Winter Sports Summary

Congratulations to all students, coaches and staff on an excellent season of winter sports. Please find a summary of each sport below.

Basketball

The SPSC Basketball Program had a strong finish to the season. Across our Year 6, Middle and Open teams we participated in 14 games against PAC, resulting in eight wins, one draw and five losses.

Our top 3 Open teams played their final games against PAC on Friday night, resulting in two losses and a win for the Open Bs. I would like to congratulate our Open 1st team for their performance this season, finishing top of their pool and qualifying for the state tournament. Both the Open Bs (seven wins – two losses) and the Open Cs (six wins – three losses) proved to be amongst the top teams in their competition and are to be commended for their hard work at training.

On Saturday morning all three of our Senior 2 teams concluded their season, with two of the games going into overtime. Our Middle As fought hard against a very talented PAC team while the Middle Bs led from start to finish. The Middle Cs game went back and forth culminating in a draw. The boys displayed excellent composure in the fourth quarter, making some big plays to tie the game. Congratulations to our Middle 1s; their win on Saturday gave them a record of eight wins and one loss, capping off an outstanding season.

A special mention to our Middle 1st squad, who displayed a high level of commitment throughout the season. The boys commenced training in week 5 of Term 1, which included morning trainings and gym sessions. They also attended weekly film sessions during lunch time and showed great improvement as a result of their dedication.

2021 was the first season featuring a stand-alone competition for Year 7s. SPSC had three Year 7 teams, all of which played extremely well, finishing with winning records. We wish our Year 6/7 SAPSASA team good luck in the SAPSASA competition and Harry Long Tournament to be held later in the school year.

Thank you to all boys for a great season.

Chess

The Chess 2021 season has been another great year with the sport continuing to grow. 70 boys were actively involved in the inter school season, playing Friday nights at PAC and the Chess Centre. With four Division 1 teams, 5 Division 2 and 2 Primary A teams, SPSC was the most represented school in the competition. Captain Chathula Kiripitige (Year 12) and Vice Ben Brierley (Year 12) led the boys through another successful season, bringing home strong wins each week across all divisions. With the season wrapping up in Week 6, the focus for many of the boys turns to House Chess for the Sir George Murray Shield and Individual Chess Champion of the School.

Cross Country

The 2021 SPSC Cross Country team capped off another season of great results. With 24 boys in the team, their combined effort brought the School both Junior and Senior inter school competition trophies. The season finished with the inter school relay championship, in which our team also scored some outstanding results.

The Year 7s (Jack Hollington, Louis von Doussa, Oliver Maung and Gustaw Czechowicz) won the primary category while our Junior team of Lachlan Monu (Year 9), Harrison Sheridan (Year 9), Donovan Fahey (Year 8) and Stephen Lacroix-Sneyd (Year 8) and Senior team (Harry Braithwaite, Fraser Connel (Year 11), Alec Disney (Year 11), Darcy Collins (Year 11)) finished second.

It has been another triumphant season of which we can all be proud.

Debating

The 2021 Debating season at SPSC has not been held back by any metric of sport competition. Acting as a materialisation of problem-solving, passion, school spirit and bravery, for the hundreds of students who competed across our Junior, Intermediate and Senior debating divisions. We have seen excellent development in technical skill and confidence surrounding case structure, rebuttal, and tackling different topic forms, such as model, test, and ‘regret’ topics. It has been amazing to see the initiative and commitment of Senior debaters with their involvement in student coaching programs, with fantastic development seen in the Juniors, Intermediate As, and Intermediate Bs thanks to the excellent coaching from senior students Aidan Eaton (Year 10), Gunin Singhal (Year 10), Rohan Thiru (Year 10), Will Lawrence (Year 10), Xander Grice (Year 11), Nicholas Koh (Year 11), Rajiv Paranavithana (Year 11), Oscar Chen (Year 11), Nathan Choi (Year 11), Daniel Jesudason (Year 11), Anthony Pham (Year 12), Sachin Ravindran (Year 12), Chirath Lekamge (Year 12) and Rushan Khurram (School Vice-Captain).

Teams have experienced the whole gamut of wins and losses, warranting vital learning experiences on the technicalities of case presentation, rebuttal and points of information. One of the season’s highlights was SPSC’s fantastic split-decision win (2:1) at the 31st Debating Intercol against Prince Alfred College. Our Senior A1 team for the Intercol comprised of Rushan Khurram (1st Speaker), Anthony Pham (Year 12) (2nd Speaker), Xander Grice (Year 11) (3rd Speaker), Sachin Ravindran (Year 12) (Vice-Captain of Debating) and Chirath Lekamge (Captain of Debating). Employing their season-long development thanks to the experienced coaching of old scholar Shiva Mukherjee, the team fought against PAC on the secret topic that “We regret the widespread belief that motherhood is a rewarding experience”, with Saints taking the affirmative. With only 75 minutes of preparation time allowed, with no external information sources, the evening saw Xander Grice (Year 11) being awarded the well-deserved ‘Best Speaker Medal’ and our 1sts taking victory! In an arduous encounter with PAC, two of the three independent adjudicators presented SPSC the win in the end, by an average winning margin of 1.5 points, allowing the boys to bring home the John Bannon Shield – a well-deserved victory and fitting climax as this incredible season begins to draw to a close.

Chirath Lekamge
Captain of Debating 2021

Football

The 2021 SPSC Football Program had a successful season, with 320 students participating in 13 teams. We continued to implement small group training across the program and introduced a new rotation system to give boys more opportunities across various positions on the ground.

On-field trainings commenced, beginning with small groups of six. We were fortunate to add new coaches with fresh ideas to our program which allowed our footballers to gain a great insight from some very capable players and coaches.

As the season commenced our teams were quick to hit the ground running. Our boys consistently provided good results across the season. It was pleasing to witness the rapid improvement of many of our boys. We were also encouraged to see some great leadership qualities shining through in all ages of our program.

A big thank you to our Year 12s for their outstanding commitment and leadership throughout their time at SPSC. We wish them all the best in the future, and we look forward to seeing their continued development with other football programs or within ours.

Hockey

The hockey sticks have been placed back in the rack, with a successful season having just come to a close. There is so much to be proud of within our Hockey Program this year. In 2021, we have continued to welcome boys, beginning their journey with Hockey, into our Middle School teams. The boys have worked tirelessly to develop their skills and their understanding of game structure week by week in their Wednesday fixtures. A pleasing win for the boys in their Intercol match against our friends from Prince Alfred College was a fitting conclusion for the season.

Our Senior Hockey teams have come a long way this year. With the introduction of strength and conditioning sessions to complement the skills and match play focus on the pitch, the boys have quickly found another gear when running out games. Across the breadth of both of our teams at this level, we have seen boys represent the school with truth, respect and service. They have banded together with positivity and camaraderie and have continued to evolve the SPSC style of hockey that we have worked hard to present, each and every game. A superb effort in the School Sport SA Hockey Championships and a deserving silver medal, followed by a stoic and hard-fought effort in our Intercol was a great way to draw the curtains on our season.

Pedal Prix

The 2021 Pedal Prix season started with so much promise with the first race being held for the first time at The Bend Motorsport complex in Tailem Bend. The four SPSC teams performed admirably with both our Senior and Junior teams (Vector and Dinoco) finishing second in their respective categories. Unfortunately, we only managed one more race at Victoria Park in June before COVID struck again and ended the season prematurely. Despite the disappointment of multiple race cancellations, the boys continued to train hard, improving their strength and endurance. The team should be proud of their efforts throughout the season and we look forward to a full season of racing in 2022.

Rugby

The 2021 Rugby season started in late April with boys from the U16 and U18 squads meeting twice a week for skills with Mr Blackburn. Once Term 2 began the program saw record numbers across all three of the squads. The season started with a 7s tournament for all squads which acted as a great skills refresher and extended conditioning session. The 15 a side component of the season was truncated by both COVID lockdowns and opposition teams either pulling out or not having the required numbers of players. This did not stop the boys from attending training upwards of four times a week and implementing an exciting attacking game plan under all the coaches’ excellent tutelage when we did have matches.

Soccer

Junior and Senior School Soccer continues to sustain very high numbers of players (approximately 270) and teams (18), and all age groups have progressed well, earned some impressive victories and, most importantly, thoroughly enjoyed their 2021 Soccer experience. The quality of our coaching team also continues to grow with the addition of Ed Scalzi, (Goalkeeper coach) and Jamie Dunning (10A coach – A licence cpach) to a group which already includes Paul Vanis (1st X1 and NTC U17 Head Coach), Richie Alagich (FSA skill acquisition Head Coach) and Daniel Mullen (Ex-Socceroo and B licence coach).

The 1st X1 gained some excellent victories this year but just missed out on the knockout semi-finals on goal difference, after a cruel mix of results in the final round of matches. In their Intercol match they started well but PAC gradually gained the ascendency, and two goals from their outstanding striker decided the match in PAC’s favour. The Intercol results of all other Soccer teams were outstanding and demonstrated the strength and in depth of our Soccer program by beating PAC at 2nd X1, Mid A and Mid B levels. Unfortunately, PAC only have five teams in the Senior School compared to our 11, and so six of our teams did not have an Intercol match. The Junior School Intercols ended with an even spread of wins and losses and some impressive performances demonstrated that we have some considerable talent coming through the junior ranks.

I would like to thank all the coaches for their impressive work this year and all the parents for their support of their son’s commitment to Soccer.

Squash

The 2021 Squash season saw SPSC field five teams from Year 8 to Open divisions. Players enjoyed an overall successful season, competing in the North-Eastern Schools Competition at various locations on Friday afternoons. Thanks to our coaches Ramith and Nim who have helped to develop our players on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at our ARC training sessions, and to our support staff Mr Lamont, Mr Green and Mr Papazoglou, who have managed matches and trainings. This year, SPSC and PAC played the first ever exhibition Intercol at PAC. All players fought hard in very exciting matches, with PAC the eventual winners. Our Division 1 and Year 10 Blue teams have now made it through to the Grand Final to be played on Friday 27 August at the ARC and we wish them all the best for those matches.

Table Tennis

Table Tennis enjoyed a successful season with over 100 boys participating over 11 squads, including a newly formed development squad, specifically dedicated to Yeats 7 and 8 students. Our 10 competing squads saw many successes, easy wins and several defeats. Over the season the Middle A1 and Open A2 squads finished second on the SAAS Shield ladder with the Middle As taking out the Intercol against PAC comfortably.  The major highlights came with our Open A1 squad, undefeated all season, winning the SAAS Shield. In the final playoff against PAC our boys won the Intercol, 12-8 rubbers, 43-30 games. This was one of the closest, most tense competitions we have seen in the Table Tennis Intercols. We won 13 games by two points and lost 10 by two points. Overall, on a count back we won comfortably, despite the close competition.

Congratulations to Kay Crowell, our dedicated and supportive coach, to all the squad managers and coaches, and in particular, to all the boys for their enthusiasm of the game.

Barnaby Eaton
Director of Sport and HPE