From the Director of Co-curricular, Steve O’Donnell
As the summer season is coming to a close, At last weeks assembly, I spoke about the importance and benefits of the co-curricular program to their wellbeing.
In a modern society with ever-increasing demands, and the amount of time young people are spending on screens, being active has become a critical element of holistic development.
Being active not only presents physical benefits such as preventing obesity and other lifestyle-related illnesses, but also facilitates connectedness through our various co-curricular activities that help to address young men’s emotional and mental health. Unfortunately, males in Australia are suffering from increasing levels of anxiety and depression, and exercise and diet are critical choices in prevention and treatment. Social health and relationships they develop with peers and staff are vital to combat some of the issues of today. When successful Old Boys visit the College, they always speak of the camaraderie they had in being with their peers in sport and co-curricular activities.
Waverley College provides excellent opportunities in both summer and winter to develop their health and improve wellbeing. Tomorrow we also have our House Swimming Carnival, and this is followed by the CAS Swimming & Diving Championships at Homebush next Thursday, March 14. Our Swim Squad have been busy preparing, including a successful Christian Brothers Carnival last Saturday with Waverley winning three of the four shields on offer. The CAS Swimming Championships are a compulsory event for Years 8, 10 and 11 as well as Prefects.
Students will be taken by bus to and from Homebush next Thursday departing the College at 3pm and returning by 9pm. We will also be offering a bus that returns to both Maroubra Junction and Hurstville. Dinner for students is included.
Congratulations to the Year 7 Gold Touch Football who won the Easts Schools Touch Football Grand Final on Tuesday.
Congratulations to Lachlan Unsworth and Nikita Nikitenko who were selected this week to play CAS Tennis, as well as Lachlan Forrest and Mr Greg Elliott for their demanding efforts in the CAS First XI Cricket over the weekend. We also had many students complete their Football Referees course on Sunday, and this is an area we certainly want to develop to the same level as our impressive Rugby Referees program. A big thank you to Mr Steve Wilmot for organising this. Well done to the staff and students who attended the Firsts and Seconds Basketball last Friday. Both hard-fought matches with the seconds going down narrowly and the firsts having an impressive win. I also want to congratulate all of our students who competed for a range of clubs at the State Age Surf Lifesaving titles last weekend. And lastly, I want to wish those older students competing at the Opens SLS Championships at both a State and Aussies level over the next few weeks the very best with their preparations.
On Friday we had 2 teams compete in the NSW All Schools Triathlon. Both teams went well, and the details of each event are below.
The Junior team consisted of: swim, Jack Kerves; cycle, Cillian Treanor and run, Tashi Harrison. The Juniors placed 65th out of 119 in the Junior Boys relay.
The intermediate team consisted of: swim, Liam Davis; cycle, Rylan Short and run, Zachary Tyrell. The intermediates placed 9th out of 110 in the intermediate Boys relay.
TENNIS REPORT
I want to thank all students and coaches for their efforts over the whole summer season as well as the tireless support by all parents and families. I want to make special mention of the Year 12 students who will be playing their final round of Summer Sport for the College this week and specifically thank them for their efforts over their time at Waverley.
The combined CAS tennis vs ISA tennis was held at Barker on Tuesday 5th March, and Lachlan Unsworth represented Waverley. The CAS team was the overall winner of the tournament and Lachlan played well on the day, winning three of the four sets. We are proud of Lachlan’s efforts. The second last round of the season saw a dramatic improvement across the board, as many teams won against Cranbrook. Waverley’s firsts and seconds team recorded one of their best victories of the season. The firsts proved too strong for Cranbrook as Waverley won both doubles sets. The thirds and fourths, unfortunately, were not as successful, going down 6 sets to 0. The Cranbrook team proved too strong for Waverley.
The 10a’s and b’s also showed improving signs as they were able to record a strong 4 sets to 2 victory in the 10A’s. Oscar Madden and Massimo Di Napoli both proved too strong for their Cranbrook opponents, winning 6-1 and 6-2 respectively. They further proved they are a force to be reckoned with in the doubles are they downed their opponents 6-1.
The 9A’s and B’s saw a decisive Waverley victory for the first time in a while for both teams. Charley Roberts, Ronnie Roth, Lorenzo Di Napoli and Cuba Kanakis all achieved convincing doubles wins, winning 5-3 and 4-1. This form continued into the doubles as Ronnie Roth demolished his opponent 4- 0, as well as Alex Morris who outclassed his opponent 4-1. The 9B’s were able to achieve their best result of the season so far, as they put on a masterclass performance as every boy recorded a victory. The 8as continued their season-long form demolishing the Cranbrook side 6 sets to 0, with Dominate 6-1 victories from Oliver Sachi and Conor Joyce…
Download the full Tennis Report
BASKETBALL
The firsts and seconds squads both went to Wahroonga with nothing to lose and the aim of knocking off the best teams in the CAS, record-wise, Knox. The seconds were looking to continue their excellent start to the second half of the season, whereas, the firsts were looking to bounce back from an overtime defeat at the hands of Barker the week earlier. Unfortunately, both sides were defeated, which would later confirm that Knox would win the CAS firsts Premiership outright with three games remaining. The firsts lost 93-41 and the seconds lost 47-25.
The losses to Knox served to motivate both teams heading into the following week’s matchups against St Aloysius. Big performances from Keilan Grace and Ben Walton helped get the seconds to a victory after trailing by six in the opening stages of the game. The end result was a convincing 43-29 points victory for the seconds. Unfortunately, for the firsts, though one of their best efforts all season on the offensive end, it was once again a lack in defensive intensity, which would ultimately let them down and see them suffer a third straight defeat 88-76. Both teams are anxiously waiting to get back on the court this week as they prepare for an explosive Friday night encounter with local rivals Cranbrook, which is shaping up to be a game in which everyone wants to be a part of for both spectators and players alike…
Download the full Basketball Report
CRICKET
There have been some great displays of skills from so many of our teams in the last fortnight, and the level of improvement from our teams in Years 5-9 have been particularly strong. This has been evident with stronger team fielding, including captains and players building more pressure with smarter field placements and more awareness of where the ball is likely to be hit. With one round for Senior School boys and just 2 for Years 5-6, boys are itching to pad-up for a final tilt at some great team performances.
Boys can be inspired in their batting by Old Boy of 2008 Charlie Wakim, who last week made a 160 on his Sheffield Shield Debut at the Adelaide Oval for Tasmania. Charlie has put a decade of hard-work towards taking advantage of his opportunity in Grade Cricket with UNSW and a part of the NSW and Tasmanian Squads. Charlie captained the Waverley and CAS teams in 2008-09, and his former mentor and legendary Waverley coach Mr Boyd remembers fondly his memorable 238 not out against St Aloysius – still a College record…
