Term 2 Sports Update

This year, I have been enjoying the opportunity to come back to a passion of mine: 11-a-side soccer coaching. It has been great to coach the Year 7 soccer team, playing the IGSA Competition (SAN04) during the week as well as managing them during their matches on the weekend. It has been a real joy to watch the skills acquisition and development as well as the team spirit and cohesiveness shown in each game.

Basketball and Hockey are also in full swing with our six senior Basketball teams playing in the IGSA Championship Competition and three senior Hockey teams playing in the Invitational Competition this term. I commend each team for their results so far this season!

Our IPSHA Hockey teams are also doing a fantastic job so far! Many of the girls playing this term have never played before and it has been fantastic to watch their skills and game play grow and develop over the course of this term.

At Santa, we aim to develop coaching pathways in all sports to take our students through similar structure and coaching standards across Junior and Senior School. Ensuring maximum engagement in the early years leading to a high level of participation across all stages up until Year 12. This way we believe to be working towards the students’ development in Sport, inspiring them to leave a healthier lifestyle.

Reminder: No games will be played in Week 7 (Saturday 10 June) due to the King’s Long Weekend.

Luiz Ramalho
Director of Sport and Co-curricular Activities

Athletics Carnival – a day to remember

The Years 7-12 Athletics Carnival on Friday 12 May was a remarkable success. Counting on the outstanding organisation from the Sports Department and the whole school staff help we were able to facilitate the best of the days to our students.

The day started with the Pre-Carnival events (1500m races, Javelin Throw and High Jump), running through rotations of all track and field competitive and participation events, finishing with a great demonstration of House spirit when the students showcased their cheering and chanting leading up to three very exciting House relay races.

I would like to thank the Sports Department for their dedication and competence while running such a big event: Ms Rachael Simmons for being the brains of the operation organising a very successful program with the help of Ms Danielle Larkin who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that all the preparations were done in time and that all the plans would be thoroughly followed. Miss Cate Crampton and Ms Joanne Gocher for showcasing their talent and expertise while seamlessly running the events they were in charge throughout the day but still managing to be a great help to the success of the whole Carnival.

I would like to congratulate all the Carnival Overall awards recipients as follows:

Junior Athletics Champion: Sophie Hickey
Intermediate Athletics Champion: Lily Stewart
Senior Athletics Champion: Emma Wheadon
Overall College Athletics Champion: Lily Stewart
Open 100m Championship: Lily Stewart
Overall House Points: Mundaworra
House Spirit Award: Kurrawa

Luiz Ramalho
Director of Sport and Co-curricular Activities

Representative Sports update

CGSSSA Football

After running trials on 27 April and a training session on 4 May we have taken 29 of our best footballers (12 Juniors in Years 7-9 and 17 Seniors in Years 10-12) to the Catholic Girls Secondary Schools Sports Association (CGSSSA) Football Tournament at Blackman Park.

The Tournament ran from 8.30am until 2.30pm. After three rounds of great Football where Santa Sabina College played against Monte St Angelo and St Scholastica’s teams, we watched, at the end of the day, the ‘Possible versus Probables’ open team match as the tournament was used to select the CGSSSA team to play the Combined Catholic Colleges Tournament on 23 May.

I was particularly impressed with the pride the girls displayed while representing Santa Sabina College and their tenacity and resilience during the matches.

I would like to thank the coaches Mr Michael Zammit and Mr Prestifillipo for taking the teams and ensuring that the students would shine in their endeavours to make it to the next level at the same time that a tactical structure would be offered so our teams were able to keep up with the competition until the end of the tournament. I would like to congratulate the following students for their achievements on the day:

Cecilia Cicco for making into the ‘possibles versus probables’ match at the end.
Alexia Mavraidis for being selected as a ‘shadow player’ being able to train with the squad who took part in the CCC Tournament.
Claudia Pickett, for being selected to the CGSSSA Football team, playing the CCC tournament on 23 May, only being defeated in the Grand Final by Maitland Newcastle.

I also would like to thank the support of all the Football families at Santa. You are a driving force towards the students’ success, well done!!!

Luiz Ramalho
Director of Sport and Co-curricular Activities

NSWCCC Hockey

Fifteen students represented the College at the NSWCCC Hockey Championships in Bathurst over two days in Week 4. The girls braved the cold weather and played tough competition from around NSW and represented Santa with pride over the two days! A huge thank you to Ms Jenkins for coaching the team during the tournament. Congratulations to the follow students for attending the NSWCCC Hockey Championships:

Drew Babbage
Caitlin Brennan
Elizabeth Buckley (Game 2 Captain)
Vanessa Cassimatis
Hannah Gaul
Lucy Gee (Game 3 Co-captain)
Tamara Haddad (Game 3 Co-captain)
Isabelle Law
Emmagen Matheson
Emmaline Middleton (Game 1 Captain)
Abigail Middleton
Sofia Moyano
Olivia Stewart
Eleanor Yates

Cate Crampton

CGSSSA Cross Country

On Friday, 19 May, Santa Sabina College sent 18 of our finest long distance runners to the CGSSSA Cross Country Carnival at Bicentennial Park, Homebush.It was lovely to see how our students were running with passion putting their hearts out at every race.

The day started with the 18 Years old race, where our very own Emma Wheadon placed herself in a very comfortable lead from the beginning to the end, when she completed the 6km circuit.

The races kept on running throughout the age groups from 17 years of age until the last one, when the 12 years old students had the opportunity to showcase their ability to run and strategise along the course.

The College Cross Country team gave a great demonstration of competitiveness in all races. Good running technique and race plans were evident throughout the day. I would like to Congratulate all the runners attending the event, specially the ones achieving the next level (CCC Cross Country Carnival, representing CGSSSA) as follows:

Scarlett Chidiac (Year 7)
Una Quinn (Year 7)
Annika Ingerwersen (Year 11)
Emma Wheadon (Year 12)

I also would like to thank Ms Rachael Simmons for organising registrations and the liaisons with CGSSSA facilitating our students participation in the events.

Luiz Ramalho
Director of Sport and Co-curricular Activities

NSW Regional OzTag

On Wednesday 23 May, Santa Sabina College sent a Senior Oztag team to the NSW Oztag Secondary Schools Regional Qualifiers Tournament at Gannon’s Park, Peakhurst. With three wins and a loss, the team finished second in their pool and fifth place overall in the senior division. This meant they played fourth-placed Beverly Hills High School, who narrowly defeated the team in the first round. Unfortunately, with fatigue and a few tough calls from the referee, the team went down 4-0.

I cannot commend the team enough on their competitiveness and enthusiasm throughout the day, as well as their sportsmanship and willingness to learn from each game. The team was also a player down due to a late withdrawal, which meant that they did not get as much time to recover as we had anticipated. Congratulations to the following girls who attend the tournament:

Valantia Antonakopoulos
Zara Barakat
Erin Barnes
Erin Burnicle
Raquel Calandra
Abbie Crakanthorp
Sienna Maroun
Sophia Nassif
Maree Sialepis
Lily Stewart
Nicola Toomey

Matt Feltrin

Conference 2 Primary Cross Country

On Wednesday 24 May, 19 students from Years 2-6 competed at the Sydney Catholic Schools Cross Country Championships held at Sydney Motorsport Park, Eastern Creek. All students ran very well and represented the College with pride.

Congratulations to the following students who have progressed to the Mackillop Cross Country Championships to be held on 13 June at Sydney International Equestrian Centre.

12 Years Girls

Isla The – 2nd

Emma Elphick – 4th

11 Years Girls

Freya Ingwersen – 1st Place

Abigail Schutt – 4th Place

Ryan Dunlop

NSWCCC and MacKillop team selections

Congratulations to a number of Primary and Secondary students who have been selected for further representative honours.

NSWCCC Volleyball Team – Danielle Bettridge

Isabella Simurina

Jennifer Yang

MacKillop Football Team – Ava Sinnott

MacKillop Tennis Team – Ashley Duigenan – 3rd place

MacKillop Rugby League Team – Faith Ata

MacKillop Swimming Team – Genevieve Lloyd Jones

Romee Lee
Alessandra Ronsisvalle
Elizabeth Collins

ERNA Netball

Round 5 saw the arrival of our new match balls which produced some smiling faces and flashy shooting from all teams.

Round 5 also saw the absence of several players after the Year 5 camp and those who attended the wellness weekend at Tallong, but all was not lost, as several Santa sisters came to the aid of their teammates. So a massive thank you to the following players who allowed all the SSC teams to take the court this weekend.

Emily Ng SSC23 (Y5) who assisted SSC14 (Y7)
Mila Amore SSC23 (Y5) who assisted SSC19 (Y6)
Sofia Mirarchi SSC21 (Y5) who assisted SSC18 (Y6)
Sienna Rowda SSC21 (Y5) who also assisted SSC18 (Y6)
Katarina Brodowski SSC 20 (Y5) who assisted SSC15 (Y7)
Annabel Mason SSC19 (Y6) who also assisted SSC15 (Y7)
Eva Villarroel SSC8 (Y9) who assisted both SSC07 and SSC06 (Y11)

And thank you to all of our wonderful coaches who were also very accommodating.

The College also has five students participating in the Umpiring Development Program (UDP) this year so a special mention to: Aria D’Amico, Sienna Di Santo, Arianna Harris, Isabella Kelly and Charlotte Salameh who are halfway through the program and to the mentors who are supporting their progress.

Congratulations to Gianna Leonard who recently received her ERNA Encouragement Award for umpiring and will now be working towards her National C badge.

Reminder: There are no games on 10 June but Santa Sabina are scheduled to do canteen and table duty on 17 June, round 7.

Thank you to those who are volunteering their time on the day to assist with these duties.

Joanne Gocher

SVL Volleyball

SVL is the state Volleyball league in which some of the top players and teams in the country play each week against each other. Santa Sabina has long been an invested party in participating in this competition as it allows a great opportunity for all the athletes to develop and work on the skills they have practised in training. With the competition well under way, some really solid performances have been seen from a lot of the teams, showing some really promising signs leading into the schools first NSW Schools cup event.

Lewis Jupp

Co-curricular news and updates

On Friday 26 May, Ms Christelle Bassil, our Co-curricular Arabic teacher has kindly organised for Mr Elie Akoury to come and visit our students. Elie is the Director of the Cedars of Folkloric Group, with more than 46 years of experience in Lebanese Folkloric Dabke (a popular Arabic style of Dance). A cultural immersion was provided to our students as Ellie taught them the basic Dabke steps. It was a remarkable experience as the students were able to make good use of the Arabic Language taught this term at the same time they were having fun dancing.

Please note that the Arabic lessons registration link for Term 3 is still open as well as the programs listed below:

Co-curricular Activities – closing Friday 23 June