Principal

One thing that has always been an important part of my life as an educator is coaching sport. Of course, coaching happens every day in all areas of life. From a sporting perspective, my first goal is to impart and improve new skills. Just as important, however, are the values of teamwork, perseverance, determination and sportsmanship. It is not really about winning the Under 8’s competition; it is about the team having fun, respecting the game, learning new skills and developing physically and mentally. For the coach as well as the player, the game does not always end the way we might hope. But that’s sport, and life. It is worth remembering that we are playing the long game. What can be gained over a whole season of learning, growing, testing and challenging?

I always find it funny when we come up against coaches whose only goal is to win the game, no matter what. We all love to win. It feels great! But at any cost? And there are bigger prizes at stake.  

Our boys are often very willing to put the time and effort into improving their sporting skills. For some, rather than sport, it might be music, art or some other cultural pursuit. It isn’t hard for them to find the time, effort and commitment and of course, this is a very healthy way for young people to spend their time.  They are often intrinsically motivated to commit to these activities. A trophy at the end of the season is fantastic, but they also experience the perhaps richer rewards of personal and social growth. These experiences grow over the season and over the years, and are the result of the efforts and commitment made week in and week out.

We encourage our boys to think of time spent in study in a similar way.  Not all boys are motivated or committed to improving in academics as they might be when it comes to sport. We need to play the long game here too.  To extend the metaphor, study should be a marathon, not a sprint. Extrinsic motivation can be effective and rewards such as commendations and of course good marks are to be valued. Some boys are probably equally motivated to avoid infringements for incomplete work or missed deadlines. More powerful though is intrinsic motivation.  We all know the glow of pride and satisfaction of achieving personal goals and milestones in learning, and looking back at the end of the week, term or year knowing we have done our honest best. We encourage the boys to commit to academics as they might their sporting or cultural pursuits. 

We are a team here at the College and the boys are lucky to have many coaches preparing them for the long game of life: parents, teachers, music tutors and sporting coaches. We all are here for the benefit of the boys, to lead them to be the best they can be in every part of their lives. 

Damian Chase

Acting Principal