Sports Bulletin: Issue 01/23

Sports Bulletin – Week 2, Term 1, 2023
It was pleasing to see Term 1 sports commence last week in our final trial matches versus Padua College. Our swimmers also performed well in their meet at Yeronga Pool.

I remind all students to be humble and respectful on the weekend. Winning and losing means very little if we can’t learn to win with humility and lose graciously. Be proud to represent your School and respectful towards your teammates, coaches, parents and officials.

A special congratulations to our Term 1 Sport Captains for AFL (Hugo Crawford), Cricket (Tom Rieck), Swimming (Oscar De Tina) and Volleyball (Nicholas Craig). Firsts teams for AFL, Cricket and Volleyball will be presented this Friday 3 February at our College Assembly. The Swimming presentation will take place on Friday 24 February.

Communications
Families are reminded to access all Sport information via the Villanova College website and the Villanova College app. The Locker Room page provides updated information regarding training schedules and current AIC draws. The AIC Draw 2023 can also be accessed here. A note that in some cases, draws may not match the AIC draw (for example this is the case in AFL). Families are encouraged to always check The Locker Room for accurate draws. Weekly Team Lists will be posted regularly to the Parent Lounge and Student Cafe portals.

Parent Volunteers
A reminder that the Villanova Sports Club run canteens at each of the home sporting venues on Saturday’s. If any parents have some spare time on game days to lend a hand, perhaps during your son’s warm-up, lunch-break or duty at Volleyball, that would be very much appreciated. Just say hello to our wonderful canteen staff and let them know when you may be able to help. Revenue raised from our canteens goes directly towards the development of our Sports programs. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Strength & Conditioning
Villanova College’s Strength & Conditioning (S&C) program will commence in Week 3, Term 1 and continue through until the end of 2023. The Villanova gym will be supervised by experienced and accredited S&C coaches, every morning and afternoon of the school year.

In-season and pre-season sports will be prioritised, plus there will be development sessions available for students across Years 8-12. Based on gym floor space, the numbers able to attend each session will of course be limited.

Registrations for S&C sessions – please click on the link provided to register your attendance.

AFL
The 2023 AFL season begins this weekend and with a number of new teams performing well in the trials, which is positive for the development of AFL at Villanova. It is certainly exciting to see how the mix of experienced and new players to the game will progress in the coming AFL season.

Following last weekend’s trials all coaches have named squads for all year levels, ensure you know which team you have been named in. Remember, these squads are not set in concrete and will continue to change throughout the season due to form, injury and availability.

This weekend marks our first official fixture, and we will really need to be well prepared for our games. I ask all players to be at your designated venue at least 30 minutes prior to the first bounce so we can have an efficient and productive warm-up. Some coaches may have requested earlier so check with them their preferred time to meet.

All players are required to wear the Villanova Rugby shorts and socks and ensure they each have a mouthguard ready to play. Jerseys have been given to the boys last week so please ensure this is also brought along to all games.

The Opens are the only team playing Friday afternoons from now on and it would be fantastic to see as much Green and Gold at Yeronga AFC as possible to support the team. There are unlimited spectators allowed at the AFL venues. However, the Yeronga venue may section off fields due to some renovations being undertaken. Please avoid any roped off areas for your own safety.

Former Coach of the Scottish sprint team Frank Dick defines ‘What is Winning’ as ‘being better today than yesterday, every day.’ The coaches of the 1st XVIII challenge the team to apply this definition of winning to their football. I challenge all students in all of the AFL teams to also adopt this ideal.

Thus, I challenge each player to seek to improve and recommend you consider how you could improve. Factors to facilitate this may include;

• Being more engaged at training,
• Showing greater intent and effort,
• Talk to your coach,
• Watch higher grade games and see how the people playing your position perform,
• Practicing skills or fitness outside your designated training,

Good luck to all teams this weekend, I encourage all players to get there early and stay behind to support your teammates on Friday and Saturday. It is amazing how players react positively to support from the Villanova community. I look forward to seeing all players and spectators at the AFL this weekend to start what is sure to be a memorable season.

Mr Brian Pascoe, 1st  XVIII Head Coach

Cricket
Cricket families are reminded to visit The Locker Room for the Round 1 draw. Team lists will be available on the Parent Lounge and Student Cafe portals.

Cricket Transport Term 1, 2023
Maxi Taxis will be organised by the College for Firsts, Seconds and 10A Cricket players requiring transport from school to Villa Park on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons in Term 1. Students will need to collect taxi vouchers from the Sports Office prior to departing.

Transport will commence Tuesday 7 February and cease on Thursday 16 March. The taxis will leave from the College entrance at approx. 3:20pm. Only those students registered below will be able to use this service. Taxi numbers will be coordinated based on the registrations we receive by 3pm, Friday 3 February. If you have more than one son requiring transport, please complete the form again for each student.

Please click on this link to register.

Villanova Cricket Uniform
All players from Years 5-12 are to wear whites.
Cricket Whites

• White pants
• Villanova Cricket Shirt
• Sports shoes
• Villanova green sports cap or broad brimmed hat

Under no circumstances are players permitted to wear club shirts or club hats.
Important note – All cricketers from Year 5-12 are asked to wear protective equipment. It is compulsory for all batsmen and wicket keepers whilst keeping up to the stumps to wear a helmet. All players are required to purchase and wear their own cricket box protector.  The College will provide two helmets per kit.

Cricket Managers Needed
Many of our 26 teams are coached by Old Boys or parents. It is important for each team to have a manager to get any important information out to all team members and their parents. Other jobs include, coordinating a contact list, looking after the gear and organising rosters for scoring and umpiring. This role will allow the coaches to ‘Coach’ and not have to deal with the administrational side of things. If your son is playing and you can take on a manager’s role, could you please email Mr Chris Everding at the Sports Office, ceverding@vnc.qld.edu.au, to sign on and to let the coach know this Saturday.

Wet Weather Procedure
In the event of rainy weather, a notification will be placed on the Villanova College App.

If afternoon training is to be cancelled due to rain evolving during the day, then an alert will be posted via the Villa App by 1.00pm, as well as giving an announcement to the students over the College’s PA system. If training is cancelled during the session, boys at Langlands will be taken to the undercover carpark at Easts Rugby League Club and boys can be collected from there.

Mr Chris Everding, Cricket Coordinator

1st XI Cricket
Villanova 1st XI had a final trial hit out for the season against Padua at Villa Park. Villanova batted first and were able to lay a good early platform which allowed for our middle order some valuable time in the middle. Tristan Bailey (46) and Finn Thallon (50) were our top scorers for the innings, with some other important contributions from Mitchell Francis (23) and Henrik Frederiksen (15) helped us post an extremely competitive total of 233. Villanova set about defending the total in fine style by having Padua 4-40 after 15 overs. Jackson Moloney bowled with some great pace and rhythm early and the whole bowling attack combined together to always keep the pressure on the Padua batsman. Tom Rieck (2-14)  and Larry Clark (2-11) combined to remove the top order and the “spin twins” Zac Joyce (3-22) and Mitchell Francis (2-5) cleaned up the Padua tail. Padua were bowled out for 97 in the 33rd over and it was a strong team performance from the 1st XI team.

Congratulations to Tom Rieck (1sts Captain 2023) and Connor Moloney (1sts Vice Captain 2023) who will make sure that the 1st XI team leads by example for all Villanova cricketers within the cricket program. Good luck to all Villanova sporting teams for Round 1 Vs Ashgrove.

Mr Nathan Dufty, 1^st  XI Head Coach.

Swimming
Thank you to all the swimmers (and parents) for their support of our first AIC swim meet of the year at Yeronga. It was a short meet for the boys to post some 50m times.  Congratulations to all the Year 5 and 6 swimmers who backed up after a big day at their Interhouse carnival. Training continues as per the normal schedule for the next five weeks and encourage swimmers to be in the water as much as possible. We know that many year levels will have camps over the next few weeks, and just ask that the boys attend as many sessions and meets as possible around their busy schedules.

Congratulations to all the boys who competed at competitions over the weekend and swam personal bests. Jordan Tunnah and Forbes Hardy qualified for the Australian Open Water Championships in Perth, and Forbes finished 12th in his age group. Many of the Villanova swimmers competed at the Vorgee Brisbane Sprint Championships, with Jack Stewart winning a bronze medal for 13yrs 50m Breaststroke, Tyler Clelland winning the 16yrs 50 Breaststroke, and Oliver Jacobs winning the 14yrs Butterfly events.

This week we will be attending the meet at Iona. The bus will leave as close as possible to 3:10pm after school, but parents will need to collect their sons after the meet as there is no return bus. It is expected to conclude about 5:30pm, but this is always difficult to judge.  It is expected that swimmers attend as many of the school meets as possible to secure a place in the final team for the championships in March.

Mrs Juanita Jacobs, Swimming Coordinator

Volleyball
The AIC Volleyball program has commenced again for 2023 with Round 1 happening this Saturday. After the final trial last Saturday, our teams are well prepared and ready to get the season started. The trial presented a great opportunity to solidify skills learned throughout the clinics and during preseason. Whilst it was a tough start to the season for our Junior teams who are still finding their way on the court, it was pleasing to see our Senior teams find success both on the court and the scoreboard, including our First VI who took the win 3-2 in a tough encounter. The First VI game was certainly entertaining to watch, and it was a great start to the season as our boys attempt to retain the First VI Premiership. Our First team face a tough challenge this week coming up against a well-structured Marist team, but our boys have prepared well and are eager to test our skills against another tough opponent.

Just a few reminders ahead of this weekend’s match;

• Our Year 7-9 teams playing at home will have court duty requirements. The roster will be available on parent lounge.
• All boys should now have their playing top so please help ensure our college is well represented by having the boys in full Villanova volleyball uniform including the sports sock.

Villanova Volleyball Uniform

• 2023 Villanova Volleyball Shirt (for hire from the Uniform Shop)
• Green PE shorts only (no basketball, football or rugby shorts allowed)
• Villa socks only

Good luck to all teams this week!

Mr Todd Kropp, Volleyball Coordinator and First VI Head Coach

Met East/Composite Sport
Trial information for the following sports is now available in the Sports Office.

External Sporting achievements
A huge congratulations to Year 12 student Cameron Bukowski who recently re-signed with the Brisbane Broncos NRL side. Cam will join the NRL squad for pre-season in November. Best wishes on your journey, Cam!

A big congratulations to Year 6 Student Cam Franks, and Year 8 Student Josh Franks, who recently competed at the Queensland State Track Championships hosted by AUS Cycling. Well done to both students and a special congratulations to Josh who has also been selected to represent Queensland at the Australian Cycling Track Nationals. Please see below the list of achievements for both students:

Cam (U/13 boys) – 1st in Individual Pursuit, 3rd in Flying 200m, 2nd in Scratch Race, 2nd in 500m Time Trial

Josh (U/15 men) – 3rd in Keirin, 3rd in Individual Pursuit (2km), 3rd in Scratch Race, 3rd in Team Sprint, 2nd Match Sprint, 2nd Team Pursuit

Congratulations to Braxton Jarvis, William Gregory and Edward Gregory (Year 6) who competed at the Queensland Swimming Relay Championships. A special mention to William who received a medal. All boys now qualify for the Brisbane and QLD Sprint Championships. Well done boys.

Finally, Jared Cosep Year 12, is currently trialling with Gimnástica Segoviana CF (Football), in the historical city of Segovia (outside of Madrid). Jared has been training with the U19 squad as well as the Men’s First team, sometimes even in the snow. All the best for the remainder of the trials Jared!

Mr Shaun McLean, Director Of Sport