SPORT Innisfail Sports Spectacular

Story And Photos By Maria Girgenti

LAST month, four hundred primary students in Years 4 - 6 from across the Cassowary Coast district converged on Callendar Park, Innisfail, for the Innisfail Sports Spectacular run by Peninsula School Sport.

This is the second year of the event, and in 2022 it took place at Castor Park, Mourilyan.

On the days, 16 school groups participated in eight rotational sporting activities for 15 minutes.

Students from Good Counsel Primary, Goondi, Mundoo, Mourilyan, St Rita’s South Johnstone, Silkwood, St Rita’s Babinda, Kennedy, Bartle Frere,

Babinda and Innisfail State Schools.

NRL/QRL, rugby union, tennis, Queensland Cricket, Queensland Touch Football, league tag, Etty Bay Surf Lifesaving Club.

Secondary students from Innisfail State College, Good Counsel College and Tully State High School who are part of Innisfail Academy of Sport and studying Certificate II in Coaching observed and assisted development officers with activities.

The establishment of Sports Spectacular came about from feedback and recommendations from the 2021 FNQ School Sport Survey; Principals, sports coordinators, students and P&C Association Presidents indicated that sport is an essential driver to improving students’ attendance and engagement.

Recommendations from the survey were to provide more grassroots sporting opportunities for students in the FNQ region.

The event’s key objectives are to provide sporting opportunities for students to engage with sporting development officers across various sports and establish networks between school staff, local junior development officers and other schools throughout the region.

It also strengthens staff capability and professional knowledge about sporting programs/skills with sports/rotations run by industry professionals, junior development officers and community partners.

Develop and link-local professional networks between schools, families and local sporting organisations/groups to improve access to school and club sport. Provide primary school students with access to grassroots sports as a way of upskilling students to enter the representative school sport pathway.

These key objectives align with the Department of Education’s State Schooling Strategy 2022 - 2026.