Sport News

Camps and Tours

As we continue to learn to deal with COVID-19 experiences like camps and tours are starting to come back onto the agenda. These play a part of the holistic education of boys and builds relationships and friendships that last long after school has finished. 

As a College we value the educational opportunities, life experiences and lasting memories that tours provide, as well as team building, camaraderie and skill and tactical development that these experiences provide for the boys and staff.

We will see more opportunities present themselves for boys in the coming two years. Already at various stages of planning we have a cricket tour to Canberra for the Marist Carnival, basketball planning for the Marist Carnival in Adelaide next year, 1st XI football on the Gold Coast in April, rugby is looking at a couple of options for pre-season and cross country and track and field have their annual Gold Coast camps planned again.

Our rationale for tours is in two parts. There are team specific tours that are preparation for competition, such as the 1st XI football staying at the Gold Coast for 3 days before the AIC competition. The other opportunity is for all boys in programs to experience significant opportunities such as overseas tours. These experiences will be available for all boys in the sport but will be capped to numbers that we can manage for each sport. With priority given to boys who would have finished school before the next opportunity, or performance based if required.

The aim is to start planning overseas tours for sports. These are a significant amount of work for staff and are not part of their normal work duties. They require detailed planning, usually 18 months at a minimum. They also require approval from a number of parties before we can start announcing opportunities but work is commencing behind the scenes. They have also proven to be very expensive post-COVID-19 as well. Something that we are conscious of as a part of our planning.

Selection Policy

Over the next 12 months sports will be releasing the new selection policy for each sport.

The aim of the policy is to:

1. Be consistent across sports
2. Be clear and up front with all stakeholders, including players
3. Be a fair and accurate guide to allow us to accurately select teams

I have included a copy of the football policy below as a guide. This policy document will guide staff and players about when we will be selecting squads, what criteria we will be using and a guide to what we are looking at when grading.

I think it is fair to say in an ideal world we would have more opportunities to select teams before Round 1 but time is a significant pressure. This is by far the worst part of the job as a coach, disappointing boys, and I thank all our coaches for taking this task extremely seriously. In many sports the decision is subjective and this document is trying to make the process as objective as we can. Some will argue with the measures we are using, such as selecting extended training squads from performance in the previous season but in reality, 8 hard, competitive fixtures are a better guide than a couple of internal training sessions. With first teams being able to start 2 terms out from competition this is in effect only 3 months after the previous season ended, negating the argument about development between AIC seasons.

As I have outlined in previous editions in our larger sports A teams will be trialling early in the term before competition to allow development. The criteria has explicit instructions about who is eligible to attend A trials, including A and B players from the previous year and any new boy who has not played the sport at the College before. Boys who are C level and below are welcome to speak with their Coordinator to discuss their suitability to trial. This is not about stopping boys playing, but about recognising the talent level required to compete at that level. Boys who attend A trials but miss the team are required to attend the B and below trials at the end of the term. Unfortunately, just because you miss the A team does not automatically you will be picked in the B team and different coaches are involved in these selections. 

I hope everyone recognises that selections are hard, we do our best with the information we have and what we see, we do not always get it right, we all want the best for the boys and the College.

If a boy thinks there is an error in selection, he is welcome to approach the person in charge of the trial process. For large sports that will be the Year Coordinator, for other sports that will be the coordinator or the Junior Coordinator. It is best to give time, 24-48 hours is a good guide, to reflect and think through the issue before contacting staff. The coordinator will take another look, attend training or a game, speak with staff and have a look at the boy and make a recommendation from there. If the issue is not resolved the next step is to contact the Head of Sport to investigate.

Selection Process 2023 Football