District Sports Athletics 2014
Golden Glory Baptism for New Athletics Kit!
Holy Family District Sports Champions 2014!
On Wednesday 11th June the athletics team took part alongside 20 other schools in the ERPSSA District Sports at Stompond Lane in Walton. This is the biggest event in the ERPSSA calendar with 800 children taking part in sprints, relays, distance races, long jump and ball throwing. After our fabulous success in 2013, the big question was 'Would we be able to repeat that victory against the fierce competition of the other 9 schools in the Small Schools category?' Under the blazing hot sun, the drama and the action unfolded...
We arrived in our brand new super smart athletics kit and the bright yellow shirts helped us to stand out. We looked just like Brazil...another team currently facing high expectations...but could we perform like Brazil? The answer to that question was a comprehensive 'Yes'. Despite intensely strong competition, particularly from a very powerful and talented St Charles team, Holy Family edged clear and were crowned overall District Sports Champions for the second year running.
This victoryis a tremendous achievement by the children and no-one should underestimate how special it is. Winning a district competition is a very difficult thing to achieve so to win two in a row is truly sensational. It has taken a lot of hard work, dedication and practice - on the day the whole team needed to deliver their best performances and this was a massive team effort. Every point counted because we needed every point. The other schools were strong and were not going to let us have everything our own way. I was delighted with the way the children responded to the challenge and raised their own performance levels. We looked like a team who were confident and a team who knew what was expected if we were to get close to winning. This is without doubt the biggest development I have seen in our sports teams since I arrived. We now look like a school who believe we have a chance to win things; we won't always win but we believe we have a chance and this is essential if we are to ever achieve success in anything we do.
Once I receive the official Year group scores and results of individual races I will post them here. We know our winning total was 137 points so it will be interesting to analyse where those points were picked up. What I can say at this stage is that the performance of our Year 5 team was exceptional. They amassed 43 points which included 4 first place finishes and 2 second places. This great performance also saw them crowned as Year 5 District Sports Champions 2014.
Two more sports trophies in the trophy cabinet is very pleasing and I hope it inspires all our children to want to participate even more in sport next year, to represent the school in even more events and to make sport a central part of their life. Results to follow...
Ok, all results are now in so here we go with a list of glory...
Event Winners (Individual District Champions):
Niall O'Shea (Year 3 sprint & Year 3 long jump), Joseph Freire (Year 5 sprint), Ella Stoner (Year 5 sprint, Year 5 long jump), Gus Bogacz (Year 6 long jump)
Relay Winners (District Champions) Year 5 boys (William Harding, Conor O'Shea, Lucas Clarke & Joseph Freire)
Event Runners-Up
Gabriel Cuevas (Year 3 throw), Jaimie Kollmer (Year 4 long jump), Freya Standley (Year 4 throw), Joseph Freire (Year 5 long jump), Jason De Freitas (Year 6 600 metres), Natasha Dearle-Palser (Year 6 long jump)
Relay Runners-Up: Year 4 boys (Josh Rawlinson, Jack Gray, Conor Reilly, Adam Cassin) Year 5 girls (Joey Siow, Emily McElroy, Ellie Ford, Ella Stoner), Year 6 boys (Jason De Freitas, Declan Navato, Harley Robertson, Gus Bogacz)
Event Third Places
Conor Reilly (Year 4 long jump & 600 metres), Federica Federico (Year 4 sprint), Charlie Pirini (Year 6 throw)
Relay third place: Year 3 boys (Joseph Reilly, Charlie Manners, Salvatore Federico, Niall O'Shea)
When we totalled up the points, the breakdown of our 137 points total was as follows:
Year 3 boys 21pts Year 3 girls 3pts Year 3 total 24pts (2nd)
Year 4 boys 16pts Year 4 girls 19pts Year 4 total 35pts (2nd)
Year 5 boys 20pts Year 5 girls 23pts Year 5 total 43pts (1st)
Year 6 boys 23pts Year 6 girls 12pts Year 6 total 35pts (2nd)
Total boys 80pts Total girls 57pts Total Team score 137pts
What a fantastic, fabulous, superb effort from the whole team. We managed to beat St Charles by only 7 points so every point earned was incredibly important! Now we need to start preparing for next year...
