SSP NEWS

Netball

With four weeks now under our belt, Netball is in full swing. All players have settled into routines on court work, in strength & conditioning, education and recovery/prehab. Our focus on court has shifted from movement, awareness & timing, to leads and how this is all put together in match simulated drills and then applied in match play.

Charlie has provided all players with recovery/prehab programs to assist in management of their bodies throughout the program. It also continues to build players' sense of body awareness and being responsible for themselves in regularly undertaking prehab exercises and programs as done in High Performance training environments.

We have also begun utilising our new indoor learning space/second gym to walk through peripheral vision and body positioning when defending. This space provides a great opportunity to move from the classroom and explore concepts in a more walk-through physical manner.

Education explored pathways and goal-setting where students looked at where they were on the High-Performance Template and where they wanted to be in 1, 2 & 5-years’ time and how they can plan steps to progress towards their goals. We also covered all the various opportunities to progress, and competitions and teams within our local, regional and state levels. Currently we have many students participating in various pathway programs and competitions, including representative teams in the current Barwon Junior Netball Competition.

The highlight of the fortnight was the opportunity to connect with our new friends from the Scope Balloon Football Program who are our training neighbours on a Tuesday morning at the Leisuretime Sports Precinct. Our Year 7 and 8 Netballers were excited to be involved and engaged in one way or another. Some students assisted to push the participants in their wheelchairs, some scored and others encouraged and cheered on the teams. It was a wonderful way to finish our session.

Well done everyone on a great fortnight.

Susan Meaney

AFL

For the past four weeks, the athletic development team have tested the SSP student athletes' speed, agility, aerobic running power and strength profile in the gym. The aim is to provide a baseline of the students' current physical abilities, their strengths and weaknesses, and normative comparisons within their sporting cohort. The aim is to also use this data to assess their athlete devlopment as they progress through their schooling years in the SSP. 

The students have enjoyed seeing what they are capable of and are looking forward to making improvements to their results in Term 3.  Congratulations to all of you.

Photos are of:

1. Year 7 AFL participants lining up for YoYo testing.
2. Ruby Flett and Lewis Modola, who achieved 16.8 and 16.6 respectively. Unbelievable results.

Susie Robinson

BASKETBALL 

Over the past week the SSP Basketball program has been busy enjoying a variety of experiences. We were lucky enough to have the Bendigo Spirit come to town to play the Southside Flyers at the Geelong Arena. The Spirit girls dropped into WHC and made use of our gym facility to have their team strength & conditioning session before taking some of our students through an on-court session. Our students were fortunate to have all the girls on floor and the session was led by Aus Opal, WNBL & WNBA legend Kelsey Griffin. We'd like to wish the Spirit the best of luck for the remainder of their session and can't wait to see them in action in their upcoming finals campaign.

It's been a busy week of basketball in the Geelong region with the U20 Australian National Championships being held at the Geelong Arena. Having this opportunity on our doorstep was a great chance for our SSP Basketball students to watch the best junior talent in the country. Our students used the week for a learning task where they were required to observe, take notes, then write a report on a specific team and individual players. Our Program mentor and previous Director of coaching, Dave Herbert, was present as part of his Basketball Australia COE role.  Herbie caught up with students and assisted them with their observations and learning task. Students were also able to cheer on alumni athlete Tanielle Knight who was playing for Victoria. Tanielle had a great tournament, with her team winning the silver medal, going down to a strong NSW team in the grand final.  

Kaleb Sclater

SOCCER 

Week 3 and 4 of the SSP Soccer program has seen the boys and girls work on running with the ball and striking the ball. These two key fundamentals have been explored and worked on. Key areas of the skill have been examined and then progressed into game situations. With added variables of game contexts, the students need to use their speed of thought to execute the skills in game situations. Students have been given tips and techniques to improve their ability of running with the ball in tight areas and open spaces, as well as striking the ball with both left and right foot. These areas will be explored again when we revisit the cycle, and we hope to see significant improvements.

Western Heights students Joshua Knezevic, Nikolas Didulica and Evan Horvat (see photo) have been selected to represent Australia-Croatia in the National tournament in Croatia in April. The Croatian National coach Zlatko Dalic, who has just coached Croatia to an impressive third place at the World Cup, has toured Australia to scout the next Luka Modric. The tournament will see Canada-Croatia, Germany-Croatia, America Croatia, Austria-Croatia and lead clubs like Dinamo Zagreb all compete for the National U/14 title. Well done guys! 

Joey Didulica