Senior School Sport

• From the Senior School Sportsmaster
• Basketball
• Cricket 
• Football
• Rugby
• Squash
• ISA Tennis
• SPX Tennis Championships
• NSTA Tennis

From the Senior School Sportsmaster

ISA Summer Season:  With the completion of the ISA Summer Season Finals it is fantastic to reflect on the great work our boys have put in over the season.  We had 21 teams that made the semi finals, 19 basketball teams and both 1st XI and 2nd XI cricket. Of those, 4 teams made basketball finals and our Opens E team were crowned ISA Premiers.

Could I ask for your support in making sure the boys close out their season by attending their respective Presentation Evenings beginning with Basketball next Tuesday.  These evenings are compulsory events and boys should be in full Summer Uniform when attending.

NSWCIS Triathlon:  We had 1 Junior and 3 Intermediate teams along with 2 individual entries competing in the CIS Triathlon last week.  The boys that went competed superbly with the Juniors placing 9th overall and 6th in CIS.  Of the three Intermediate teams competing, Teams 2 and 3 came in 178th and 61st.

Team 1 made up of Connor Ryan, Simon Magner and Ben Ferguson did a fantastic job coming in 3rd place outright and 1st in CIS, this is a massive achievement and the boys should be congratulated.  Connor Ryan placed in the top 6 in the Individual Triathlon gaining selection to the State National’s team where he will be competing in Queensland in May.

Mr Matthew Stearn - Senior School Sportsmaster

Basketball

The 2019 Basketball Awards Presentation will be held on Tuesday 19 March in the school gym at Chatswood. This is a compulsory event for all players. The ceremony will start at 6:30pm.

Congratulations to Coach Zac Karlsson and the Open E Team who won their Grand Final last Saturday at Penrith. We had to wait until the very last game of the day for a win, which was a great way for us to finish off our season. It has been a long time since we have won an Opens Championship so it was ‘History in the making'.

The 13Bs, 14Bs and 15Ds all gave it their best and should also be congratulated for their efforts on Saturday. All three teams were up against strong teams and unfortunately we couldn’t match them on the day. Well done to the coaches - Mr Formosa (13Bs), Mr Wall (14Bs) and Rory Zantiotis (15Ds).

Deserves a mention: Thank you to the Basketball Club for their support and organisation throughout the season. Your help is much appreciated. Thank you to all the coaches - staff, ex-students and external coaches. Basketball is a big production and it can’t run without everyone’s help and dedication to our students' cocurricular activities.

Use the link below to see all of the ISA Basketball Teams Results:

http://www.isa.nsw.edu.au/summer-sports/boys-basketball/,

Mr Neil Gibson - Senior Basketball Convenor

Cricket

Grand Finalists:  Congratulations to the U14 SPX Red team who have earned a place in this Saturday’s Division 2 Grand Final!  Well done, play well. Go Pius!

Presentation Night:  Wednesday 10 April 2019 at 6pm in the Chatswood Gym. This is a compulsory event for all players. Players are to wear College Summer Uniform to this event.

Kit Return: Team kits can be returned to the Administration Veranda from Monday 18 March 2019.

MWJCA Fixtures Saturday 16 March 2019:  Please check MyCricket for details.

Cricket Match Results

Cricket Match Reports

Mr David Reay - Cricket Convenor

Football

Dear Parents and Players,

Congratulations to the 1st XI for progressing through to the 3rd round of the NSWCIS Cup with an impressive 5-1 win over Illawarra Grammar.

Football training will commence in Week 9 with times and locations for this term’s training announced shortly.  Please note that we have one round this term against St Aloysius on 6  April.  All players in Years 7-10 will need to have purchased their full playing uniform prior to this game.

Mr Simon Yue - Senior Football Convenor

FOOTBALL CLUB NEWS

We need you! 

The Committee is run by parent volunteers.  Most of the existing members of the SPX Football Committee have boys in Year 12 and after six years or more will be retiring at the end of 2019, leaving one existing Committee member for 2020.  We need your support to transition to a new group of SPX Football parents to maintain continuity and bring new ideas and initiatives into the College. 

If we cannot form a Committee then all the good work we have done over the years such as specialist coaching and holiday camps will be at risk, and in some cases may cease to be provided. The effort required is a few hours a month. The roles required for the Committee in 2019 are Communication Manager, Events Manager, Shadow Treasurer and Shadow BBQ Manager. 

Please consider joining in. This year is 2019 Unity in Community.  Meet the challenge and Get Amongst It.  Details on 2019 SPX Football Club activities are attached below.

Please email footballclub@pandf.spx.nsw.edu.au if you are interested or want some more information, or just come along to the next meeting in April.

Term 1 Holiday Football Camp at Oxford Falls:  The SPX Football Club will again be organising a two-day football camp during the Term 1 holidays.  The camp will be run from 9.00am - 2.00pm on 17 and 18 April at Oxford Falls.  Transport to and from the College will be available.

The camp will be run by professional coaches under the direction of Chris Semaan and suits all age groups from Years 5-10.  We particularly encourage some of the older boys to come along and get ready for the ISA season starting in Term 2.

Trybooking details are https://www.trybooking.com/UPLP

Rugby

Rugby Training:  While the Opens and Under 16s have been training now for most of the term, all age groups will commence training at Oxford Falls next Thursday 21 March. Buses will depart Archer Street outside OLD Church at 3:30pm and will return to Chatswood by 5:30pm. Students can be picked up from Oxford Falls at 5pm.

Training at this stage of the year will include basic skills and a series of internal trial games held during the sessions so players can be graded into suitable teams. Unlike other sports at the College, teams can change from week to week due to player performance, injuries or unavailability. The expectation is that players make themselves available for selection each week and play in the team their age group coach selects them in.

All players are reminded that protective gear, including mouth guards, must be worn at all times, including training sessions. Not having a mouthguard will impact your son’s ability to participate fully in the session.

Rugby Registration:  Rugby registration is done through trybooking and will be available in next week’s Woodchatta. All players are require to be registered before they take the field.

Dates for the calendar from Term 1:

• 15/3/18 – Opens Rugby Camp – Workul Koo
• 30/3/18 – Sydney Grammar 10s (all age groups to replace Sydney High Trial, 2 teams per age group)
• 6/4/18 – Traditional Trial vs St Aloysius (HOME) ALL AGE GROUPS
• 12/4/18-19/4/18 – Under 15s New Zealand Rugby Tour
• 23/4/18-24/4/18 – Holiday Rugby Clinic (Oxford Falls – included in registration)

*RUGBY REFEREEING IN 2019

St Pius is looking for keen students and parents who would be interested in becoming rugby referees at the College this season. Refereeing is an enjoyable, rewarding and challenging way to get involved or stay involved in rugby. Courses are available over the next month.

Level 1 Referee (Foundation) Course – For games U13 & above:

*(Available to parents and students in Years 9 to 12)

Sun 17/3/19 – 8:30am – Pittwater Rugby Park

Sun 31/3/19 – 8:30am – Shore School, North Sydney

Refereeing Kids Rugby Course – For games U8 – U12:

*(Available to parents and students in  Years 7 to 8)

• Thur 21/3/19 – 6:00pm – Beauchamp Park, Chatswood
• Thur 28/3/19 – 6:30pm – St Ives Rugby Club (Hassell Park)

If you are interested in attending one of these courses or would like further information, please contact James Quinn by email at jquinn@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au 

Squash

Week 11:   9 March 2019

Congratulations to SPX Team 1 for taking out the title in Division 7 of the Junior Summer Pennant. Considering our number one ranked player, Gregor Dingley, was out with injury and automatically forfeited his match, Anton Webber and Gary Mullins played superbly to win their two matches in straight games and hence the Division 7 title.

Our first competitive season of squash in decades has been very successful and this will hopefully lead to an expansion of the squash program in the future.

I would like to thank all the students who have made this possible and the parents for their support.

Mr Joseph Madani - Squash Convenor

ISA Tennis

Applications for the winter ISA Tennis season will be closing soon. Forms and information are available from the veranda outside the student office. Grading sessions will be held in Weeks 8, 9 and 10 of this term.

Ms Amanda O'Brien - Convenor

SPX Tennis Championships

Our internal Championships coming up! The tournament will be run on Saturday 30 March at our Talus Street courts from 7:30am to 12:00pm and is open to 2019-2019 NSTA players and intending ISA players in Years 7-12. The results from this competition will contribute to the ranking process for the upcoming ISA season. Players will be strictly capped at 16 per Division. More information and entry forms are available from the veranda outside the student office.

Ms Amanda O'Brien - Convenor

NSTA Tennis

It was unusual to have such a cool morning which I am sure was appreciated by all the boys. We had 7 out of 8 Pius vs Pius games in the 8am session which created a very exciting atmosphere. There were some great rallies and excellent sportsmanship on Court 1 in a very close competition between Adam Fitrzyk and John Badger-Rahme. The doubles game also between SPX 32 and SPX 22 was well matched and some great shots were seen by both teams. Jeremy Saraceno and Luke Mortimer were a formidable team winning 3 straight sets against Redlands.

The 10am session started without a hitch once all teams had arrived. There was an exciting tie-break played on court 4 between Daniel Papangelis and his opponent from Reddam with Daniel winning 8-6. An exciting doubles began the contest between SPX 12 and SPX 11 ending 5-6 and the singles were hard fought with SPX 11 being victorious. Well done to all boys who kept playing through the rain - they played hard against the challenges that the rain presented.

Thank you to the senior boys - Aiden Saraceno, Aidan Shearer-Hawkins, Cameron Fernandopulle, Alec Ramsbottom, Andrew McKinnon and Jayden Chan.

A reminder that the following boys are scheduled to mentor/umpire this weekend: Oliver Osbourne, Patrick Djizmedjian, Daniel Papangelis, Ashton Pacetta, Alex Kurdoghlian, John Cantali, Fergal Fung and Sam Ashman. Please ensure that you arrive at 7:45am ready for the early games.

Please click on the link to check the draw for this weekend’s games: This Week in Pius NSTA.

Mrs Sam Iwatani - NSTA Tennis Convenor