The 2016 Sporting year
at VPSHS has been full of wonderful highlights. Like previous years, we can
celebrate all kinds of outstanding achievements, including Australian and State
Representations as well as many awesome team successes. However these
achievements are only part of how we can define a great year of sport. There
are of course the constant processes that lead to such achievements.
Much time and effort
has been put into ensuring that all sporting opportunities from Carnivals to
weekly sport have been provided in a way that allow students to enjoy them and
participate in full. The success of sport at our school this year in all its
different dimensions and facets can be attributed to the support, enthusiasm
and contributions of staff, students, parents and other community members. Such
efforts are much appreciated and necessary to attain to the levels of success,
which we so often celebrate at our school (this year being no exception!). The
major carnivals as well as weekly afternoon sport are examples of sporting
events, which could not have continued to prosper and help build a strong
sporting culture and tradition without the work of so many.
Special recognition
must go to our major sport award winners in 2016: Sportsman of the Year Luke
Harvey (Year 11) and Sportswoman of the Year Jade Ellenger (Year 11). These
students have excelled as individuals within their sporting fields, often
inspiring those around them or in some cases leading teams to victory. Year 12
student Paige McCartney also excited us with her selection in the Australian
Commonwealth Games NextGen Diving Squad. The possibility of our school being represented
in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games is certainly an amazing thought and
would be a deserved reward for Paige’s incredibly hard work.
In and amongst these notable
individual achievements were a multitude of District and Regional Representatives,
illustrating the sporting talent and future potential within our gates at VPSHS.
To be exact 22 of our students qualified for Bayside representative teams while
17 students made a Metropolitan East Regional team. Luke Harvey (Triathlon) and
Caitlyn Rawding (Girls AFL) achieved Queensland Schools representation in their
respective sports. To these students we extend our best wishes for the future
and congratulations on their achievements.
We also reflect fondly
on the team successes of 2016. As in previous years, a number of Bayside
Premierships were claimed this year. The Year 7/8, 9 and 10 AFL teams once
again defended their Bayside titles, demonstrating the strength of our AFL
Excellence Programs. The Open Girls Basketball and Volleyball teams also achieved
District Champion status showing that girls sport is well and truly thriving at
VPSHS.
As
another year in sport comes to a close, we must be sure not to take for granted
all that we have achieved within our school sporting community. The efforts and
accolades we have witnessed, some of which have been mentioned above, are outstanding
and in some cases may not be repeated in years to come. If this year is
anything to go by, 2017 could be an even bigger year in sport at VPSHS. We
cannot wait to find out!