Tadgh talking with his Dad Terry and Rugby Convenor John
Waverley College is well known for its strong sporting traditions, but it’s not all about winning on the field. The relationships and life experiences that the boys build by taking part in sport – with their team mates, coaches and with the supporters – all stand them in good stead, both academically and for their future.
Tadgh talking with his Dad Terry and Rugby Convenor John
As a teacher at Waverley, sport – and especially Rugby – helps you build relationships with the boys that are very unique. You’re able to have that special connection, it helps you get that respect with the boys, which is really useful when you’re trying to give instructions and things like that off the field. I can’t speak highly enough of sport at Waverley – it’s fantastic.
I think the great thing as a parent is that you see your kids learning social skills; you see the camaraderie, in team sport particularly. It’s unique, they get quite a few experiences through learning the fact that you have off days and you’ve got to put that behind you and show up the next week. The tradition of Waverley and the success it’s had in the past – and how the kids aspire to achieve those goals – they’re all things that I want them to learn. Education is not just what you get out of a book or a good teacher: it’s using your mind, expanding your brain, having those life experiences.
Being at Waverley, I have built friendships with many people – even though you might not necessarily play with them on the playground at school, you come together as a team and as friends, and it feels great, you know – playing sport with your mates. You might not necessarily be able to remember everything that happens in class, but you always remember how things happened on that field!
I’m sure you remember everything in my history class don’t you Tadgh?
Yeah! It’s great being with each other out there.
I teach history to Tadgh as well and I find that Tadgh is definitely a role model in his class, yes he’s a big boy physically, but even the boys that don’t play rugby look up to him. I think they see what he does on the rugby field, how he leads the team – being the captain of the 15A’s – that helps with the rapport. Tadgh’s abilities on the field as a leader really rub off in the classroom and he is able to lead the class – and shows respect to whoever the teacher is in the classroom. I’m fortunate enough to be the teacher of that particular class.
It’s good to be able to lead the boys onto the field and, yeah, it’s the same in the classroom – making sure the boys are doing the right thing – behaving.
It’s always great coming into class on Monday and having a chat with Sir about the game on the weekend and how we went.
I’ve played rugby and cricket at Waverley, I tried out a bit of basketball for the first time this year, which was fun. I find sport is a great help when it comes to discipline – you’re trying to not get in trouble both in class and on the field.
We have lifelong friends out of the boys playing rugby here, well sport in general – having had 4 boys before Tadgh go through Waverley – there’s quite a few parents around that we enjoy a beer with or catch up with every now and again. And that’s all part of the Waverley community, whether it’s rugby or cricket or drama … that’s the sort of school it is. I even managed to get my hands on the gold logie after post-match celebrations at Scotty Cams house! That was a pretty big memento!
That’s a good point Terry – setting role models for your kids. We are very fortunate to have a fantastic supporters’ group at Waverley and we’ve got parents that will give up their Saturdays just to support the boys – and I suppose to be that friendly face at rugby – and that’s been a tradition for a number of years.
We are just so fortunate to have these role models – they show their children that giving up your time to support a cause is very worthwhile. Yes you give up your time to volunteer on Saturdays working on the BBQ or the canteen, but the community and the laughs and the joys that we share together are such a positive aspect of the Waverley College rugby community. We are very lucky to have such people within our community.
There’s so much passion there to do well – not just for the rugby, but for the school, academically as well as sporting-wise – there’s a real drive to get the students in strong positions. And leaving school, we know the students are going to go on to bigger and better things, which ultimately is the goal, to turn these boys into fine men.
We would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation who are the traditional Custodians of the land on which Waverley College is located. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We are committed to honouring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ unique cultural and spiritual connections to the land, waters, seas and sky and their rich contribution to society.
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