Sport News

Last weekend saw Marist host St Laurence's College in a whole round of action at Ashgrove to celebrate Rosalie Old Boys Day. It was wonderful to see the 1st XV keep alive the Rosalie colours and history by wearing the iconic Rosa cerise and blue jersey. It was a strange day of results with Marist dominating the rugby fixtures all day, yet going down in the 1sts to a very strong Lauries outfit, and in football, Lauries dominated the day but Marist probably had the best of the firsts match which finished 2-all.

This weekend we are away at Villanova with the seniors (Year 9-12) at Villanova and the juniors (Year 5-8) at Marist. Please check the draw carefully as we will have many supplementary matches which could be at any of the schools.

Good luck to all teams this weekend!

Spectating

Boys coming along to watch matches are required to wear their winter uniform. Boys who have played earlier in the day and are staying behind to watch matches are required to change into their winter uniform. All boys should be in the correct school uniform.

Team Selections - Rugby and Football

I thought it important to share with you the challenge our coaches and coordinators are facing in trying to organise boys into teams in the short turnaround from Term 1. Marist fields between four and eight teams in every year level in rugby and football. This is between 70 and 130 boys to be selected into positions and teams in each sport. This is a huge task for the staff, all of whom are either teachers coaching on top of teaching duties, external coaches with full-time jobs to manage, and young Old Boys with limited coaching experience.

I can assure the Marist community that all our coaches are doing their best to sort out our teams and prepare the players for Round 1. Interestingly, many AIC are still adding and deleting teams from the competition this week, suggesting everyone is in the same position, and we are by far the largest sporting program in the AIC.

Playing Uniform

All players must be in the correct Marist playing uniform for the sport. Other Marist apparel, including training shirts, are not acceptable. The uniform shop has all items required for sale. If the shop is sold out of a required size, please contact the relevant year coordinator in advance to request permission to play. Coaches will not let players play in the wrong uniform unless approved in advance.

Absences from Training and Matches

When committing to play a sport for a season, it is the College's expectation that the activity will be given the highest priority. Absences from training and games let down your coaches, your teammates and your College. From time to time, absences are unavoidable with illness and significant family events, and we understand these. However, clear communication, with as much notice as possible, is required. Boys in Years 8-12 should take responsibility for communicating this themselves by emailing their coach and year coordinator explaining why they are absent from training or a game.

Wet Weather Procedure

The College manages our fields. This is different from many club sports, where the local council manages the facilities and is conscious of wear and tear with fewer resources to manage and more teams using the fields for longer periods of time than schools. Our aim is to train wherever possible, and we will only cancel training and games if it is dangerous, such as lightning or water pooling on fields, or if it has been consistently raining and the fields are showing significant wear and tear. Cancellations are communicated using the College app. It is important that families have notifications turned on to receive notices around changes to training, especially morning sessions where time is of the essence.

Football – Mr Derek Lennon (Football Coordinator)

Football enjoyed a full trial round against St Laurence's College last Saturday. The 1st XI played out a competitive fixture, finishing in a two-all draw. After a quality pre-season including Term 4 fitness, eight pre-season matches, and a camp on the Gold Coast, the team are well-prepared and excited about the challenge ahead.

Overall, our preparation has been significantly improved on last year with our A teams picked early, two rounds of trial matches and pre-season training. All teams are almost settled now and raring to go. Saturday was a challenging day for many of our teams against St. Laurence's, who have been an improving program for a number of years now. Two weeks of tough matches against Terrace and St Laurence's will prepare our teams well for the season ahead.

This Saturday sees us travel to Villanova in the seniors, with the junior teams at home. Villa are a strong football program, so this will challenge our teams again this week. As a program, we are looking forward to the challenge and also the collegiality involved in our two schools playing each other.

Sportsmanship

The mission for the AIC is to provide well-organised competitions in sport and other activities that foster participant engagement and pride in communities in a holistic Christian context. Our students, staff, and families (both past and present) will nurture spiritual, moral, emotional, intellectual, physical, and social development through respectful and compassionate relationships in a safe environment.

It is important that staff, players, and spectators are aware of their obligations to maintain a positive environment through healthy friendly competition. All Marist players and coaches are expected to maintain the values and expectations of the College. This includes but is not limited to: 

• Following the instructions and decisions of officials without question or contempt. 
• Respecting opponents and officials, and shaking hands at the conclusion of the match, regardless of the result. 
• Wearing our Marist uniform correctly and with pride.

Operational

Communication, team lists, staff and coach contacts, training times, and weekly draws are available on the College App each week.

Cross Country

Cross Country Camp

Over the weekend, a group of senior cross country students from Years 9-12 attended a camp on the Gold Coast. The group departed Brisbane on Saturday afternoon after the football and rugby trials. On Saturday night, the boys had the pleasure of meeting and listening to former Australian distance runner Pat Carroll. Pat, who is one of Australia's greatest distance runners, spoke about how he started running, what it's like competing against the best in the world, and shared some important tips and strategies for cross country running.

On Sunday morning, the group participated in the Gold Coast Running Festival 5km race. This was a fantastic opportunity for the students to have a hard race and experience a mass participation fun run, where the race finished inside Cbus Super Stadium. All boys ran well, and there were lots of personal bests. Congratulations to Asher Parkin, who won the race in a very fast time of 15:50. To finish off the day, the students enjoyed some team bonding time with a game of tenpin bowling.

Tennis

What's on at the Courts this Week?

Our squad, private and group lessons are in full swing, and our courts are at full capacity every afternoon until 5:00pm. Marist Tennis Club is growing, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members for looking after the Centre whilst there on weekdays, and also for reporting any damage or out-of-the-ordinary happenings whilst there. It's great to know you care about the place as much as we do.

A few reminders for parents and students:

• Wet weather program is on for all squads every session if we are not able to utilise the courts.
• Students are reminded to be on time for their squad sessions to not miss the warm-up at the beginning of each lesson.
• Private lessons will be made up during Weeks 9, 10 after squads have finished.
• AIC trials will commence in Week 6 of this term once a week.
• Week 9 and 10 there will be two trials per week.
• We could potentially hold an AIC camp during the holidays depending on court availability. This would be available to all students picked in teams to play AIC.
• There will be no fixtures in Term 3 due to the court availability, but there will be a designated hitting session on a Friday afternoon for 1st and 2nd players (Compulsory) and all A players from Years 7-10.

AIC 1st X Squad

Congratulations to all these boys who have shown us their intention of trying to make these teams.

Our team for free training during this term will consist of 12 players, and at any time we could release players from this squad as we see fit.

All sessions are compulsory, and a 100% attendance is needed to remain in this squad; otherwise, you could be removed from the squad. We do understand that there will be times that doctor appointments are necessary or other important appointments. We are human.

Congratulations to these fine young men, and these names are in no particular order:

Eddie Price Year 12

Andrew Milner Year 12

Fletcher Wessling Year 9

Rory O'Keeffe Year 11

Harry White Year 11

Henry Lambley Year 11

Jake Davidson Year 11

Joel Ephraims Year 12

Will Moon Year 12

Ryan Webster Year 12

Hamish Davidson Year 10

Louis Morris Year 11

Well done, boys, and let's get ready to keep training hard with the first session starting on Thursday 27 April from 3:30pm-5:00pm. Reminder: this will run each week every Tuesday and Thursday 3:30pm-5:00pm.

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