No. 7, Term Three, 2019

Every year we rely heavily on our student volunteers to make the Festival run smoothly and efficiently. Over 70 students spent one or two days working at the Festival. This is even more impressive when we acknowledge most of these have been heavily involved in the Gold Coast Eisteddfod during the past few weeks. Thank you all for a job very well done.

Congratulations to the student performers who challenged themselves to perform on the two days. The inclusion of Dance to the programme this year was to my mind a great success and these sections are sure to grow in the coming years! We hope you enjoyed the challenge and felt a sense of achievement one each performance concluded. Thank you for sharing with us.

We also thank the Music and Speech and Drama teachers of the Gold Coast who nominated their students. This support makes the Festival possible.

An event such as The Somerset Festival for Young Performers does not just happen. Many hours of planning and preparation are involved.

I extend our thanks to the Festival Programme Director, Mrs Helen Little who works tirelessly each year to put the programme together – never an easy task considering the cast array of sections and students to be co-ordinated. Similarly I thank Mrs Sue Roberts for untiring work in organising the student volunteers and the music collection and distribution. Thank you also to the Events and Logistics Teams for setting and resetting the venues.

Similarly I thank all members of the organising committee who have worked to ensure the smooth running of the Festival again this year.

A Festival such as this would not be possible without our Adjudicators who undertake the enviable, but rewarding at the same time, task of responding with such encouragement and positivity to all the competitors.

We look forward to August 2020 and the next SFYP.

Congratulations to Years 3 and 5 for receiving the third highest results amongst Gold Coast schools.

On arrival, there was no time for rest. Bags were left and they were off to their first activity. Overcoming fears of heights and stomach dropping thrills were all part of the flying fox and giant swing, precision was tested at archery and rock climbing, cold water splashes and ball games were all part of canoeing and team work and creativity were high on the list for orienteering and Eureka. The activities were amazing; however, when asked to pick a favourite the consensus was clear…GIANT SWING! We even had some staff brave enough to harness up and be hoisted 10 to 15 metres into the rainforest canopy by 19 very eager and excited students.

When the sun went down, the fun didn’t stop! Watching Matilda under the stars at the Outdoor Cinema was so much fun and a major highlight was the Thursday night Triballink experience, an indigenous story teller had the whole cohort captivated with stories of the Dreamtime and afterwards toasting marshmallows and drinking lemon myrtle tea (leaves taken straight from the bush) left everyone feeling warm and ready for bed. One thing was for sure, the night activities kept everyone busy and highly entertained.

Year 5 Camp was an incredible experience but we brought home some very tired and exhausted boys and girls – but there is no question…it was the best camp ever!

Our students in the Open Rescue were competing against very experienced teams. Over the day, they were presented with five complex rescue maps that their robot had to follow, ‘rescuing’ items along the way. It is not called a challenge for nothing and our teams were resourceful and are to be commended for their perseverance.

Our Senior School OnStage team completed two very well-executed performances with their robot and had to participate in an interview where they had to explain their code, design of their robot and use of sensors. Our girls also did a fantastic job of stepping up on the day and mentoring our younger students, providing them with both technical and moral support.

Part of the challenge, is that once the time starts for the day, teachers and mentors are not allowed in the Robot work area, meaning our students have to be truly autonomous as they work to improve their code, and sometimes their robot build, between the rounds. Our Junior School OnStage team used the time after their first performance, to make further changes to the code to great benefit, resulting in an excellent second performance. For our Junior School team, their ability to manage their time, be focused, resilient, agile and work as a team were invaluable skills that they demonstrated on the day.

All of our students can be very proud of their achievements and the amount of work they did in preparation in the lead up to the competition and on the day and their continued growth in robotics and coding.

Our thanks to Andrew Hawtin and Nicola Boone for running our Robotics Clubs in the Senior and Junior School and providing our students with these opportunities. We would also like to thank Dr. Nick Hockings from CSIRO for his work in mentoring and supporting one of our Rescue Teams.

Special guest for the evening was South African Player Sigi Burger, who entertained us all with her informative, inspirational, fun interview conducted by our own Rylee Burns.

Congratulations to all award winners and a huge thank you to all students for their commitment to netball this season, as well as the parents, coaches and teachers for giving up your valuable time to make 2019 such a success.

Major Award Winners for 2019

• Somerset College Junior Up and Coming Player - Maddison McLaughlin
• Somerset College Junior Player of the Year - Marley and Rio Burns
• The Somerset College Junior Spirit of Netball Medal - Ava Henson
• Somerset College Netball Academy (Most Improved Player) - Lucy Millar
• Somerset College Netball Academy Cup (Best Player) - Lucia Dann
• Somerset College Intermediate Up and Coming Player - Trinity Toia
• Somerset College Intermediate Player of the Year - Ellie Muir
• The Somerset College Intermediate Spirit of Netball Medal - Brianna Kurtz
• Somerset College Senior Up and Coming Player - Jemma Clements
• Somerset College Senior Player of the Year - Rylee Burns
• The Somerset College Senior Spirit of Netball Medal - Candice Taylor
• The QISSN CUP Most Valuable Player - Rylee Burns
• 2019 QISSN All Stars Team - QISSN Recognition Award - Rylee Burns, Natalie Blauberg, Kasey Collins
• Cerutti Cup - Rylee Burns, Sara Dann
• Netball Service Award - Recognition of Commitment and Service to the Open A Netball Team - Rylee Burns, Natalie Blauberg, Kasey Collins, Sara Dann, April McMullen
• 2019 Best Team Award - Open A Netball Team

Huge thanks to Rylee Burns and Sara Dann who did a fantastic job emceeing the evening. Best of luck to the Open A team with their upcoming Vicki Wilson tournament.

The event served as the final race practice in preparation for the State Championships at the end of the Term. Spirits were high, and the team work was fantastic, with several crews being lifted by the cheering from the bank. Ten gold medals, three silver medals and three bronze medals was a great result and a pleasant reward for all the hard training that’s being done out on the water.

Somerset’s first gold medal came from the Year 11 Boys pair Anthony McKenna and Jack Daly, which was followed immediately by the Year 10 Boys quad of Nick Tan, Cameron Smith, Fergus McKeon, Josh Mills and coxed by Austin Macrossan winning their first gold for the weekend. This was also the first race for the new quad the ‘Andrew Butler’, which produced another gold medal to finish the regatta, for the Open Boys Quad of Joe Lanham, Julius Wright, Chester Whiting, Jack Daly and Austin Macrossan.

The Murwillumbah venue is small and challenging, and with over 20 schools represented, it takes teamwork to manage the tight spaces. With barely any room to move on the river bank, there was always a helping Spartan hand to get boats on and off the water, and no one left to race without a word of encouragement. A big thank you to the parents and supporters how help make special weekends like these occur. We would not have had the successful weekend we had without you. A special mention to Olivia Sina, who always helps make the regatta experience enjoyable for all.

With the medals a great reflection of how wonderful the program is in the Gold Coast Region, now it’s time to step up to the State Schools Championships. Best of luck to all those crews putting in the hard strokes on the water, and well done on showing the Spartan Spirit.

Gold

• Boys Year 11 Pair – Anthony McKenna and Jack Daly
• Boys Year 10 Coxed Quad – Joshua Mills, Fergus McKeon, Cameron Smith, Nick Tan and Austin Macrossan
• Boys Open Pair – Joe Lanham and Julius Wright
• Boys Open Double Scull – Joe Lanham and Julius Wright
• Boys Year 10 Single Scull – Nick Tan
• Girls Year 11 Pair – Nina Varcoe and Jordan Wilson
• Boys Year 10 Double Scull – Cameron Smith and Nick Tan
• Boys Year 10 Coxed Four - Joshua Mills, Fergus McKeon, Cameron Smith, Nick Tan and Austin Macrossan
• Girls Year 8 Double Scull – Georgia Daly and Eliza Strong
• Boys Open Quad – Jack Daly, Chester Whiting, Julius Wright, Joe Lanham and Austin Macrossan

Silver

• Girls Year 8 Quad – Lauren Taylor-Girdler, Eliza Strong, Lillian Tan, Georgia Daly and Isaac Rogers
• Girls Year 10 Quad – Kate Jordan, Sofie Smith, Miku Adachi, Emma Smith and Eliza Strong
• Girls Year 11 Quad – Sofie Smith, Miku Adachi, Emma Wilson, Jordan Wilson and Zak Van Den Brink
• Boys Open Quad – Joshua Mills, Fergus McKeon, Cameron Smith, Nick Tan and Sofie Smith

Bronze

• Boys Year 11 Pair – Tom Liu and Sam Liu
• Girls Year 10 Double Scull – Sofie Smith and Miku Adachi
• Girls Year 9 Quad – Jess Velloza, Eden Dovrat, Kate Jordan, Nathalie Brown and Maya Moore
• Girls Open Pair – Nina Varcoe and Zara Smith
• Boys Year 9 Quad – Xavier McMullen, Raffi Anderson, Harry Jordan, Callum McClure and Zak Van Den Brink

Regional Ball Squad

A Regional Ball Training Squad kicked off at KDV in Carrara on Sunday. Some of the best players and coaches around the Gold Coast participated in this event with Somerset being fortunate enough to also participate.

This Training Squad is designed for some of the top Green Ball and Orange Ball players to not only show their skills, but also improve their skills with the guidance of some of the best coaches on the Coast.

In the Orange Ball, we had Paxton Ryan and Jack and Lucy Pluss. Being the youngest there was quite daunting but a fact they did not focus on. They played some outstanding tennis, really listening to the coaches' advice, further improving their skills and sportsmanship as tennis players.

In the Green Ball Mia and Mason Richards, Kona Baldock and Fynn Busuttin participated. The standard of the Green Ball was extremely high with a majority of these players playing in the Super 10s programme, with some of the best 10 year olds in Queensland competing in this event. Similar to the Orange Ball, our students showed some amazing Spartan Spirit, performing some great tennis and taking in every bit of advice from the coaches.

Not only was there some great tennis being played, there was also a talk to parents by Kim Birrel. Currently ranked in the top 200 players of the world, she is an amazing role model for young female tennis players.

Overall, another great event that Somerset had the amazing opportunity to participate in.

Somerset verse Sheldon College

For the first time, Somerset College went up against Sheldon College from Brisbane in a Schools Teams event, Sunday 25 August. It was an amazing day with 12 players competing from each school playing incredible tennis and showing outstanding team spirit.

Each school entered six teams, three Orange Ball teams and three Green Ball teams. Each team consisted of two players, playing both a doubles and singles match each, making it five matches in each rubber.

In the Orange Ball teams pairing up together was Roneel Khatri and Justin Kim, Denver Bannerman and Patrick Deacon and Leny Grigor and Tima Korin. Somerset dominated the Orange Ball, winning all three rubbers for Somerset to take a 3 nil lead overall. Leny and Tima were undefeated in their rubber, winning all five of their matches convincingly. An outstanding performance by the boys.

In the Green Ball teams, pairing up together was Huw Hoffman and Orion Burdett, Kaii Norman and Liam O’Nuallain and Kaylan Von Papen partnering with William Pluss. Once again, there was some outstanding performance by the boys. Sheldon took out the Green Ball, winning two out of the three rubbers. It was an amazing performance by our Green Ball players, especially from Liam, who was up against Sheldon’s best Green Ball player. In the final match he displayed excellent tenacity and sportsmanship, with some incredibly shot making which got everyone on their feet.

Overall, Somerset took the win, winning four out of the six rubbers. Not only was it an amazing event, but it was great to see everyone getting behind each other, showing an endless amount of courage.

On behalf of the Somerset Coaching Team, we would like to thank the coaches, players and parents from Sheldon for coming down to our facilities, and making this event possible.

Congratulations to Staff Spartan of Week 6 Ross Keefer for his willingness and dedication to this Junior Boys Cricket team.

Ross truly inspires these young Spartans through his speedy bowling and current drills for their skill development. He also stays behind each practise to pack the kit and replenish stock for Gameday. Thank you Ross.

Wakeboarding

Jacob Bonnor won the men's intermediate points chase competition for his cable wakeboarding last weekend. There was a run over the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sunshine Coast.

Well done to Jacob.

We look forward to a great weekend of semi-finals games, please come along and cheer our teams on if you can!

Summer League 2019 (starts first week of Term Four)

Club Basketball will continue to roll on in 2019 with Summer League starting in Term Four, a shorter competition that will end in early December. All players need to re-register for Summer League, and teams and coaches will be shuffled around. Summer League has more of a fun aspect to it, with no trials, no grading, only seven rounds, and one round of finals games. Registrations are now open on the Basketball Schoolbox page!

Winter Season Presentations Event (Save the date Friday 13 September)

To celebrate a very successful winter season, Somerset Basketball Club will be holding an end of season presentation event where we will be awarding one player from each team the Spartan Spirit Award. There will be BBQ style food, drinks, and fun on offer for all ages. Please come along and join us from 5pm, and don't forget to RSVP and reserve your tickets online (available on Schoolbox). Tickets are $10 and go towards food, drinks, prizes, etc. for the event.

Thank you to all the wonderful parents, players and staff that make Somerset Basketball Club such an amazing place to learn, grow and build confidence. We are so grateful to have such wonderful people part of our program!

THIS IS SPARTAAA!

Training find place after school and games will be played on Saturday.

For more information about the Futsal Club, please contact the Coordinator of Football and Futsal: mdekruijf@somerset.qld.edu.au