PE FACULTY
Top 4 fever runs high for the Wolverines in Semester 1!
Boys Sydney West Basketball Knockout Championship
Standing: Abby Kitto (Manager), Aiden O’Connell, Daniel Malok, Julian Hay, Cooper Holahan, Samer Odeh (Coach), Tyson Nguyen, Marley Campbell, Cullen Ranawake.
Front: Kenneth Looi, Marcus Arokiasamy
Going places others have not been before! The first time a Wyndham team has progressed through to the final 8 in Sydney West basketball was an occasion to get excited about. Especially since we were not there to merely make up numbers, we were there to complete!
After stumbling in our first game to a very good St Clair HS side, we regrouped, reassessed and rebounded on our way to convincing victories over Model Farms HS and Mitchell HS setting up a must win final round game against Granville Boys HS to progress through to the semis. A see-sawing affair which had everyone on the edge of their seats ultimately fell in favour of everyone’s favourite Wolverines, finishing 42-37 victors. A semi final showdown against the strong favourites and exceptionally good Castle Hill HS brought a close to our campaign.
A great bunch of kids putting a great amount of respect to the Wyndham name. Well done to all involved!!!
University Shield Rugby League Gala Day
Standing: Zane Farr-McKay, Lamack Rangil, Sunny Riley, Lachlan Goodwin, Marley Campbell, Nic Wallace, Providence Mashikura, Jacob Zahra, Maccole Rangil, Austin Oliver.
Front: Simione Lapuaho, Cameron Galea, Luke Pickett, Joel Case, George Tilifi, Mohammed Iqbal Bhatti, Mudathir Abdelatif – Trainer.
With the pain of last year’s Rugby League University Shield effort still burning in the hearts of our returning Year 12 students, we took to this year’s campaign with a greater amount of focus, determination and grit.
Our day kicked off against Plumpton HS. After a nervous start, we slipped into a rhythm and finished comfortable winners 10-6. The team talk was a great improvement on the previous years, with a focus on what we did well but a greater emphasis on where we can be better. Game 2 against Mitchell HS was deceptive, which despite a 10-6 scoreline, was a well-controlled match seeing us victors before going into our last round game. Before game 3, we discussed that this was our ‘statement game’, the one we would use to send a message to the competition. Unfortunately for Evans HS, they would be the team who would suffer at the hands of our statement as we were clinical on our way to a crushing 42-0 victory.
As a result, we finished the round games 1st overall out of 12 schools. After an hour and a half wait to find out who our semi-final opponent would be, the boys were starting to feel a little flat but were buoyed by the news we would come up against Plumpton HS who we beat in the first game. Unfortunately, the long break seemed to flatten us out and we struggled to get moving against a re-invigorated Plumpton side who ended our campaign.
The result did not go our way, but the behaviour, conduct and maturity of the boys was nothing short of exceptional, and for that I can’t thank them enough for their efforts and representation of the mighty WOLVERINES!!!!
Sydney West Schools Touch Footy Knockout
Standing: Lachlan Martin, Cameron Galea -Trainer, Luke Pickett, Cooper Holohan, Zane Farr-McKay, Matthew Witenden, Providence Mashikura, Cullen Ranawake, Nic Wallace -Trainer
Front: Cameron Zammit - Coach, Sunny Riley, Aiden O’Connell
After a first-round bye and second-round forfeit the Wolverines made it through to the 3rd Round of the touch football KO without ever having touched the grass. The third round saw us up against Windsor HS and after a mad rush to the game the Wolverines proved too hard to catch and beat the boys from Windsor to progress to the Sydney West Top 8 gala day for the second year in a row.
Our first game of the gala day put us against Plumpton HS, so the Wolverines were eager to even the score after their defeat in Rugby League a week earlier. Unfortunately, despite some quick plays and early points the boys were only able to tease a draw. The second game put us against Jamison HS in what was a must win given the strength that Castle Hill HS had shown so in their first game. The Wolverines drew first blood, but after 20mins of tit for tat scoring, another draw was recorded, and it looked like an early finish might be on the cards. In their final and toughest match up of the round games the Wolverines came out fighting against Castle Hill keeping them within a few points to record their first loss of the day. But it was not over for the Wolverines just yet. After an unprecedented third draw between Plumpton and Jamison the Wolverines found themselves in a countback, and after their performance against favourites Castle Hill, just scraped into the semi-final against Glenmore Park.
Unfortunately, all good runs come to an end and the boys were taken out by an extremely strong Glenmore Park team. The Wolverines finished 4th in Sydney West after recording only a single win in the season, possibly the only team in history to do so.
NSW Oztag Sydney West Championships - Boys
Standing: Rezah Armeda, Avneet Sharma, Cullen Ranawake, Sunny Riley, Zander Kostiuk, Cooper Holahan, Luke Pickett, Marley Campbell, Aiden O’Connell, Julian Hay
Front: Zane Farr-McKay, Providence Mashikura, Matthew Witenden, Marcus Arokiasamy
Keen to return to a podium finish, our boys Oztag team would ultimately come closest. Boasting a side that includes representative oztag players, we felt confident in our ability to give this gala day a real shake. In the fresh sub 10 degrees Penrith bliss, we kicked off our campaign with a close but convincing win over Castle Hill HS.
As the day rolled on, we grew more and more in confidence and cohesion as we comfortably knocked over St Marks and Doonside Tech, before finishing our round games with a 6-1 thrashing of Kellyville HS.
Our results saw us finish 3rd overall out of a total of 15 schools, which included Independent and Catholic schools. Glenmore Park HS gave us an early scare in our qualifying final, shooting out to a 3-0 lead, before we composed ourselves and ran them down, coming out 6-4 winners and booking a spot in the semi-finals.
The top 4 included a sports high school and two catholic schools, all of which run very notable rugby league programs, so it was safe to say the odds were against us. Despite this, we would refuse to give in to intimidation and took the field against a very strong St. Dominic’s side with a strong belief we could win. Unfortunately, self-belief was not enough to overcome a well drilled side who clearly benefited from a very reputable rugby league program. At least we can say, we were the final public school left standing.
A big thanks to the girl’s side, who despite putting up a great fight all day and representing the Wyndham Sports Academy with integrity and pride, missed out on the making the finals. Despite this, they all stuck around to support the boy’s side in the quest for further success, showing a great sense of community and support.
