Sport
Houses/Interschool Sport Report
Interschool Sport for 2018 has come to an end! Koonung has certainly ended the year strongly.
On Thursday 18th of October, the Intermediate Boys (Mr Harte) and Girls (Mr Sanderson) Cricket teams competed in their respective Eastern Region Quarter Final competitions. The Girls team convincingly won their Quarter Final and Semi-Final. This qualified them for the Final the following Thursday 25th of October. Unfortunately, they lost in a nail-biting finish to Balwyn HS.
On Friday the 19th of October, the following teams represented Koonung:
Year 8 Boys EMR Hockey (Mr Kofoed) – we came 2nd in Eastern Zone
Year 7 Girls EMR Table Tennis (Mr Mangonis) –came 3rd in their Pool but missed out on the Finals..
Year 7 Boys Cricket (Dr McKie) – very competitive but missed out on getting to the next stage.
Year 7 Boys and Girls Tennis (Mr Tuffnell) – had a lot of fun but did not get through to Zone!
On Monday 22nd of October, 2 Koonung students competed at the State Track and Field Competition at Lakeside Stadium, Albert Park.
Congratulations to Connor Laird (Year 8) who came 2nd in the 14 Year Boys Javelin Event.
Congratulations also to Sophie Zarafa (Year 7) who finished 4th in the 12-13 Year Girls Long Jump Competition.
On Friday the 26th of October, Ms Howe coached the Year 7 Boys and Year 8 Girls Basketball teams that competed in the Eastern Region Finals at Dandenong Basketball Centre.
The Year 8 Girls team did not reach the Finals but showed considerable improvement throughout the day. Their win in their last Pool game was well-deserved!
The Year 7 Boys team did extremely well, winning all three Pool games which qualified them for the Final against the strong Rowville SC Academy team. The boys battled gamely but were ultimately defeated by their well-drilled and talented opponents.
A big thank you to the Senior students (Erin Smillie, Emma Hayes and Connor Mathews) who assisted Ms Howe with coaching on the day.
Finally, I wish to sincerely thank all students, staff and parents for your support of the Sports Program this year. As a result of your invaluable contributions, Koonung has once again achieved excellent results on the sporting field.
Andrew Mangonis
2018 Houses & Interschool Sport Coordinator
Caitlin Morando to join state cricket team
Cricket Victoria recently announced the final Under-18 Female Victoria Metro squad selected ahead of the National Championships, which will take place between the 14th-24th January 2019 across Bendigo and Ballarat.
The first phase of training, which kicked off in June, saw many of Victoria’s best young female cricketers undergo a challenging selection process to earn a spot in the final squad of 13, all under the watchful eyes of Victorian players Makinley Blows and Kristen Beams at the MCG and the CitiPower Centre.
Congratulations to Caitlin Morando (Year 10) for being selected in the Under 18 Female Victoria Metro team. We wish her all the best at the National Championships
Ex-Koonung student excelling in sport
Fifteen year old Nia Stamatopoulos (Koonung student in 2016 and 2017) is making giant strides at an elite level in women’s football. It has been a meteoric rise for her given that she only started playing football at the age of 12. If you are keen to follow her progress, I strongly recommend you watch the Kick (Series 3) episodes on ABC iview. Koonung SC was fortunate to have Nia at our school in Year 7 and 8 and we wish her all the best in her quest to become a Matilda. If all things go well, we will see her representing Australia at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, which Australia is bidding to host.
Best of luck in your sporting endeavours Nia!
Intermediate Girls cricket
Unfortunately, KSC girls cricket team's quest for cricket glory fell 3 balls short in the Eastern metropolitan region final. It was an unlucky result for the girls who had dominated all their previous matches. A combination of a crocked captain who couldn’t run (Caitlin Morando), a wicketkeeper having to go interstate to play football (Amanda Ling) and star opener (Heidi Pearce) failing with the bat for the first time in the competition (after previous scores of 52 and 90n.o.) proved too much against perennial heavyweights Balwyn. Their reliance on their star player proved well-founded as she scored 2/3 of their target score.
On the other hand, Koonung players all contributed with bat, ball and in the field at various times. They showed graciousness in defeat, humility in victory and provided constant support to each other. Special mentions also to Iona Cameron for consistent performances with bat, ball and some great catching, Emily Bacon’s radar-like bowling and Ella Morrison who contributed every match either batting, bowling or talking.
Shaun Sanderson
Photos courtesy of Roger Pearce