Sport News
Hockey
ACC Hockey — De La Salle takes the Grand Final
Mr Jon Edgar once said,
Why wouldn’t a teacher want to take an ACC team if it’s offered to them? You get to spend the time with a good group of kids. You coach and watch sport and spend time getting to know them outside of the formal school environment.
I pondered these words as I trudged along to Southern Cross Station and thought to myself, ne’er has truer word been spoken. Certainly the 2019 Grand Final was a testament to those words; in fact, the whole term of hockey was a testament to these sentiments.
De La Salle didn’t change their approach during the Grand Final; why would you when it has worked so successfully? The hockey was worthy of a Grand Final, with a nail-biting 2 all at half time.
Both teams were fast, ferociously competitive and highly skilled. It’s always interesting to watch how players react to this kind of environment. Sometimes the quiet and unobtrusive performers come to the fore; Luke Simcocks was outstanding in defence and took on Mazenod’s key players and frequently forced them into errors. Ollie O’Brien, was superb playing a number of defensive roles.
The Big Three; Fernandez, Yeates and Edwards were their usual dominant, yet self-sacrificing selves. Kieran Yeates presents an imposing, muscular and charismatic figure on the pitch. When Yeates (who also appears to be on a first-name basis with the hockey umpiring fraternity), came off late in the match, the sweat was dripping off him and it wasn’t an overly warm day. He had worked tirelessly in both attack and defence. Fernandez again demonstrated his willingness to do the tough and team-oriented tasks, placing himself in defence to repel attack after attack from the Mazenod contingent, and Declan Edwards, presented his usual cool, calm and collected focus up forward.
Who will forget the performance of Joel “The Crab” May? Dragged early in the first half, in a brilliant coaching move, he was brought back on and repositioned on the wing where he perched himself in the D on his own, received a pass to, then calmly shot it past the excellent Mazenod goalkeeper.
De La Salle 6 defeated Mazenod 2
Again, thanks so much to everyone for a very enjoyable term. It really has been a pleasure to spend time with you. You represented De La Salle superbly.
Mr Gerard Barns
Senior Hockey Coach
Year 9 Hockey Report
The Year 9 Hockey Season provided 20 players with the chance to represent De La Salle College at ACC level in Hockey. With a record of 6 wins and 2 losses, it was a successful campaign, one that saw us progress to the Grand Final (the first for a team from Holy Eucharist Campus), against St Bede’s College.
With De La Salle possessing the best defensive record of any team coming into the final, it was set up to be a captivating battle against the best offensive team in the competition in St Bede’s. De La Salle had most of the play and spent more time than St Bede’s in the attacking half of the pitch.
Unfortunately, St Bede’s were too strong defensively, thwarting attack upon attack and when they did counterattack, it was done in a sharp and incisive manner, prevailing 6 – 1.
The most pleasing aspect was seeing the development of players with little or no hockey experience, developing their hockey skills and gameplay to a high standard. This was the result of dedicated training attendance by the squad involving catching public transport from Tiverton Campus back to Holy Eucharist Campus or to other training venues after school hours. Special thanks must go to Toorak East Malvern Hockey Club which allowed us to train for three sessions at the end of the season utilising their high standard facilities.
The squad consisted of: Christian Alexandropoulos, Jordy Atamian, Oscar Boulter, Isaac Cataldo, Andre Di Medio, Tyson Dyer, Hugh Ford (captain), Charlie Gaiardo, Ben Gallo, James Harper, Lachie Hartung, Ralph Howard, Shaun Leong, Thomas Martin, Gus McLaughlin, Henry Moloney, Abraham Pearce, Dominic Shelley, Alexander Tocchetto, Benjamin Wayman, Reeve Yogendran.
Well played, lads.
Mr Matthew Jones
Year 9 Hockey Coach
Swimming
Ryo “Superfish” Hayashi secures State Silver
Ryo Hayashi, Year 8 Benilde, competed in the Victorian Swimming Age Short Course Championships held at MSAC between 30 August and 1 September.
Ryo won a silver medal in the Boys 13 years old 100m Individual Medley (IM) and two bronze medals for 200m IM & 100m Breaststroke. He was also in the top ten for 100 m/200m Butterfly and 100m Backstroke.
Congratulations, Ryo!
Mr Peter Larsen
ACC/House Sports Coordinator
Soccer
Daniel Graskoski, Year 7 Dunstan, competed in the Australian School Sports Soccer championship in the Capital Territory. His team won the championship and Daniel did not concede one goal throughout the championship.
Congratulations, Daniel!
Mr Jonathan Hewett
7 Dunstan Homeroom Teacher