this process, including; skill, ability, team dynamics, effort, behaviour and attendance across the entire College.

We know that non-selection can be difficult for parent-carers, but we thank you for your understanding and support of our program and all student-athletes, whilst we move in to a heavy phase of competition over the next three terms.

If you or your child has any concerns about selection or non-selection, we would encourage all of our student-athletes to have direct conversations with their coaches regarding feedback for improvement.

We thank you for your continued support. We love that your child is a part of our program, and please endeavour to remember the program was established for our student-athletes to reach both their academic and athletic potentials. It is about growth in both learning and sporting pursuits, not who is or isn’t selected for a team.

Key Contacts for the Specialist Sports Program

Renee Lane – SSP Leader Renee.Lane@education.vic.gov.au

Nick Richardson – High Performance Manager Nicholas.Richardson2@education.vic.gov.au

Cate Johnson – Operations Manager Cate.Johnson@education.vic.gov.au

Please contact the appropriate staff / coaches at each of the Year Levels below if you have any concerns regarding your child’s athletic performance;

AFL Program:

Thomas Hunter (Yr 7-9): Thomas.Hunter@education.vic.gov.au

Will Sexton (Yr 10-12): William.Sexton@education.vic.gov.au

Basketball Program:

Ashley Arnott (Yr 7 - 8): Ashley.Arnott@education.vic.gov.au

Kaleb Sclater (Yr 9-10): Kaleb.Sclater@education.vic.gov.au

Kris Blicavs (Yr 11-12): Kris.Blicavs@education.vic.gov.au

Netball Program:

Ainsley Corrigan (Yr 7-8): Ainsley.Corrigan@education.vic.gov.au

Stacey Dodds (Yr 9-10): Stacey.Dodds@education.vic.gov.au

Susan Meaney (Yr 11-12): Susan.Meaney@education.vic.gov.au

Seth Tomlinson: Seth.Tomlinson@education.vic.gov.au

Soccer Program:

Joseph Didulica: Joseph.Didulica@education.vic.gov.au

Sean Mahon: Sean.Mahon@education.vic.gov.au

Please note: Any mainstream concerns are via the relevant Sub-School Leader or Learning Community Leader through Compass

Link to Purchase Sport Uniform

* For SSP and AAP students only

https://indigowolf.com.au/whcssp

AFL

Basketball

3V3 Basketball State Championships

Our WHC community is super proud of our student-athletes and their performances in the U/15, U/17 and U/20 state titles throughout the week. One state title, 2 Runner Ups, and 2 third placings – an awesome achievement.

A big shout out to the parent-carer community who also jumped in at the last minute to drive students to the tournament, when the bus wouldn’t start at 6.30am in the morning – what a tribe of wonderful humans – Thank you!!!!

Netball

We have hit the ground running in the Netball Program with an exciting Term ahead for all.

Our inaugural first International SNP NZ Netball Tour departs in June in around 50 days, which is extremely exciting for all involved. It will be an amazing opportunity to tour and travel to an International netball powerhouse country in NZ, experience and be a part of a High-Performance Training environment around international players/coaches, and participate in matches against NZ Schools and engage in NZ culture and adventure activities.

The unique experience will be incredible, and the legacy it will now leave within the SNP for the future opportunity of WHC netball students as we look to an international tour every 2-3 years is all extremely exciting.

Our on court sessions and education focus has been around Specialist Area Skill work and students reflecting through analysis of their own games to identify areas of growth, and in collaboration with coaches, we are working on upskilling of players throughout the term in their specialist positional areas. It has been great to see student agency in this area and students driving and owning their improvement.

Well done all students on a great return to term in engagement and excellent standards. 

 ~The Netball Team

Soccer