Senior School Sport  & Extra-Curricula Activities 

• From the Senior School Sports Master
• NSTA Tennis
• Basketball
• Cricket
• Squash
• Strength and Conditioning Sessions
• Senior Swimming Squad
• Senior Chess
• CSDA Debating and Public Speaking
• Cross Country
• ISA Tennis

From the Senior School Sports Master

Senior Swimming Carnival

Weather permitting, the Senior Swimming Carnival will be held tomorrow, Thursday 24 February.  For more detail please see the Principal's page of this Woodchatta.

Weekend Sport

My thanks go to all who continue to make Saturday Sport possible.  From our convenors, coaches and officials, to our ground staff and cleaners, the efforts to get sport going for the St Pius X community is massive.  Added to this is the willingness of boys to back-up for their peers in COVID-19-affected teams and you as parents making this possible with rearranged plans.  This all makes for a very positive start to the Term from a sport's perspective. Thank you.

This weekend we continue at Oxford Falls under our well established COVID-19 Protocols.  We will make changes to these as Government advice evolves.  In addition, we will continue to post protocols from opposition schools on Fridays through the College App. 

Winter Sport

Registrations for Winter Sports will be posted over the next few weeks in each sports section so please check the information as it appears and register at your earliest opportunity.

The College is in the process of finalising a Rugby Convenor following Mr Lynch’s departure and Rugby registration will open following the completion of this process.

For details on individual sports please see the Sports sections below.

Mr Matt Stearn - Senior School Sports Master

NSTA Tennis

The looming clouds and sprinkles of rain didn’t dampen spirits, the boys arrived eager as always to play. Thank you to Tom Fong and Ethan Li who turned up early to help umpire the green ball games. The support provided to these younger players is much appreciated. Ethan Auer and Jack Fairbanks (SPX 19) showed great sportsmanship in their match against some tough opponents to seal the win 3-0. Daniel Lenehan and Ryan Chung (SPX 23) were a formidable force winning 3-0 to SPX 26. An exciting match was seen between Brandon Ang and Christian Sorrentino (SPX 32) and Francesco Mazzaferro and Aren Mamigonian (SPX 29) with SPX 29 just stealing the win 6-5. A special thanks must go to Justin Lee who stepped up to the plate and played 4 divisions above his own, winning the doubles and putting in a huge effort in his singles. 

The 10.00 am games were also exciting to watch. With tennis being one of the games that the boys could continue during lockdown, it is obvious that some boys had not stopped practicing. Lachlan Yu, Hugo Jegat and Ollie Grant (SPX 15), all junior boys, played well to win against senior players from Redlands 2-1. Jake Yu and Boston Bannister (SPX 9) were hungry for the win against Oliver Wilkowski and Edward Yangoyan (SPX 7), the games were intense and some great rallies were seen.

A reminder of the following points for next week:

• All players must turn up each week to play at least 15 minutes before the matches start
• No team members can leave until all games have been played
• All balls must be collected and returned with the scoresheet at the end of the games

Mrs Samantha Iwatani - NSTA Convenor

Basketball

Results: All Basketball Results are posted on the ISA App. Download from your App store (no login or password required). You can follow specific teams and/or filter by sport and by school to see all results.

Season Draw: Here is Draft copy of the remaining season draw – *subject to change*. This should assist with your forward planning.

Fixtures: The ISA Season continues this Saturday with Rd 4.  We also commence Yr 7 ‘friendly’ games in preparation for next season.

NB. Age Groups remain the same as last year as Term 1 is part of the same season. Therefore for most players:  13’s = Yr 8,  14’s =Yr 9, 15’s = Yr 10,  17’s = Yr 11, 

Opens = Yr 12 

Teams: Please see the document below for the team lists for this Saturday.

Uniform for games: Boys require a St Pius X Basketball singlet and basketball shorts. These are available for purchase from the uniform shop.

Training: The training timetable has now been set for the duration of this season.

For Oxford Falls sessions boys will be bussed to and from the venue. The buses should return to Chatswood around 5.30 pm.

Mr Greg Virgona - Basketball Convenor

Cricket

MWJCA Fixtures – Saturday 26 February 2022

U12 Blue v Beacon Hill Bears @ Oxford Falls #2

U13 Gold v Wakehurst Red @ Oxford Falls #2

U13 Black v St Augustine’s White @ Lionel Watts #1

U14 Green v Wakehurst Red @Kierle Park #1

U14 Red v St Augustine’s White @ Nolans Reserve #3

U15 Orange v Wakehurst Red @Lionel Watts #2

U15 Yellow v Collaroy Plateau Power @ Nolans Reserve #2

U17 Purple v Peninsula Pacers @ Terrey Hills

Please note: fixtures are as listed on myCricket at time of publication, Coaches/Manages are requested to check for any late amendments.

ISA Fixtures – Saturday 26 February 2022

2nd XI v Oakhill College @ Oakhill College Main Oval

1st XI v St Augustine’s College @ Oxford Falls #1

ISA v GPS @ Oxford Falls – Wednesday 23 February 2022

The ISA Representative side will play GPS at Oxford Falls on Wednesday 23 February. This year four SPX Cricketer’s have been selected to represent the ISA they are: Logan Nicey, Charlie Sharp, Joel Austin and Keelan Mendel. Additionally, the ISA Team is coached by Mr Pat Rodgers.

1st XI v St Patrick’s College – Saturday 19 February 2022

SPX 107 (Charlie Sharp 28, Joel Austin 21, Will Pavely 19, Flynn Pavely 19 not out) defeated by St Patrick’s 7-108 (Mitchell McGrath 3 for 31)

The 1st XI was hosted by St Patrick’s in Round 2 of the ISA competition. After winning the toss and batting, two early wickets were followed by some impressive shots from Joel Austin and a positive partnership between Charlie Sharp and Will Pavely. A middle order collapse left the innings in ruins before a fighting ninth wicket stand between Flynn Pavely and Jess Mansbridge helped the score to over the three-figure mark.

Showing great spirit, the 1st XI fielding unit did their best to defend the small total. Opening bowlers Jesse Mansbridge and Harrison O’Brien started well. Manas Bansal effected a run-out and Flynn Pavely took an excellent skied catch at fine leg, the game became open. Two catches to Charlie Sharp and an accurate spell from Flynn Pavely maintained the pressure. A fine catch to Oscar McDonald and two wickets in successive balls to Mitch McGrath meant that the home side had to fight hard to secure a three-wicket victory.

2nd XI v St Augustines’s College – Saturday 19 February 2022

The 2nds took on St Augustine’s at home, losing the toss and taking to the field. The lads had the upper hand early, having Augie’s down at 2-12, although the visitors fought back to post a respectable 239. A positive start was made to the 2nd innings with Pius being 0-47. But it was not to be with the lads all out for 146. Shout outs go to Tom Lough with a promising 42 and Angus McConnell taking 4-45.

MWJCA Round 9 - 19 February 2022 Results 

Playing Shirts – ALL players are to be correctly attired in the new blue SPX Cricket shirt; available from the Uniform Shop.

Training 

Mondays (4.00 pm - 5.30 pm)      – ISA Squad (1st & 2nd XI)

Tuesday (4.00 pm - 5.00 pm)        – U13 (Senior School) and U14

Wednesday (4.00 pm - 5.30 pm) – ISA Squad (1st & 2nd XI) 

Thursday (4.00 pm - 5.00 pm) – U12 and U13 (Junior School) during Junior School PE                                                               – U15 and U17

All training is at Oxford Falls.

Players are to correctly attired in PE uniform or ISA uniform.

Bus transport departs form in front of OLD Church at 3:20 pm and returns to Anderson St.

Training conducted by Cricket Appeal professional coaches.

Mr David Reay - Cricket Convenor

Squash

It was Pius v Pius last Saturday at Willoughby when St Pius Team 5 took on Team 6. Thomas Kneeshaw took on extra representative duties for his team and performed admirably. There were three teams at Knox and four at home. 

TEAM

St Pius 1 Loss 2-1 

St Pius 2 Loss 2-1 

St Pius 3 Win 2-1

St Pius 4 Loss 3-0

St Pius 5 Win 2-1

St Pius 6 Loss 2-1

St Pius 7 Loss 3-0 

Mr Joe Madani - Squash Convenor

Strength and Conditioning Sessions at the Sarto Gym

As of Week 5, the Strength and Conditioning training sessions in the Sarto Gym will be provided to the year groups as below:

Monday Strictly Year 10-12

Tuesday Strictly Year 7- 9

Wednesday Training open to Year 7-12

Thursday Training open to Year 7-12

Friday Training open to Year 7-12

Students must book their training time slot through the Mind Body App which can be found on the school's Intranet page. A reminder due to COVID-19 restrictions and gym safety, a maximum of 20 students are permitted to train during each session. If students are unable to reserve a position on the Mind Body App, it means the time slot is full and they will be placed on a waiting list. If students have reserved a spot and are unable to make their booked session, they MUST cancel on the app to allow the waitlisted students an opportunity to train.  A reminder the Sarto Gym is a phone free environment and students must bring their own sweat towel.

Please contact Ms Coombe for any further information.

Ms Laura Coombe - Strength and Conditioning Convenor

Senior Swimming Squad

The Christian Brothers Carnival which was meant to held this Saturday night has been cancelled due to COVID-19. As the venue at Ryde is an indoor event the organisers were unable to have the large volume of students/teachers together without proper ventilation.

Our school carnival is being held tomorrow at Macquarie University. All students who wish to be in the Senior Swimming Squad for this season must swim in the first two races of each stroke to be timed in their age group. The team will be picked and notified by Monday 28 February. Our first carnival will be the ISA on 9 March. Not all swimmers picked for the team will be swimming that day as there are only 2 divisions for Freestyle and 1 for each other stroke. All swimmers in the squad will be swimming later in the year in Term 4 where the carnivals have 4 divisions of Freestyle and 2 for other strokes.

Training continues over at Fitness First Chatswood from 7.15 am – 8.15 am Monday, Tuesday and Friday until 8 March.

Ms Leisa Proc - Swimming Convenor

Senior Chess

Chess training continues on Monday afternoons in D1-4 “the Blue Room” at 3.30 pm - 4.30 pm. All students who are interested in playing Chess as their extracurricular activity are encouraged to attend. 

Ms Denise Ramsey and Ms Janelle Dempsey - Chess Convenors

CSDA Public Speaking

The CSDA Public Speaking Competition runs on the following Friday evenings in Term 1:

Friday 25 February:  Public Speaking Round 1 (THIS FRIDAY - Commencing at 4.00 pm via Zoom.  This will be run from B and C wings here at the College)

Friday 4 March:  Public Speaking Zone Finals

Friday 11 March:  Public Speaking Finals

All Public Speakers have received information regarding this year’s topics as well as the required structure of their speech.  First drafts should be plotted out before our group session this Thursday, 17 February, at lunch time in B10. Bring your lunch and your ideas. 

CSDA Debating Competition 

The CSDA Debating Competition runs through Term 2 on the following evenings. YELLOW CSDA Debating ONLY Registration forms will be available from the Student Office from Monday 14 February (Week 3).

The 2022 Debating season kicks off this term with:

Week 7 Training:  Friday 18 March 3.30 pm - 5.30 pm

Week 8 Training:  Friday 25 March 3.30 pm - 5.30 pm

Week 9 Training & Pre-season 'Friendly' debate:  Date to be confirmed, 3.30 pm - 6.00 pm.

If you want to be part of the terrific St Pius X College debating community it is essential that you attend ALL of the first six rounds.  If your team makes it through to the Elimination round (and beyond) you also need to keep the above dates free.

Our senior students act as coaches/supporters for our junior teams.  We are also lucky enough to have ex-students to work with the junior teams as the younger students really enjoy contact with our ex-debating “champions”.

The fee for the CSDA extra-curricular activity is $150.00 which will be included in your Term Two school fees. We keep our fees as low as possible and receive funding from the St Pius X College P & F to subsidise the costs of running debating at SPX.  

Mrs Michele Waterson - Debating and Public Speaking Convenor

Cross Country

Cross Country training continues each week for all of Term 1 and into Term 2.  Join our newly appointed coaches, Matthew North and Dominic Panozzo, for fun, varied and challenging sessions.  It was great to see healthy numbers in attendance this week, getting fit and honing their race skills.

When: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings

Where: Beauchamp Park, Chatswood 

Time: 7.15 am – 8.15 am 

Who: All Senior and Junior School students welcome

Meet at the Beauchamp Oval Grandstand in comfortable running gear and with a water bottle. Bring your school uniform to change into afterwards back at The College.

You don’t have to aspire to run in the ISA or IPSHA Carnivals - all students and abilities welcome.

Mr Greg Virgona - Cross Country Convenor

ISA Tennis

Last Tuesday, the ISA St Pius X Division One Team played competitively for a position in the ISA Tennis Representative team. Students played remarkably well and showed wonderful sportsmanship throughout the day.

Congratulations to Nicholas Tozer (Year 10) for placing in the Representative team as player one. 

Applications for ISA Winter Tennis are now open!

The competition runs through Term 2 & 3 with four grading sessions late in Term 1.

All students intending to play in the 2022 season must attend all allocated grading / training afternoons, running in Term 1, Weeks 7, 8, 9 and 10 with Evolve Tennis Academy, Roseville.

Students will be advised whether they are required to attend the Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon sessions.

Please click here for more information regarding ISA Tennis: ISA Tennis Enrolment information.

Please click here to apply for ISA Tennis: 2022 ISA Tennis Application.

Applications close Friday 4 March, 3:30 pm. Should you have any queries, please contact Ms Bamber - vbamber@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au.

Ms Veronica Bamber - ISA Tennis Convenor