Sports Bulletin: Issue 02/23

Sports Bulletin – Week 4, Term 1
Villanova College Sport
We warmly welcome St Laurence’s College in Round 3 of the AIC competition. It is exciting to be hosting our first home round of 2023.

Congratulations to our elite swimmers for superb performances at the recent Queensland Sprint Championships. A special congratulations also to our Volleyball program for outstanding Round 2 results, winning 17 of the 19 games played.

As we progress through Term 1, I encourage all students to focus more on the process than the results. If we prepare well, listen to and learn from our coaches, work hard and hold our standards with regards to respect and humility, success will come.

Communications
Families are reminded to access all Sport information via the Villanova College website and the Villanova College App. The Locker Room tab provides updated information regarding training schedules and current AIC/trial 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 Saturdays. If any parents have some spare time on game days to lend a hand, perhaps during your son’s warm-up or Cricket lunch, or duty at Volleyball, that would be very much appreciated. Revenue raised from our canteens goes directly towards the development of our Sports programs.

Please sign up here to assist on our Goold Hall canteen at Volleyball: Volleyball Canteen Volunteers, Goold Hall, 18-2-23

Please sign up here to assist on our Villa Park canteen at Cricket (Firsts families required only): Cricket Canteen Volunteers, Villa Park, 18-2-23

Thank you in advance for your assistance. It is very much appreciated.

Term 2 Coaches Welcome & Induction evening
Please save the date for our Term 2 Sports Coaches Welcome & Induction evening, planned for Wednesday 15^th March, 6:00-7:30pm at Villanova College.

All Term 2 Sports Coaches will be encouraged to attend – Chess, Cross Country, Football, Golf and Rugby. The primary goal will be for attendees to leave with all induction and compliance items completed, so that coaching can commence asap.

If you are interested in coaching a Term 2 sport we would love to have you on board. Please contact the sportsoffice@vnc.qld.edu.au.

Strength & Conditioning
Villanova College’s 2023 Strength & Conditioning (S&C) program has now commenced. The Villanova gym will be supervised by experienced and accredited S&C coaches, every morning and afternoon of the school year. The College is very happy to announce our partnership with Athletix, who will be providing our ongoing Strength & Conditioning support in 2023.

With regards to the training schedules, in-season and pre-season sports will be prioritised, plus there will be development sessions available for students across Years 7-12. Based on gym floor space, the numbers able to attend each session will (of course) be limited. Students are able to join a stand-by list if sessions are full.

Registrations are still open for S&C sessions in Weeks 3-8 Term 1. Please click on the link provided to register your attendance.

Team Photos
The following team photos will be taken on Saturday 18^th February for AIC AFL, Cricket & Volleyball. The boys will need to be at the photos 10 minutes before their scheduled time, dressed in their full sports attire. Any latecomers will unfortunately miss out on being in the photo.

Teams not photographed this week, will be completed in Round 5.

AFL
Saturday 18 February – Giffin Park (AFC) Coorparoo
(Venue tba)

Cricket
Saturday 18 February – Villa Park
(under Andrew Slack Scoreboard)

Volleyball
Saturday 18 February – Villanova College
(Tuckshop under croft)

AFL
This week the Open team plays two games, St Laurence’s in a mid-week game and Friday against St Edmunds. It would be wonderful to acknowledge the first home game of the season for the Open team at Coorparoo AFC, Friday at 4.45 pm.  The encouragement and war cries from boys attending will really be appreciated by Villa’s Leaping Wildcat’s playing their second game in three days.

A key factor the Open AFL team focus is on playing for each other to make your teammate, ‘Best on Ground’. Some practical actions on and off the footy field that facilitate this include:

• Always be involved
• Positive body language
• Positive attitude
• Communication
• Respect
• Have fun

I challenge all AFL players this weekend against St Laurence’s to apply these actions in your gameplay, play for each other and make your teammate ‘Best on Ground’. Although last week was successful round against St Patrick’s College, sicknesses and unavailability’s can prove very challenging for teams. Can I please ask that if you are unable to make a game or training session, that you let your coach know as soon as possible. All coaches put in hard work to ensure games and training run smoothly and everyone is developing, so please stay in contact.

A reminder that for most teams you are expected at your game at least 30 minutes before bounce. Good luck for the weekend ahead and I look forward to seeing what can be achieved when we are prepared to play for each other and make your teammate ‘Best on Ground’.

Mr Brian Pascoe, First XVIII Head Coach

Cricket
1^st XI
Villanova 1^st XI travelled away to play SPC who have shown in the last 5 seasons that they’re very tough to beat in 1^st XI. The day started with a team presentation of the Villanova 1^st baggy cap to Mitchell Francis (Year 11) which is always a special moment.

After winning the toss and deciding to bowl first, this was a decision based on an early start and the pitch potentially offering something in the first hour of play. Unfortunately we were unable to use the pitch conditions and the SPC team showed great skill and batting temperament to post a large total of 8-262 of 50 0vers. As team coach – I take full responsibility for the decision made. Hindsight is definitely a wonderful thing and if I had my time again, I would have chosen to bat first. Captain Tom Rieck (1-39) and Finn Thallon (2-22) were the pick of the Villanova bowlers. After being set a big total, we set out about chasing the total by aiming to be “positive” and keep within touch of the required run rate, but once again – full credit to the SPC team who executed a great bowling plan and fielded brilliantly to find a way to regularly take wickets and restrict any momentum that we tried to gain. Finn Thallon (54) continued to lead the way with the bat this season, while some handy contributions from Tristan Bailey (37) and Connor Moloney (26) resulted in us scoring 200 in reply.

As a group – we spoke about what we can do better “individually” and “as a team” and our full focus now turns to SLC for round 3. I am confident that the 1^st XI playing group can respond positively for our first home game of the season. As a playing and coaching group, we promise to finish the season strongly, never give up and most importantly – make sure that we represent the college proudly.

Congratulations again to Villanova 1^st XI debutant Mitchell Francis and all the best to all Villanova sporting teams for Round 3 Vs SLC.

Mr Nathan Dufty, First XI Head Coach

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 too. The College will provide two helmets per kit.

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 Langland’s will be taken to the undercover carpark at Easts Rugby League Club and boys can be collected from there.

Round 2 v SPC
It was quite evident from walking around last Saturday that SPC has gained some very good cricketers over the last couple of years, making them a stronger cricket College and a challenge for most opposition schools. Villanova performed well across the day winning 14 and losing 9 overall to SPC. With the cricket aggregate back on the line this year after being shelved for the last two years, Villa has won both rounds against MAR and SPC to give us momentum moving into the back half of the season. The aggregate results v MAR were 7-2, with 1 washout. Last Saturday the results were in Villa favour 6-3, with a tie in the 10Bs.

It was good to see the Year 5s turn around a disappointing round 1 and win all of their matches last Saturday.

We are facing our old foes in SLC this week and need the boys to stay focused in the field, run well between wickets and try to reduce the number of sundries given away. I look forward to getting some positive results from coaches this Saturday at the conclusion of your matches.

Some teams are still chasing managers to assist the coaches with the running of games on Saturdays. Our coaches are looking after most facets of the game on Saturday and lose valuable time working and talking with the boys prior to batting or bowling. If parents could assist with umpiring, scoring and general supervision while coaches are going about their role, that would make game days run much smoother for everybody.

Mr Chris Everding, Cricket Coordinator

Swimming
Villanova and Iona competed Friday night in a rapid-fire sprint session.  It was wonderful to see a large contingent of open swimmers attend, all wearing their open swim shirts and new open caps. Numbers at the Friday night meets are still quite low, due to conflicts with sport and camps, but those that swam recorded improvement in their times during the week and hopefully this will continue. Our swimmers of the meet this week were Darcy Dickenson, Isaac Haywood and Mrs Liddy, for turning up at the meet after three days of camp.  Well done and thank you.

It is important to acknowledge results of our swimmers who competed at the Queensland Sprint Championships at Chandler. The Villa boys swam many personal bests and continue to benefit from the experience of strong competition. Four of our swimmers in particular swam well enough to reach the finals. Congratulations to the following boys for their excellent performances on the day.

• Jack Stewart (13yrs breaststroke final),
• Jack Trethewey (15yrs backstroke final),
• Oliver Jacobs (2^nd in the 15yrs butterfly final) and
• Tyler Clelland (1^st in the 16yrs breaststroke final and 9^th in the 16yrs Freestyle final).

We have only three weeks of training left before the AIC Championships, and it is important that we see as many people as possible in the pool for training and at the lead up meets for times. With so few meets remaining, we are starting to consider swimmers for championship races, and all swimmers need to secure times at the meets for us to be able to ensure we have the best possible combination of swimmers in the pool. There are only two more opportunities for boys to post competitive times at these meets. The first of these is Friday night at Centenary, and the final preparation meet will be held at Chandler the following week.

The meet this Friday the 17^{th of} Feb will be held at Centenary pool.  There will be return transport to school, leaving the pool as close as possible to 6pm (or earlier if finished) and arriving at Villanova by 6:15pm.  Please be waiting for the boys when the bus arrives at the front of the school.  If there are any questions, please email the team managers.

Mrs Juanita Jacobs, Swimming Coordinator

Volleyball
It was a fantastic day for Villanova Volleyball with all teams posting some fantastic results, whilst impressive, it was the way in which our teams conducted themselves which was the highlight of the day. A number of matches went to deciding sets and our teams pushed through by playing our version of the game, not being intimidated by our opponent or the point of the match. This was truly refreshing to see.

It is a tough weekend ahead for our volleyball program who will take on St Laurence’s College this weekend. St Laurence’s have always been a tough challenge, but I am confident our teams will rise to the occasion. Can I please remind families to check the draw for court duty requirements.

Todd Kropp, Volleyball Coordinator & First VI Head Coach

Cross-Country
Training will start for Villanova’s Cross-Country Squads in week 7 of Term 1. In preparation for this, I encourage all boys who intend to join the ‘Running Wildcats’ to begin their own training and start their own running. The AIC Cross-Country Championships will again be conducted at Curlew Park, Shorncliffe on the 31^st of May. The training schedule will be posted soon via the Villanova College website via The Locker Room and the Villanova College App.

Mr Brian Pascoe, Cross-Country Coordinator

Term 2 Sport Registrations – Chess, Cross-Country, Football, Golf and Rugby – Online Soon
All students from Years 5-12 who are interested in representing Villanova College in Term 2 sports must complete an online registration form. This form will be available in next week’s College newsletter and on the website.

Within the online form please tick your preference for Term 2. Note that Football and Rugby will be played during the same time, therefore cannot be both chosen. Students may choose either Rugby or Football as well as Chess and Cross Country.

More information relating to Term 2 sports registrations will be available next week.

Lytton Sport Nominations (10 to 12 year olds)
Nominations for ALL Lytton Sport trials are organised by each school in the district and then sent to the respective sport managers for trials. Lytton Office has requested that parents follow the correct avenues for nomination and NOT contact the Lytton coaches and/or managers directly, asking for paperwork. For most team sports, only 4 student nominations are accepted per school. We have a large number of boys across year 5, 6 and 7 who could trial in multiple sports but we are restricted by the nomination process. If boys play those sports at Villanova, we will go directly to the coaches from the previous year and ask for their selections. This is the best way for Villanova to address the issue of small numbers.

Composite Sport Trials
Please find below a list of composite trial and nomination dates. All the necessary information regarding these trials can be collected from the Sports Office.

Representative Sport
Parents are invited to email the Sports Office regarding the sporting achievements of their son at a Met East level or higher. Generally, we only advertise those achievements which follow the Qld School Sport pathway and not club unless it’s at a Qld or national level. These achievements will be noted in this section from week to week.

External Sporting Achievements
Sebastian Shimizu has been selected at the recent trials for the Met East 15-18 Years Baseball team to represent the region at the upcoming state trials on 9th-12th March at Benowa.

Mr Shaun McLean, Director Of Sport