Sport

CONGRATULATIONS to Cameron Ellis!

A shout out to Cameron Ellis, 6CN, who attended the SSV (School Sport Victoria) State Athletics Trials on Sunday May 19th. Cameron was competing for a spot on the Victorian State team in the 1500m, which meant he had to finish in the top three. Staff, students, parents, classmates and friends have continued to be ‘wow-ed’ over the years by the determination, effort, work ethic and maturity that Cameron has put into his running with incredible discipline and it is so very exciting to see him rewarded for all of his hard work. Cameron ran the 1500m in 4 minutes 51 seconds, and placed SECOND, earning him a spot on Team Vic!! He will travel to Darwin in September for the national competition.

In the meantime, Cameron will still be looking to take out a few more wins at our upcoming Division Cross Country event in early June, running 3 kms, and in September at the District Athletics meet, again running 1500m, for SFX.

Special mention to another of our very talented SFX athletes, Isaac Mullins,5AB, who also competed at the State Athletics Trials last Sunday 19th May. In his first state trial, Isaac ran a very impressive speed and finished 6th in the state for his age group. No doubt he will be looking to make the team next year. Big congratulations to Isaac, really well done mate!

Big News in Basketball for SFX Students

Last term several of our SFX students were invited to attend the SSV (School Sport Victoria) Division level trials in Basketball. These trials are a pathway for potential selection to the Victorian State Basketball team which, each year, go on to compete against the best athletes in the country at a national competition. We wish to congratulate all of our student athletes for nominating and competing: Sean Tyrrell, Ryan Kelly, Cooper Wilson, Edith Hamilton, Jorja Power and Ava Giardina.

An incredible showing for our school, and the Eltham Wildcats Basketball Club, four of these students were also invited to continue to advance in the selections and to trial at the Northern Region level trials. These trials were held just yesterday, and by all accounts, were both intense and gruelling. We commend all four on their ability, confidence and resilience in competing at such a high level of play - making them among the top 200 basketball players in their age group in the state. And we also congratulate those who have advanced again, to the State level, making them in the top 64 in their age group. These children will attend another two-day trial in hopes of making one of just 10 spots on the Team Vic side. Big congratulations and good luck from everyone at SFX to Sean Tyrrell, Edith Hamilton and Jorja Power.

“On Thursday the 23 of May, both Cooper and I arrived in Bendigo for the SSV Northern Regional BAsketball trials. I was really nervous but it seemed like everyone else was a lot more excited than nervous. Once we got started, it was fun. The trials were run like a mini tournament where we played about 6, 12-minute games. It was really tiring, particularly in the last two games as we played so many games with short breaks in between. Still, it was lots of fun. At the end, all of the coaches brought us together on the floor. All three coaches were talking to us about what they were looking for in players moving forward. They called out about 12 names, I was called almost last, that was a bit nerve-wracking. We went to a different part of the court where they told us about the next round of trials coming up in Coburg - I’d made the next round to state team trials. It was a really great experience, I really enjoyed it. There’s a chance I could make it onto the state team, I hope I do.”    Sean Tyrrell, 6CN

“I was very nervous all morning from the time I woke up and especially when the trial started that morning. I don’t really know why I was nervous because I was also really excited. We all started together on the floor with the coaches. They separated out all the players evenly across 6 teams according to positions and gave us singlets that were like trying to play in a dress they were so long. Then we played a mini tournament, with 12 minute games and 1 minutes breaks in between as they moved us around the courts. We ended up playing 9 games of basketball. Every time another game started it was easy to start with energy, I could keep running and chasing, but hard to keep going to the end of every game,. By the last game, I felt like I could barely hold my head up. Then they called us all back in, we were in the top 200 in the state. They explained that even if we didn’t go on, we’d done a great job and many talented players have taken different paths to success. They called out about 12-15 numbers, which were players, to advance to the next level. A lot of them were from the Eltham Wildcats and both Edith and I knew a lot of the other girls. I’m pretty excited at the idea of making it onto a state team for basketball. It will be hard because there are a lot of really good players. It was a lot of fun going through the trials.”      Jorja Power, 6SK