Sport 

Welcome back to everyone and I hope you had a relaxing and sporty summer! Hopefully, after two interrupted years with COVID, this year will be a busier one with a full year of sport in the school’s 150th year! 

2022 will see a continued emphasis on sport at the College taking place and the Cultural Framework and Vision for our sporting program getting further entrenched into the ethos of the college.

• Commitment – service, communication, teamwork
• Passion – pride, enjoyment, determination 
• Character – mindset, resilience, initiative 
• Mastery – challenge, achievement, growth
• Legacy – sportsmanship, role modelling, memories

All the regular House, local and inter-school competitions will be taking place as well as some exciting possibilities in our sporting program for students to be involved in at a higher level of learning and competition. 

Racquet Sports (Tennis, Squash and Table Tennis) will again be offered as a regular sporting opportunity during the year and continues to expand. Contact Mrs Katie Winter Cooke if you are interested in playing in the local competitions. We farewelled some heads of sport in December, so I would like to introduce some new staff in these roles. For more information concerning a sport during the year please contact the following heads of sport:

• Ben Hawthorne - Boys Hockey
• Kristen Waldron - Girls Hockey
• Simone Brabham – Under 10 and 12 Basketball
• Heinrich Burmeister – Boys Cricket
• Louise Williams – Girls Cricket
• Nerrida Prosser – Horsemanship
• Matilda McGoon – Clay Target Shooting
• Jody Ogle – Netball
• Andrew Hirst – Rowing
• Julien Guez- Soccer
• Katie Winter Cooke – Racquet Sports
• Ben Singh – Swimming Coach
• Rohan Garfoot – Athletics Coach
• Leigh Alexander – Football, Swimming, Athletics, Cross Country, Senior Women and Men’s and Under 14, 16, 18 Basketball

We look forward to a vibrant and exciting year of Glenelg Division Competition as we will strive to once again win the big three events – swimming, athletics and cross country. The ICCES sporting events will also continue to be challenging for our students and the keen table tennis and badminton players at school can once again look forward to competing at the premier sports and aquatic centre in Melbourne – MSAC – on the same day as ICCES Swimming – 8th March. 

Families should also be aware that we are an affiliated member of School Sport Victoria which means that our students can nominate to attend selection trials for state sporting teams under this banner. If you would like to know more about this, please look on the following website – www.ssv.vic.edu.au as the first place to find important information and contact myself if necessary also. Some sports have registration and trial processes underway and finishing at the end of February so get on the website soon. Under this agreement our secondary students can also compete in the All SCHOOLS Athletics and Cross Country championships.

At this point of the year I would like to remind you all that correct school sports uniform must be worn to all inter-school sporting competitions or students will not be able to participate so please purchase the required items of clothing from the uniform shop as necessary – this includes tracksuit pants to venues on colder days. Coloured “House shirts” must also be worn to compete in any Inter-House sporting event so it will be important for all students to keep track of when these will be running on the special House Afternoons allocated in the calendar and at lunchtimes.

The school’s sporting Code of Behaviours document that includes our cultural framework/vision for the sporting program has already been distributed to all new families and we are asking that all new  players, coaches, managers, administrators and parents involved in the College Sporting program, please read, sign and return to myself ASAP and of course adhere to during the year.

The number of students playing team sports for College teams is very pleasing and I would dearly love to see even more students making the commitment to their school friends and the school itself to play at least one team sport for a College team in 2022. It is also vitally important that all students who put their name down to play a sport fully commit to that sport via the means of regular attendance at training and games. Otherwise they are letting their teammates and coaches down and it puts a lot of stress and extra work on team managers also. Communication and commitment are paramount for all sporting activities at the school.

If you have any questions about the sporting program offered here at the College, please call or email me at the school.

Leigh Alexander

Head of Sport