PSA Sport

After a dominant year in 2007 when Trinity won eight of a possible sixteen trophies, we came back to the field this year with the only remaining silverware in the cabinet being the Hamer Cup for rowing, the PM Moyes Trophy for cross country

Mr Steven Leahy Director of Sport and the Lawe Davies Cup for soccer. Congratulations to all involved in these victories. Winning trophies is always nice but more important in College sport, is developing and maintaining a culture which values each individual boy, and provides him with an opportunity to participate at whatever level he is capable of playing. Comment was made in last year’s annual report that an aim for 2008 was to improve our performances in sports in which we have not been as competitive as we would like to be – rugby, waterpolo, hockey, badminton and tennis. The 1st XV Rugby Team this year won five of ten games and the 1st V1 Badminton Team was the most successful Trinity team since the sport was introduced into the PSA, winning seven of ten games to finish 3rd overall. In the three fixtures in which they were beaten, they only lost by one game and the tennis and waterpolo teams both surpassed their 2007 performances. Great work by all involved with this significant improvement! The development of the facilities at Waterford continues, with further works being carried out to add more parking bays and to improve the flow of traffic entering and leaving the grounds. The new wicket block has come up extremely well and all our teams now play on turf wickets which can only be good for the development of their game. Next year, the second football ground will be available, which means on a Saturday morning all the football teams will be at the same venue rather than split between two, or sometimes three, different venues. The intention is to move the senior cross country fixtures back to Waterford after a year of hosting home runs here at the College. Investigations are currently being made to construct a course around the perimeter of the grounds which would have the dual benefit of the races being more visible to spectators and improving the safety of the event by eliminating the necessity to cross any roads. A small grandstand has been built, with the support of the soccer families, alongside the main soccer ground which can also be used in the summer months by cricket teams. We are hopeful that another similar facility can be built between the rugby pitch and the second football ground before the start of the next winter season. With the introduction of the Year 7 cohort into the Middle School next year, the demands of providing a quality sporting experience will increase even more. Next year Trinity will be the only PSA School in which the Year 7 students will be a part of the Secondary School, with the other six schools making the change in 2010. In the short-term, our Year 7 boys will continue to play their interschool sport on a Thursday afternoon. In 2010, the Year 7s will play their interschool sport on Friday afternoons at the same time as the Year 8 and 9 students. Loading 550 boys onto buses to go to their games at one time will be an interesting exercise!

Congratulations to Josh Hicks and Travis Colyer who shared the JP Ilich Award for “Outstanding Service to The School in Sport”. Both boys are fine athletes who always put College success before personal gain.

I would like to thank all the people who have contributed towards another successful chapter in our sporting program – the ground staff, the parents, the staff members who put in countless hours as coaches and managers and, of course, the boys themselves.

Mr Steven Leahy Director of Sport