Old Girl Olympian Keesja Gofers speaks at MLC School Sports Awards 2024

During the final term of 2024, the Sports Department held the annual Sports Awards. This evening was an opportunity to acknowledge the commitment and achievements of our athletes for this year.

We were lucky to have Keesja Gofers (2007) as our guest speaker. She shared some valuable insights into the highs and lows of being an athlete. We were in awe of her determination, resilience and perseverance as she worked to reach her goal of being an Olympian.

Keesja enrolled at MLC School in 1999 into Year 4. In her final year at MLC School in 2007, she Sports Captain, an HSC High Achiever, awarded the Senior Athletics Champion and Intermediate Swimming Champion prizes and received an MLC School Blue for Sport: all the while maintaining a rigorous National and International training and competing schedule.

While completing her HSC years, Keesja represented the University of Sydney in various national water polo championships including the Opens National League and represented NSW in both the Interstate Challenge and the Australian All Schools championships; often being crowned MVP.

In 2006, Keesja was part of the Australian Under 20s team which won gold in the international tournament in Greece, and in 2007, she was selected to be a member of the Australian All Schools team which travelled to NZ, Canada and the USA. She was also selected to represent the Australian All Schools team in the Trans-Tasman Cup and was part of the Australian under 20s water polo team who won the World Championship in Portugal.

In 2010, Keesja become a member of the Australian Stingers Waterpolo squad and attended her first Olympic Games in Rio in 2016. Since then, she has competed at two more Games: the 2020 Tokyo Games and this year’s 2024 Paris Games, where the Stingers won the silver medal. An impressive achievement considering Keesja and her husband Scott welcomed their first child, daughter Teleri, just the year before.

Keesja was known at MLC School as a true sportsperson. Not only did she compete and perform outstandingly at National and International competitions, but she also gave her best for MLC School, representing the school every chance she had. She swam, ran, played basketball, netball, and, of course, water polo for MLC School. It was said that every team she was a member of was stronger for her presence. In her role as the 2007 Sports Captain, Keesja led by example; she was always one of the first to put her hand up to volunteer to help MLC School achieve sporting success.

Keesja’s contribution to sporting life is exemplary and she was, and still is, a wonderful ambassador for her School and her country.

– Lisa Filby
Director of Sport