Always striving upwards

Feature Article

Sport

SPORT LEADERS BREAKFAST

With an early start on the 14 February, Mr Fenton and five students passionate about sport headed across the city to Marian College for the annual Sport Leaders Breakfast. All girl’s schools from all over Victoria part of the Catholic Girls Sports Association of Victoria (CGSAV) were invited to share and hear about the different sporting environments facilitated inside and outside of our schools.

This year’s guest speaker was Steve Moneghetti – a very successful long-distance runner who notably participated in four Olympic Games (1988-2000) and four Commonwealth Games (1986-1998) in which he won gold, silver and bronze. Moneghetti shared an overview of his journey and what it really takes to perform on the highest stage. He conveyed the importance of a strong mindset, work ethic and a dedication to success. A message from the morning that I took with me is that you only achieve peak success through hard work, luck is never the biggest contributor.

The morning concluded with a sport themed Kahoot as a final bonding activity. We are so thankful for the opportunity to have heard from such a key Australian sporting figure who gave us an insight into the mentality which athletes must have at such a high level.

Alissa
Deputy College Captain Sport

TRIATHLON

“The CGSAV triathlon took place at Eastern Beach in Geelong, where we had to swim 200m along the inside of the Eastern Beach Promenade. We then had to cycle four laps along Hearne Parade which came to 5.6km. Finally, we had to run 2km along the same road which was quite difficult due to the inclination of the road nearing the finish line.   

Our top achievers for each age group displayed unbelievable strength and tenacity, and their hard work was shown throughout the races.   Congratulations to Stella (Year 8 – Junior Division), Liana (Year 12- Senior Division) and Emma (Year 10 – Intermediate Division) who was also the fastest student from our school.  

Overall, the day was an exciting challenge for the 20 students who competed and as a school we placed 6th out of 11 schools. This is an incredible achievement given that this was our first triathlon team in 10 years and the majority of the other schools had a lot more experience than us.     

Finally, I would like to thank Mr Fenton, Miss McCallum and Ms Stokes who gave us this opportunity to try something new and challenging, as well as helping us to train and prepare for the triathlon.”    

Kate (Year 12)
Triathlon Captain

HOUSE SWIM CARNIVAL

On the Tuesday, 7 February, the Sacred Heart House Swimming Carnival was able to be held as a whole school event for the first time in three years. With a sharp start at 9am, students were eager to engage in friendly competition and jump in the pool, especially with the warm weather!

It was amazing to see the Year 7s, 8s and 9s cheer on their teammates so enthusiastically despite it being their first time attending a full school swimming carnival. By the end of the day, many of us left with sore voice boxes and tired arms but an overall satisfactory feeling about the day.

Trinity placed first in the swimming competition closely followed by Bede, Xavier then Paul.

1st: TRINITY (1186 points)

2nd: BEDE (1126 points)

3rd XAVIER (857 points)

4th: PAUL (717 points)

Trinity was also the recipient of the Spirit Award. It was a great atmosphere filled with team chants and team spirit and we cannot wait for the next House event.

Nikita and Linara
Trinity House Captains

“On 8 March, we arrived bright eyed and eager to participate in the CGSAV tennis competition at Dendy Park Brighton. Our small group of sporty students gave it their best and it was a great day of tennis and socialising with our peers. Overall, the day was exciting and nerve wracking.

The Juniors and Intermediates put up a great fight, making the semi-finals and the seniors made the quarter finals. These are amazing achievements performed by the singles and doubles players of each age division.

Our most valuable players as awarded by our coaches displayed incredible ability and their hard work was portrayed throughout their matches. Congratulations to Tess (Senior Division), Amaya (Intermediate Division) and Alexandra (Junior Division). I would like to thank Mr Fenton and Miss McCallum for organising our training sessions and Ms Bilton, Ms Pobjoy and Ms Cripps for coming and supporting us throughout the day.”

Tess
Year 11

"CGSAV Indoor Cricket took place at Box Hill Indoor Sports on Thursday, 16 March. The day long competition was filled with multiple short games played against other Catholic girls schools from around Melbourne.

Our Junior team did well in the preliminary matches and won their semi final by 18 runs to progress to the grand final. In the grand final, CLC were too strong prevailing by 15 runs. The Senior team finished 4th, falling just 9 runs short in the semi-final.

Overall, the day was a success with lots of enjoyment and competitive cricket.
Congratulations to our MVPs as selected by Ms Pritchard (Seniors) and Mr Pearce (Juniors)
Senior MVP: Liz
Junior MVP: Luvunya

Special thanks to the Sports staff for coordinating training and coaching us on the day.”

Liz
Indoor Cricket Captain

CGSAV Swim Carnival

The 2023 Swimming season has officially come to an end, with 49 girls across Years 7 to 12 competing at MSAC, in the Catholic Girls Sports Association Victoria swimming carnival on Monday, 20 March.

For two months, each girl demonstrated her determination and commitment to the team by waking up early for before school training and staying back in the afternoon to train after school. Each girl is to be commended for the dedication shown throughout this season.

On the night, each girl competed to the best of her abilities. The Junior team did an incredible job placing third, with the Intermediate and Senior teams finishing in a remarkable second place in their respective divisions. This resulted in SHGC placing second Overall. Regardless of these fantastic outcomes, each individual should be very proud of what she achieved because ultimately the biggest goal is to have fun.

Thank you to Mr Fenton, Miss McCallum, and to all the teachers who helped train us leading up to the competition, and to all the teachers who came along on the night, ensuring every girl was at the marshalling area when needed. It made for a fantastic and efficient competition. Special thanks to Beth Forster, our specialist swimming coach, who woke up early to train us and who came in after her own swimming training to coach us after school. Not only has she taught us how to be better athletes, but she has also taught us how to enjoy the moment when everything around us is chaotic.

Once again, girls, you should be incredibly proud of yourselves, especially if you are in Year 7 and it was your first time competing in the Sacred Heart Girls’ College Swimming Team. Use this experience as an opportunity to grow and better yourself as an individual as well as an athlete. As your Swimming Captains, we are beyond proud of your efforts and achievements. We hope you continue to try out for not only the swimming team in future years but also for other sporting teams in the coming months. Remember, it's you against you, so always try to be the best version of yourself and keep striving upwards.

Maxine Narvaez and Evelyn Bratek

Swimming Captains