AT John XXIII Sports

This year has already been extremely successful for our sporty residents at John’s College, placing second on the ISO ladder with 3 grand finals and 2 overall wins so far.

We started off the year placing first for disc where we had crowds of supporters lining up along the side-lines cheering on our excellent participants, ex-ressies and all. Disc proved itself to be inclusive and very well-loved among our residents with over 50 people attending training, creating a good sense of culture and excitement each week. Our skills were showcased each game, learning new plays for first-time disc players and perfecting techniques for those who have played before. Disc was overall highly successful this year and ended up winning the championships, with Robbie Mattthews-Lane as the seasons’ MVP.

On top of this success, a win was pulled out for the female-identifying touch team, being undefeated all season by a large margin, demonstrating our strength and determination against the other colleges. The coaches, including president Josie Bates, allowed the girls to feel comfortable and willing to learn new skills throughout the season, having Sasha Oaten as MVP in the final putting all these skills to good-use. The Friday morning game times were at times a challenge to our Thursday night partiers but were always able to pull it together to play tough teams and come out on top.

The male-identifying touch team in term one were faced with some extremely skilful teams such as Bruce Hall and Wright Hall with a quick pace and technical game play, creating challenges for our teams. The teams came together and strengthened their plays to come out as second place, closely behind Wright Hall in the final, where in the last half were tried on a couple of times to scrape them in first. Josh Gail was MVP.

In a less extreme manner, we also participated in Badminton and Lawn Bowls and although not coming out on top, we had large numbers of people wanting to get involved and were able to try out new skills to separate the study. We were fortunate to be able to get teams together easily each week and continued to have side-lines to cheer on our Ressie. Badminton specifically was an interesting sport for us as only a couple people had past experience such as Georgia Perry, therefore forcing individuals to try out new skills and have fun while exercising which is highly encouraged at the college.

Last year, Johns struggled in the road relay championships, so this year, we came fighting and had a strong group of residents training hard to increase our 9th place ranking. With a crowded side-line and loud voices, we were able to cheer our 8 determined runners to 6th place.

Now, in term two, although not having participated in finals yet, Johns has already proved to have strong and active teams for the upcoming sports of Basketball, ALF 9s, Hockey and Rugby 7s.

Basketball has already been a great success being undefeated and giving everyone a chance to excel on the court. Coach, Saba Horne, has helped the femaleidentifying team illustrate team-work and enthusiasm within game play and at training, smashing the previous teams so far. Similarly, within the Male-identifying team, they have been practicing hard, working on consistency, fitness and teamwork down the court.

To improve our basketball skills a little further, BnG organised an exciting mixer with us, Burgman, Bruce, and Burton and Garren colleges. This was a fun way to improve our skills and practice against colleges that we might come across in the finals as well as allowing us to interact with new people through redbull and music.

AFL 9s, although not playing a game yet due to weather circumstances, is already seen as a strong and fierce team this year, coached by two amazing resident players, Abby Thompson and Mimi Barnes. With many individuals not having played this contact sport before, training has been somewhat intense but insightful with step-by-step breakdowns of techniques and game play to keep all residents safe. We are extremely excited to get the teams on the fields soon!

Rugby 7s has similarly not started games yet but training led by Will Granger, has shown much success, with many enthusiastic male-identifying residents getting involved and ready to showcase their abilities.

Lastly, hockey has been full-on from the start for both male and female-identifying teams, being undefeated so far. Like AFL, there are many people who have never participated in this sport, therefore allowing everyone to learn the intricate and somewhat challenging aspects of Hockey, led by a resident coach, Genie Rickard

We are extremely excited for the upcoming seasons and determined to come out on top with large crowds at each game, high participation and everyone having a lot of fun!

Charlotte Versace and Johns Sports Reps