Sport News

In order for the College’s sports program to run effectively, we rely on many people within our community to assist. These people include our students, staff, parents, Old Boys, friends of Ashgrove and in some cases outside bodies.

Ideally, it would be favourable to appoint staff members to coach all teams. Or perhaps appoint coaches who are ‘independent’ and have no connection at all to the players in that year level. This move would go some way to resolve the perception that some may have in our community regarding ‘biased team selections’ and ‘favouritism’. An on-going goal for the College is to provide opportunities for its students to participate and enjoy the experience of playing sport. It is pleasing to see our students are making the most of these opportunities to participate as testified by the large number of students that participate in the AIC competition throughout the year.

There is a common problem which all schools and clubs face with regards to coaching - if there isn’t enough staff to take on all teams or if there aren’t enough outside independent coaches available, who coaches? The reality is our College relies on all community members to assist with coaching and officiating in order for our boys to participate. 

At the commencement of each season, the Sports Department calls upon those within our community to fulfil the various roles needed for the upcoming sports season, including coaches. We try as much as possible to appoint coaches to best fit the needs of the College based on those who have offered their services, experience and the mannerism of the applicant. The coaches are inducted by the College and we try as much as possible to take some of the selection issues out of their hands initially, however, ultimately the coach does have a say in selections. It is part of what a coach does. 

As is the case in all AIC Colleges, the Old Boy contingent makes up a considerable part of the coaching cohort. Our Old Boys are enthusiastic and have a deep sense of loyalty towards Marist College Ashgrove. We are certainly grateful for their efforts as we depend on their generosity, otherwise, our students would not be playing. We ask you to support the coaches and help lift their coaching aspirations and a willingness to give back to the College. Again, it might be a timely reminder to speak to your son about their behaviour at training because at times some students can take advantage of the fact that a teacher is not taking the side. If players choose to misbehave, we may have to forfeit their place in the team.     

I take this opportunity early in the season to thank all coaches and managers of our Cricket, AFL, Swimming and Volleyball teams, for making a substantial contribution to the sports program in order for our students to enjoy all the benefits of sport. Our scorers, umpires, refs and canteen helpers deserve our thanks. We should be mindful that we are mostly dealing with volunteers who freely give of their time. I would encourage us all to support these people and be extremely thankful to them for what they do.

Please remember that if you have committed to a team for this term then that must be your priority. If there are extenuating circumstances you can’t play on any given weekend this must be discussed at least a week in advance with your coach and permission must be granted. Under no circumstances do you let your team down by not attending your game or leaving early. It’s unfair on your teammates!

Let’s keep up the great work ethic and enjoy the challenges that continue to come your way in the sporting arena.

PLEASE NOTE: As per Mr Newman and Mr McPhee’s directive - Any boy who does not turn up in their correct sports uniform will not be able to play. We have noticed many boys turning up to play Volleyball in non-College socks. You will not be able to play unless you have a pair of College socks on which are available for purchase from the uniform shop. Our uniforms tells us so much about ourselves – let’s get it right!

Term 2 Sports 

As we prepare for our upcoming Term 2 sports, there may be occasions when clashes occur with our Term 2 preparations and your current Term 1 sport commitments. Under no circumstances should Term 2 sport preparations take priority over your Term 1 sport until the season has been completed.

Term 2 Sign-on Instructions

Term 2 Sports sign-on should be done via Student Café or the Parent Portal before the end of the week. Details below:

Student Café - Extra-Curricular Sign-Up

Parent Lounge - Extra-Curricular Approval Guide

The above process will be must be completed before Friday 19 February.

Individual Achievements

• Carl Martin (12I) – on a new MCA Open Discus record (48.47m). Carl focused on throws during the weeks post-school, especially discus. Carl broke the previous best Open school Discus (1.5kg) record in a QLD Athletics approved mid-week meet with 48.13m before breaking it again later in the week at the QLD Athletics Benita Willis Shield meet with a 48.47m throw passing the previous mark from Will Bennett, 2018 (47.98m)
• Jacob Anderson (12G) - has been selected in the Queensland U18-1 Hockey team and will compete at the Australian Championships in Tasmania this April
• Jackson Grounds (11R) – has been selected in the Met North Baseball team and will compete at the State Championships from March 11-14 at Pine Hills

From the College Sport Captain

This week our College Sports Captain Sam Keogan sits down with 1st VI captain Toby Bergh to discuss the AIC Volleyball season ahead.

Swimming

With less than two weeks to go until the 2021 AIC Swimming Championships, the atmosphere at the pool is intensifying.

Almost 300 boys have trained for the past five months with many hoping to gain selection in the final team of approximately 100 swimmers.  Almost 20 swimmers have logged over 100 training sessions since the beginning of Term 4, showing yet again, the determination and commitment that the swimmers have towards this most gruelling of sports. 

The College Age Championships will be contested today after school and this is the final chance for swimmers to register their fastest times in their campaign to be chosen in the team, before the announcement on Thursday of the 2021 Marist College Ashgrove AIC Swimming Team.

Cricket

Round 3 saw our cricketers play host to Villanova College in competitive outing where we won 5/12 aggregate games and over 60% of all C and colour games. Our 1st XI had a tough encounter against a strong Villanova side going down by 40 runs. Below are a few words from our 1st XI captain Jacob Kumaru:

Round 3 was a pretty tough match for the 1st XI. Against a strong Villa batting attack, we were able to bowl them out for 158 in the 48th overs. Solid bowling from Jacob Kumaru (6/19 off 8.3 overs), Josh Waite (1/40 off 10 overs), Jesse O’Neill (1/26 off 9 overs) and Marcus Zipf (2/19 off 6 overs) allowed us to do so. 

The chase never gained momentum, with Jaxon Barwell (32 off 71 balls), Jacob Kumaru (26* off 45 balls) and Marcus Zipf (10 off 48 balls) trying to hold up an end. However, constant pressure from the Villa bowlers saw us dismissed for 117 all out in the 42nd over.

It was another successful round for the year 10 age group winning 2/4 match ups. The 10B’s continued their dominant season with an exciting win against Villanova. Henry Gardiner led the team exceptionally to swing the momentum in our favour.  Two best bowling figures were Patrick Ryan 2/3 off 2 overs, Chris Thomson 2/23 off 7 overs.  Three top scorers with the bat were Michael Hayter 33 runs, Chris Thomson 26 runs, Patrick Ryan 22 runs.  After 34.3 overs, MCA needed 5 runs off 3 balls and Patrick Ryan calmly hit a six to win the game with 2 balls to spare!  Another great team effort by the MCA 10Bs!

A fantastic win for the mighty MCA10C’s. After a steady opening few overs, Dom Rowell ripped through the Villa order with a fantastic spell of 3 wickets from 3 overs, nearly bagging the first hat-trick off the 10C’s season. Villa continued to score runs and were given a big helping hand through 40+ extras by an overall sloppy bowling attack. The batting innings began well with Atticus Armstrong getting the team off to a strong start. A few quick wickets fell through Matt Wheeley and Sean Browne, but Harry Thomson was able to steady the ship in a Michael Hussey-like display to tick the runs over and find boundaries when available. It was a hard-fought win that was played in good spirits.

The Year 9 age group put on a dominant display winning 5/6 matches and claiming two huge aggregate wins. 9A’s worked hard during the bye round last week and were on a mission to bounce back from their Round 1 loss. They posted 217 runs as a group with a phenomenal knock of 78 from Will Nickleson. 

It was the opposite result for our year 8 group where both aggregate teams struggled with the bat. The 8A’s were bowled out for 85 runs and falling 46 runs short of Villanova. It was great to see 8C, 8 Gold and 8 White enjoy convincing wins over their opponents. 

The Year 7 age group continued their successful 2021 season winning 5/7 matches with yet another exceptional win by the 7B’s. Unfortunately, our 7A’s went down to a strong bowling attack from Villanova. Jonah Wilde, Sid Roberts, Harry Clay and Matthew Stephens all contributed with the bat to and scratched out 8/106 off 30 overs. 

Good luck to all teams in Round 4 as we host our arch-rivals Padua College. 

AFL

Round 3 was a mixed bag of results for AFL at MCA.

1st XVIII

The MCA First XVIII were up for the fight early against an undefeated Villa and showed they were going to be hard in the contest. Down by 8 points at ¼ time the boys rallied. To kick 3 unanswered goals in the second quarter to take a 6 point lead into half time. 

Unfortunately in the second half, the boys missed some crucial kicks for goal that may have changed the momentum of the game and given the boys a decent chance in the last quarter. The boys tried hard all afternoon in the very hot heat and never gave in. It’s a tough start, but we’re learning from every challenge and look forward to Padua this week for the inaugural Harris- Cameron Cup. 

Best players were:  Ethan Willman, Aiden O’Connell, Mason Houlihan, Will Jennings, Tom Pfitzner, Cody O’May. Goal Kickers, Dwayne Ludwick 2, Jackson Grounds 1, Riley Chugg 1.

Intermediates 8/9

MCA Intermediates started well after winning the toss and kicking with the wind at Coorparoo. Ruckman Caughley was working hard through the middle and ably supported by his on-ballers in Jewell, Cournane, Milner, Harper, Kemp and Hughes. The forwards missed some easier shots on goal but a 3 goal lead was a good result for quarter time break.

 The 2nd term was a tussle and a low scoring affair with Villa making the most of their opportunities to score 2 goals but the defence led by Pittman, Howard and T Williams were working hard to shut them down. 

The 3rd quarter was all MCA, plenty of goal scoring opportunities and some better tackling saw Gillett, J Williams and Milner again amongst the goal scorers. 

The last quarter was again difficult against the wind. McNamara was leading the way, Reeves reading the play well up forward while Goddard, Scarce and Keogh were rebounding well from the backline. 

The Marist Eagles ran out winners by 6 goals and their first win in this grade over Villa in this AIC competition, an excellent team effort.

Goal Scorers were Milner 4, Gillett 2, J Williams 2, Harper 1 and best afield (again!) Milner, Howard, T Williams, Hughes, Cournane, Jewell and Pittman. 

Year 7A’s

Round 3 brought about a very formidable opponent in Villanova College. The boys started off well, providing a good contest and making Villa work for their scoring opportunities. This continued until the third quarter where the game really opened up, with Villanova kicking 4 unanswered goals. 

The boys regrouped well and fought hard once again in the fourth showing lots of determination and grit. Round 3 proved to be a good test of character and has also exposed many areas in which we need to improve, and there is no doubt that the boys will do so. 

Year 7B's

From the first centre bounce, the boys started the game off with consistent pressure and outworked our opposition which led to some great goals early on in the game. It was clear that using larger bodies in the midfield made it tough for their midfield to contest with the physical requirements of the game. This led to the ball getting driven up the ground consistently into our forward 50. 

As the game went on and learning from training, the boys started to understand their role in the team and in what position they should be according to the play. This helped our team kick more goals leading into the halftime break. 

The third quarter was a really dominant performance from the MCA 7B’s kicking multiple goals. 

Strong performances from Matt Curcuruto in the midfield, coinciding with both Tim Henderson and Baxter Munroe both kicking three goals each. The final score ending up at 71-0 MCA 7B’s way. These great performances were backed up by Hugh Homer and Pat Cleary who were amongst the best on also. Our goalkickers included Matt Curcuruto (1), Tim Henderson (3), Baxter Munroe (3), Hugh Homer (1), Noah Harding (1), Chaelyn (2). 

Results

AFL

CRICKET

VOLLEYBALL

PRIMARY SCHOOL - CRICKET AND AFL

AIC Swimming Statement

The AIC Swimming Championships will be held at the Sleeman Complex at Chandler on Friday, February 26, 2021.

The Association's vision is ‘to develop good and healthy young people of character through sport and competition within a Christian context’ and as always, the safety and wellbeing of our students, staff and the wider AIC community is our priority. Therefore, in preparing for the event, the AIC has been in contact with the Sleeman Complex to determine its safety protocols and its COVID-safe practices. 

We have been informed that, in order to comply with directives from Stadiums Queensland and adhere to Queensland Health requirements, the venue’s COVID-safe plan prevents shouting, cheering, hugs, high fives and other similar activities. Spectators are assigned specific seats and not permitted to move around the venue. The AIC accept these restrictions and understand why they are needed. 

These restrictions make it difficult for student spectators to attend and fully participate in our AICSwimming Championships. We know that our students want to enthusiastically encourage and support their schoolmates. Therefore, the AIC Management Committee has decided not to have student supporters attend this year’s Championships.

Parents and caregivers are very welcome to attend the event, following the COVID-safe requirements at all times. Parents must acquire a ticket and be allocated a seat in order to comply with the venue’s COVID-safe Plan. Parents and adult spectators can obtain tickets via the following link from 9:00 am Wednesday, February 17. The booking portal will close at 7:00 pm on Thursday, February 25. The booking link is: https://www.trybooking.com/BOXMJ

Schools will also distribute a link for the live stream of the AIC Swimming Championships so that parents who are unable to personally attend the Championships can access the event.

The AIC remains committed to providing opportunities for students to take part in competitions in COVID-safe environments which meet the requirements of venues, sport governing bodies and public health constraints.

AIC MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE