HEPE and Sports

Tahnysha Theodore - Australian Open Karate Championships

"During the second week of the school holidays, I travelled to Sydney to compete in the Australian Open Karate Championships.  It was the first interstate tournament since the National Championships in 2019.  It was fantastic to catch up with friends from all around Australia, and be back competing.  I competed in my new age division, Cadets (14-15 years).  I finished 4th in Kata, narrowly missing out on Bronze by 0.5.  I won the Cadet 47kg and 47-54kg merged Kumite division, and became the 2021 Australian Open Champion.  I am looking forward to the National Championships in September. 

Georgette O'Brien - Under 15 School Sport Victoria Netball

Being selected to represent Victoria in the 15 and under School Sport Victoria netball team will be the greatest honour of my life. The trialing process began late February, where about 200 girls trialed at the State Netball Hockey Centre in Parkville. It was three hours of very intense netball games where I was trialed as GD and GK, my two favourite positions. I left that night with not much confidence at all and was very surprised to see my name on the next list of 62 girls. The most important thing I learnt at this stage was that my performance anxiety was affecting my game and I really needed to work on this before the next trial. I was fortunate enough to speak to a Sports Psychologist who gave me strategies I needed to overcome some of my greatest fears. Some of these tips included to not use my mistakes to put myself down and instead use it to learn and work harder. The greatest strategy was the breathing exercises that enabled me to overcome the anxiety and simply play at my best. The second trial was again at the State Netball Hockey Centre on Friday 12 March, 6pm to 9pm. With my breathing strategies in place, I left this trial feeling more confident than the first but I was still quite nervous about the outcome. On the 17th of March, I was relieved to see my name with 27 other amazing netballers who were selected to attend the last trial. The last trial took place on the 26th of March at Yarra Valley Grammar. This trial was definitely the most challenging as I was up against the best in the state. As stressful and difficult the night was, I still loved the opportunity to be playing amongst these girls. Now I had to wait five grueling days until the final team of 12 girls was announced. I will never be able to explain how relieved and excited I was to see my name on the team list to represent Victoria in the game I love to play. Unfortunately with the threat of another outbreak of coronavirus, the national tournament in Canberra had to be cancelled. As devastated as this is, I am still honoured to train for the next five months with the state team and learn from the experience. We are fortunate that some states are willing to travel to play at a netball championship which will be held in Horsham in August. I am honoured to be a part of this team and can’t wait to make my family, my friends and my school proud. 

Sierra Lee - National Hockey Championships

These holidays I competed in the U18 Australian National Tournament in Tasmania for hockey in the Victoria State team. We played four pool games where we came out on top of the ladder, in semi-finals we played WA where we won 3-1 giving us a spot in finals against Queensland.   After drawing 2-2 at full time we went into shootouts, unfortunately losing 2-1 in sudden death, leaving us with a silver medal.  

Cable Park Excursion

By Liana Donnelly

On Friday the 26th of March, Ms Sadler's Year 11 Sport and Recreation class travelled to Cable Park to learn about the risks and hazards of water inflatables. We started off bright and early, and gathered out the front of the sports shed for a 9am departure. Once we arrived at the facility, the girls who were participating got changed into their bathing suits, sat through a short debrief about the safety requirements of the park, put on a lifejacket, and were ready to go. With a temperature of 21 degrees, the weather was just right. We enjoyed bouncing off of the inflatables and sliding down the water slides. Whilst racing each other through the blow-ups, we made sure to recall the safety instructions that were discussed prior to our visit. We shared lots of laughs and the experience was amazing! The inflatables were loads of fun and I’ll be sure to visit Cable Park again sometime soon.