Sports Corner

Diocesan Open Basketball Champions

On Thursday 19 May, our senior teams finally took to the court for the long awaited Diocesan tournament in Coffs Harbour. The teams, having trained since early Term 1, were more than ready to showcase their skills.

The girls were outstanding from the first whistle to the last. They defeated every team with grace, good sportsmanship and superior skill. Every player contributed to each win with the girls achieving scores such as 53 - 20, 64 - 24, and 43-8 even with the ‘mercy rule’ in place. Finishing undefeated on 18 points, and with a massive 271 points for and only 95 against across 6 games, means the girls will definitely be a team to beat at CCC! Well done Diocesan Champions!

The boys were in a tight tournament with a very close tussle against Mackillop going down in the rounds by 1 basket and Trinity who they drew with. The narrow loss and draw resulted in the team placing 2nd going into the finals. A convincing win against Trinity saw our boys take on the polished 3 point shooting machine that was Mackilliop. Despite heroic efforts, our boys went down, however, should hold their heads high achieving a silver medal and being crowned Diocesan Runner Up Champions!

Thank you to the coaches, Mr Verbruggen and Mr Hiddlestone who have been regularly training their teams each week before school. The dedication and preparation certainly paid off with both teams being convincing entrants into the NSWCCC Championships scheduled for June in Port Macquarie. We wish our teams all the best.

Open Boys Basketball 

Open Girls Basketball

CCC Rugby League

For the first time in many years we were able to put an Open team in the CCC Rugby League competition in Port Macquarie last Tuesday. For many of our die-hard League players, this was their last chance (and due to COVID and lack of numbers in the past), for some it was the first chance to play their sport for the College! Whilst many of the team had played League before, for a number, the conversion across from Union or AFL was a fun challenge. The boys were defeated in both games against well-drilled Port Macquarie teams, however, the coaches sang the boy's praises. They were determined, passionate and truly grateful for every moment on the footy field. Memories that will always be treasured were made on the day and in the many mornings of training in the lead-up to the event. Thank you to Mr Gregson and Mr Abbott who coached the team and to Mr Kent who drove the bus.

Diocesan Cross Country Championships

Our Cross Country team, although heavily depleted due to illness, travelled to the Grafton racetrack to compete in the Diocesan Cross Country championships. Our students were outstanding in their attitude and determination, with all students doing our College proud by their efforts. 

Lily Betland (1st), Zane Guthrie (1st), Abby Sams (2nd), Harrison Colyer (2nd), Rhys Mulholland (2nd) and Laila McDonald (3rd), Matilda Newton (3rd), Adelaide Keating (3rd) and Lily Morgan (6th) produced strong performances on the day to finish in the top 6 of their age division and therefore qualify for the NSWCCC Cross Country Championships.

It is from this event that we determine our College Age Champions. Congratulations to the following students:

	Girls	Boys
12 Years	Adelaide Keating	Zane Guthrie
13 Years	Matilda Newton	Marc Rogers
14 Years	Dayna Loy	Jaxon White
15 Years	Jade Newton	Riley Woods
16 Years	Abby Sams	Robert Gallatly
17 Years	Lily Betland	Rhys Mulholland
18 Years	Laila McDonald	Harrison Colyer

Congratulations to all students and thank you to Mr Marle and Mrs Stocks for accompanying the team.

SJPC Representative Sport

Our representative squads have been training hard before, during and after school in preparation for upcoming events such as League Tag, Rugby 10’s, Junior Diocesan Football and Diocesan Basketball. Students are reminded to check the Sport classroom, Palace noticeboard and the Daily notices for information regarding training and details of events. All squad and team selections are posted on the Palace noticeboard and permission notes can be collected from the Palace.

Bill Turner Cup

Our Bill Turner Cup boys played against CCS at Bonville Friday Week 2. After a fairly tight contest initially and a few missed chances we led 2-0 at half time courtesy of goals scored by Nik Davies and Anthony Omtha. CCS came out all guns blazing in the second half only to be silenced by our wonderful defence and awesome teamwork. Our boys went on with the job finishing 6-0 after 60 minutes of football with further goals to Iggy Hibberd, Raph Wirth, Will Eames and a second goal for Nik Davies. Congratulations to the boys on a fine achievement. Our round 3 game will be against a Grafton based school and will be played at SJPC. More details to come.

Bill Turner Trophy

On Friday 6 May the Girls Bill Turner Trophy team travelled to Christian Community College to compete in Round 2 of the Knock out competition. The game started off slowly but finally 10 minutes into it the girls found themselves and started to play like a real winning combination.

The half time score was 4-0 to SJPC and after a team chat and more tactics put into place we came away with a 7-0 win. This amazing team will now progress to the next round to be played in a few weeks.

Sporting Success

• Congratulations to Zara Temesi (Year 11) who recently returned from Europe where she competed in International Modern Pentathlon competitions. Her results were exceptional, even achieving a PB. Zara has her sights set on the 2024 Paris Olympics and we can’t wait to support her on her journey! Well done Zara!
• Ex-student Isla Juffermans was recently announced in the Australian Under 17 Women’s Basketball team. As a member of the team, she will compete firstly in the Asian Cup (in Jordan) and if the team finishes in the top 4 will then travel to Hungary to compete in the World Cup! We are so excited for Isla and wish her all the best! 

• Ex-student Kailtin Leaney was recently selected to represent Auatralia as a member of the Australian Rugby Union Women’s team. This is particularly impressive as Kailtin has only been playing Rugby for four years!

Year 7 and 8 Sport

The past two weeks have seen a mixture of sun and rain grace us for our Wednesday sport afternoons. Whilst every effort has been made to keep students moving, it has been a challenge given that valuable spaces such as the Hall, Drama room and N Block classrooms have been unavailable, leaving us with the Hardcourts for well over 300 students! Instead, we had students bused off campus to activities such as Crossfit, Basketball, Aquatics and the SCU indoor courts and some of our groups even undertook their Smart Rugby or Coach AFL basic qualification online. Thank you to our amazing staff who, as always were flexible and committed to presenting engaging sporting opportunities for our students.

Students and families are reminded that Week 5 is the last week of this sport rotation and that sports will change for all groups except the CRL group. Please check the Sport Classroom, Palace noticeboard and Daily notices for updates on all things sport.

Year 9 and 10 Term 3 Sport Selections 

All families should have received an email with the sport options available for Term 3.

• Selections will take place during Homeroom on Monday 23 May.
• Permission notes will then be sent home to those students who selected a paid sport. They are due back by Thursday 26 May.
• Invoices will be emailed to parents on Monday 30 May
• Payment is due by Monday 20 June. NO PAYMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THIS DATE.

Year 9 and 10 Term 3 Sport Selections > SJPC Representative Basketball

Those students who have signed up for and/or made the Basketball squads for the year 9/10 teams will not need to select a sport for Term 3. In a new initiative, the teams will train for the Diocesan Championships during sport time. It is hoped that if this is successful, we will be able to schedule more representative squad trainings during sport in 2023.

Coming Up