Senior School Sport  & Extra-Curricula Activities 

• From the Senior Sports Master
• Strength and Conditioning
• Cricket
• Basketball
• NSTA Tennis
• Football
• Debating and Public Speaking
• Chess

From the Senior Sports Master

Welcome back to our new school year.  We are currently mid-season for our ISA summer sports.  Competition resumes this weekend in all ISA sports. 

Our District Cricket program recommenced last weekend.  A new round of NSTA Tennis and NSW Pennant Squash will commence on 11 February.  

The Senior School Swimming Carnival will be held at Macquarie University Aquatic Centre on Tuesday 14 February.  More details to follow next week.

A number of winter sport registrations are opening today.  More will come online as the term progresses.  Please ensure you register in a timely fashion and take note of the important dates for each of our winter sports.

Football trials will be held on Sunday 12 February.  These will be run by COERVER.  The College is pleased to announce an extension of the COERVER coaching provision within our Football program for 2023 onwards. 

Please reinforce with your sons the need to listen to announcements at Friday Sports Assemblies as important information is relayed to them.  Boys really must take responsibility for the fulfillment of their commitments to the College.  

With sport commencing this weekend, please ensure your sons have the correct uniform for their respective activity.

Please also reinforce the ISA Code of Conduct (attached).  I look forward to seeing you throughout Term 1.

Mr Matt Stearn - Senior Sports Master

Strength and Conditioning

Strength and Conditioning sessions will commence Monday Week 1 in the Sarto gym. A reminder, the morning session stars at 7:15 am sharp and concludes at 8:05 am (this allows students ample time to change into full school uniform). The after-school evening session starts at 3:30 pm sharp and concludes at 4:30 pm. Students must be in their school uniform or full sports uniform when leaving the gym. During the first week back students can expect each session to have a 15-minute safety and general program induction in which coaches will explain the new program structure and specifically go over technique and skills and gym safety. It is during this time students MUST have their permission form signed by a coach.

Due to ongoing building construction, there will be no wifi or pre booking system available in the Sarto Gym until Week 4. Therefore, to ensure appropriate numbers and to allow quality use of facilities, during Week 1-3 students have been allocated training times for each year group. Please respect the scheduled times. Students will be asked to leave if they are not in their correct time slot.

To use the facilities and to participate effectively, students must adhere to the terms:

Students are required to:

1. Fully engage in Strength and Conditioning programs and apply themselves to assigned S and C program by their coach. 
2. Comply with the rules, gym etiquette and expectations of St Pius and all staff, coaches and mentors. ( 3 strike policy).
3. Wear the appropriate uniform during S and C training sessions and on all occasions and bring a sweat towel ( NO TOWEL NO TRAIN).
4. Not to use phone inappropriately during training. 
5. Upload a signed permission form from a S and C Coach and parent to TeamBuildr.

Parents, please read the following (including document links) with your son

S and C Manual 2023 - The S and C Manual explains what the program is, the expectations we have within the program, s and c programs, terminology and the level each student should work towards in succession to his training. 

Strength and conditioning student agreement (7/10s MUST read with parents and return to coach to sign).

A reminder students must book their training time slot through the GymStudio which can be found on the school’s intranet page as of Week 4. Gymstudio is online booking/management software has been integrated with Teambuildr. If students are unable to reserve a position on GymStudio 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.  The program operates on three strike policy, students are required to attend all the sessions they register to. 

If students demonstrate unfavourable behaviour within any aspect of school or obtain 3 missed sessions, they will not be able to use the facilities for the remainder of the term. Due to safety reasons; Students in Year 7 and 8 must adhere to the specific training programs provided by S and C coaches. If students do not apply to the programs, coaches reserve the right to remove them from the session.

 PROGRAMS

Teambuildr is a platform that allows coaches to easily track and record progress  It is a great way for students to view their set program and receive gym notifications (ie testing week, or the ‘gym is closed’). To reduce injury and to manage student performance, students must sign up to their respective program. 

Program review:

1. Year 9 - 12 Rugby students will continue with their Preseason program. Their In-season program will commence early April. 
2. Generic program provides a series of strength programs and students must sign up to this join code if they if they are not in the 9-12 rugby. 
3. Year 7 - 8 Preseason program provides a series of body weight and light weight exercises (using kettle bells and dumb bells). To ensure variety, This program will be modified in term 2.

 Information to join Teambuildr is below:

STUDENT ATHLETES:

• Download the Teambuildr App to your phone.
• Enter the  EASYJoin Code: XXXXX and Password: XXXX as per  codes below.
• Complete the profile information.  
•  You MUST put a photo of your face.
•  In the block for your last name it should be enter with your Grade in front of your last name eg.   (9) Smith       DO NOT PUT THE GRADE AFTER YOUR FIRST NAME.
• Make sure you have your Gender, Phone number entered, and Notification turned on. 
• Once you have this information entered, hit SUBMIT.   From this point on, your EMAIL and Password you choose will be the way you log in to TEAMBUILDR”

Ms Laura Coombe - Strength and Conditioning Convenor

Cricket

2023 Term 1 - Team Training Days

Monday – 1st and 2nd XI (until 5.30 pm)

Tuesday – U15/17 (until 5.00 pm)

Wednesday – 1st and 2nd XI (until 5.30 pm)

Thursday – U13 and U14 (Senior school students – until 5.00 pm), U12 and U13 (during Junior School Sport)

All training is at Oxford Falls and conducted by Cricket Appeal.

PE uniform or SPX Cricket uniform to be worn.

Buses depart from OLD Church at 3.20 pm and return to Anderson St at approx. 5.30 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 6.00 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays. 

Shade Gazebos have arrived!

Shade gazebos have arrived for MWJCA teams and are awaiting collection. 

MWJCA Round 14 Fixtures – Saturday 4 February 2023

SPX Blue v Beacon Hill Bouncers @ Oxford Falls #2 (1.00 pm start)

SPX Gold v Harbord Bashers @ Hitchcock Park (8.00 am Start)

SPX Red v  CPCC @ TBA please check Play HQ (8.00 am start)

SPX Green v CPCC Force @ Keirle Park #1 (8.00 am start)

SPX Orange v Seaforth Rebels @ Lake Park (8.00 am start)

SPX Purple v St Augustine’s Green @ TBA please check Play HQ (8.00 am start)

ISA Round 7 Fixtures – Saturday 4 February 2023

1st XI v Oakhill College @ Oxford Falls #1 (10.00 am start)

2nd XI v Oakhill College @ Main Oval Oakhill College (10.00 am start)

1st XI v St Joseph’s College 2nd XI @ Hunters Hill – Saturday 28 January 2023

SPX 235 (Joel Austin 101, Patrick Frost 52, Will Pavely 19, Oliver Freeman 19, Lachlan Jursevic 18 not out).

Defeated St Joseph’s College 184 (Joel Austin 2-8, Mitchell McGrath 2-10).

A steamy day and a rock-hard pitch greeted the SPX 1st XI for this practice match before the ISA competition restarts next week. Captain Joel Austin won the toss and batted. He and Pat Frost made the most of the conditions in a positive opening stand. Pat Frost registered his first half century in the 1st XI in fine style. At 1 for 154 half-way through the allotted overs, the team was very well placed. Joel Austin brought his century having combined watchful defence with elegant stroke making. However, the batting tailed off as wickets were lost regularly and the final total was below what it could have been. There was a good start in the field with a wicket to Mitch McGrath and a fine run out by the skipper combining with keeper Oliver Freeman. The visitors were made to work hard for wickets but stuck to the task. Andrew May and Flynn Pavely hit the stumps, Manas Bansal took a one-handed catch at short cover off the captain’s bowling and two more run-out chances were taken on the way to a 51 run victory. This was the perfect hit out as the holidays end and thanks to the St Joseph’s players and officials for hosting the fixture.

Mr David Reay - Cricket Convenor

Basketball

Welcome back to the 2022-23 Basketball Season.  My name is Daniel Garrett and I am very excited to be taking over from Mr Virgona as the Basketball Convenor for the remainder of the 2022-23 season. I graduated from the College in 2016 and have been involved in basketball at the College as a coach ever since.  I currently have responsibility of coaching the 1st V. I look forward to creating a positive culture within the program alongside the many coaches and staff who work behind the scenes.

All results can be found each week on the ISA Sport App. Filter by both School (SPX) and Sport (Basketball Boys) using the icon next to the whistle in the top right corner.

Competition resumes this Saturday with Round 7 - Fixtures attached.

Saturday 4 February – Round 7 fixtures – Teams, Opponents, Venues and Times

Training: Training recommenced this week, with times found below.  

Season Draw:

This ‘SPX Season Draw 2022/23’ below is a working DRAFT document. 

Navigate to each week using the tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet. Times and venues will be added each week and the FINAL version for the upcoming Saturday is posted via this link each week in Woodchatta. 

Mr Daniel Garrett - Basketball Convenor

NSTA Tennis

Welcome back to another term of tennis. Those boys who played NSTA tennis last year are automatically enrolled to play this term. 

If you are new to the College this year and would like to play tennis, could you please send me an email with your son’s name, grade and experience playing tennis. 

siwatani@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au. Unfortunately I am unable at this stage to take new enrolments from students who were at the College in 2022 due to numbers for NSTA this term. 

The NSTA season will run from FEBRUARY 11 – MARCH 18 (inclusive). All students are expected to attend ALL games. 

Mrs Sam Iwatani - NSTA Convenor

Football

Football (Soccer) grading trials for all Year 7 to 12 students will be held on Sunday 12 February 2023 at Oxford Falls Campus. Students must attend grading day at their allocated time (see below) - any issues with this please contact Mr Simon Yue, Senior Football Convenor syue@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au . 

The 2023 SPX Football Program includes the Winter ISA Football competition and the SPX Internal Football competition. All students wishing to play SPX Football for the 2023 season will be graded in a SPX football team. 

There are limited ISA teams, typically 2 or 3 per age group.  All students who do not make an ISA side are able to partake in our internal competition run by COERVER Football.

There is an expectation that students who participate in Football at SPX attend trainings on both Monday and Wednesday afternoon as well as a Saturday game.

All students in Years 7-12 wishing to participate in the 2023 Football season, must be electronically registered via Trybooking link by Thursday 9 February 2023. The Trybooking registration assists the grading process run by the COERVER professional football coaches. 

Please note that when registering for grading you will also be billed a one-off registration fee of $180.  In previous years this amount appeared on your son's school fees.

Registration link: https://www.trybooking.com/1013281

Grading times for Sunday 12 February 2023 at Oxford Falls Campus, Dreadnought Road, Oxford Falls: 

Year Registration Check in Time Grading Time Oxford Falls Sporting Grounds:

U13 (Y7) Arrival: 7.45 am, on field 8.00 am - 9.15 am 

U14 (Y8) Arrival: 9.15 am, on field 9.30 am-- 10.45 am 

U15 (Y9) Arrival: 10.45 am, on field 11.00 am - 12.15 pm 

U16 (Y10) Arrival: 12.15 pm, on field 12.30 pm - 1.45 pm 

Opens (Y11 + Y12) Arrival: 1.45 pm, on field 2.00 pm - 3.00 pm 

What to Wear and Bring to be able to play Football at the SPX Grading Day: it is compulsory to wear sports clothes, football shin pads and football boots. Please also bring a water bottle. Any wet weather notifications are notified on the SPX College App. Please download the SPX College App and you can check any wet weather notifications by tapping on the Sports icon. 

We are looking forward seeing everyone at SPX Football Grading Day 2023.

Mr Simon Yue  - Senior Football Convenor

Debating and Public Speaking

CSDA Public Speaking Registration

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

3 March                      Public Speaking Round 1

10 March                    Public Speaking Zone Finals

17 March                    Public Speaking Finals

GREEN Public Speaking Registration forms will be available at the Student Reception Office on Monday 6 February. Please complete this form and return to the box marked “GREEN Public Speaking ONLY Registration forms” outside the Student Reception Office before next Friday, 10 February. Each school in the CSDA competition can register just two students from each year group so some trials will need to take place in Week 3 in B8.  I will contact all who submit the GREEN Registration form.  

CSDA Debating Competition 

The CSDA Debating Competition runs through Term 2 on the following evenings.  YELLOW CSDA Debating Registration forms will be available from the student office from Monday 13 February (Week 3).

Ms Leigha Zervakos - Debating & Public Speaking Convenor

Chess

Ms Janelle Dempsey - Chess Convenor