A Squad of 37 Spartans participated in the event, in what was a fun day of competition and a great chance to display the effects of their training over the past few months. A limited programme of events was held, consisting of the 100m, 800m, Long Jump, Shot Put and Mixed 4x100m Relay (2 boys and 2 girls from each year level).
Overall, there were many Personal Best's (PB’s) and a wonderful team spirit amongst the squad. As the Head Coach, I was really impressed with the sportsmanship displayed by our Spartans throughout the day. We had so many excellent performances and the following athletes achieved a Top 3 place in the A Division of their respective events.
Of the 42 Events contested it was very pleasing to finish in the Top 3 in 23 of them. There were also three Outstanding Athlete Awards presented on the day and the Somerset Spartan Squad watched on as our own Aden Webber won the Male Outstanding Performance of the Meet with his massive throw in the Shot Put of 13.25m. Congratulations to Aden!
Athletics training continues throughout the remainder of the school year and during the upcoming holidays. Please check the Athletics Schoolbox page for Training Schedules.
A big thank you to Kate Webb for her outstanding organisation and liaising with Emmanuel College to ensure this was a great event. Thank you also to Issy Garland and Charlotte Chant for all their help on the big day.
Congratulations to ALL the Somerset Junior Spartans for their outstanding performances - Spartans on the Rise!
The Under 6s played an intense game against Mudgeeraba. With only four players the game was filled to the brim with high pressure offence and a nearly impenetrable defence. Every one of our players scored, leading to an 8 to 2 win. Go Spartans!
Hammers played against Burleigh Heads Orange at Pizzey Park. Again they had huge success! Coaches Kydra and Neil instructed the players of their position rotating through the game. All the players understood their position and role, resulting in a strategy that worked very well.
Hammers were very active holding the ball a lot of the time. Jesse scored hat trick again! Hamish and Mayuko scored two and Abhiveer scored one.
The Hammers won 7-nil. Mayuko earning the Player of the Week, again! Congrats to Hammers!
The scores were very close the entire game, making for a very exciting match this week!
It was good to see the boys starting to understand their positional play. A special congratulations to Knox for an outstanding game, scoring an impressive six goals. The final score was Somerset 7 verse Burleigh 6.
Under 7 White lost to Robina White, 2 to 4. Oliver played an outstanding game, scoring two goals.
Although we were defeated, it was good practise and experience, through which we saw the growth and progress the children have made.
Under 7 Orange were looking to avenge their Round 1 defeat against a very talented Robina Red but were unable to do so, going down 6 to 3.
Our boys made plenty of attempts at goal and were able to hold equal scores, until close to the end when they ran out of steam.
Despite the loss, Ethan (two goals), Ruben (one goal), Kai, Sam and Hunter played a very tight game. The opposing coach even complimented the team on the great improvement they had shown.
Under 8 Green had a return match with previous opponents Tamborine, played on the mountain. Somerset was boosted by the return of Izaak, who added starch to their defence.
The game was an arm wrestle with the lead changing three times. Somerset looked to have the game in the bag after Oliver struck the third goal leaving the side ahead, 3 to 2 with 10 minutes to play. Tamborine scored a quick two goals, leaving us with a loss of 4 to 3.
Tambourine appeared to be a one-player team, with the same individual appearing all over the field and scoring all their goals... until we realised he was one of a set of identical twins!
For Somerset, the improvement in the team continues. Two cracking goals to Edward, one a good run followed by a sharp left-footed strike was one of our highlights. Max supplemented his dogged tackling with a near miss from a long-distance strike and almost an own goal from a well taken header over our crossbar. Will continues to excel as a goalkeeper. Tom continues to improve as a defender and Vaughan in the same vein. The team talisman and cult figure Sehaj continues to edge closer to that elusive goal! Ollie continues his streak of goals with a well taken right-footed strike to the top net from broken play. Coach Mark continues to see good improvement.
Edward earned Player of the Match.
The Somerset Under 8 Blue team went into this weekend’s game against Broadbeach United with three players down. A huge thank you goes out to Jakub and Dylan from the Under 7s team for helping us win the game 9 to 1.
Somerset Under 8 White had a challenging game versing Palm Beach Purple with a 1 to 5 loss. The team made a valiant come back in the second half strengthening their defence. After a solid shot by Ashlesh, Abby scored a much needed goal!
Well deserved Player of the Match was Josh, with some great tackles and a strong attack.
Under 11s versed Tweed United who applied pressure from the start and made for a very enjoyable game to watch.
Our goal scorers were Nash, Bailey, Sebastian and Nicholas. It was great to hear our boys talking to each other and passing effectively. Our players showed great vision of the other team members during the first half. We had a lot of shots on target but Tweed United defended well to deny us more goals. Great defensive technique came from Nicholas and Magnus who had some great attempts at headers.
The second half did not start as well and our boys lost their rhythm as Tweed started to apply the pressure. Great speed and ball skills were shown by Elliot, while Magnus put up a fighting spirit the whole game. It has been great watching Magnus develop and improve over the season. Magnus pulled out every skill he has learnt including some amazing headers and defensive techniques, making him worthy of our Player of The Week. Well done Magnus.
Jacob had three strong attempts at goal but defence was too strong. He did show great persistence, so well done Jacob.
Nash held possession of the ball to weave through the mid field showing great skills, as always. Nicholas played with much skill the whole game and secured the side's sixth goal. Dash also proved again why he is a great goalkeeper and it was great to see him leave the goals during second half and join the boys on the field.
Thanks to Baily for stepping in. Overall, it was a great effort from all players and a very entertaining game to watch. The final score, a win to Somerset 6 to 2.
Have a question about Football at Somerset College? Please contact our Head Coach - Football and Futsal Maarten de Kruijf. mdekruijf@somerset.qld.edu.au
With Somerset retaining only four players from 2019, the 2020 team consists of four Year 9s, two Year 10s and three 11s with no Year 12s for the first time in many years.
The inexperienced side challenged All Saints to a practise round a few weeks earlier taking the win by 12 goals, their closest game for the season. Both teams sit on top of the table unbeaten going into Round 7 of the APS competition.
With the first centre pass underway the two teams starting strongly, displaying skill and accuracy. Our young Somerset team was relentless on defence, putting on a lot of pressure through court disrupting the All Saints attack and gaining valuable possession and converting. It was a clean, well umpired match that both teams contested showing great skill and athleticism.
The Somerset girls were just too good though,with some outstanding shooting from Charli Pearse and Amaris Toia and brilliant defending by Ellie Muir backed up by Bayley D’Hotman De Villiers and Georgia Wilson. The midcourt was just to classy for the opposition with the speed of Atlanta Horan and on point feeding from Jemma Clements. Substitutes Marika Ransfield and Trinity Toia finished the game with solid performances in a great team effort and a memorable win of 47 to 28.
Congratulations team – it is great to hold the trophy for another year!
Our thanks goes out to the College IT team who arranged a livestream to the parents and to Mr Bassingthwaighte, Mrs McKenna and the College Leadership team for their ongoing support.
Just one more APS game to win against TLC and the Open A team will win their fourth consecutive APS Premiership!
C’mon Girls!
Zoe had a Personal Best on her horse Duke with a third and fifth, coming 16th overall in the 12 years and Under 70cm rounds.
Grace earned a second, third and sixth to take out overall champion in her new age group, 13 and Under 26 in the 80cm jumps. She was up against some pretty impressive competition from girls who were a couple of years older.
Both girls did a terrific job.
The next goal for the girls is to join the inter-school team and start representing Somerset.
The greens were fast, there were strong winds on the first two days and the course was set up to be challenging. Sarah recorded rounds of 79, 77, 77 and 80 to finish tied for seventh place overall – quite an achievement for the Year 8 Somerset student.
The top 16 players qualified for the Queensland Women’s Amateur, which is a knockout matchplay event. In her first round she was up against a Queensland Women’s State player, Rhianna Lewis and in a tight game Sarah managed a 3 and 2 win. Then came the daunting task of taking on the tournament’s Hyejun Park, the No.1 seed and the 85th ranked woman in the world! After 14 holes they were all square and then Sarah managed to win the 15th and 16th holes to go 2 up. On the 17th they both played into the greenside bunker for their second shots but Sarah managed to play a great shot to about 50 centimetres away from the hole. Her opponent hit it to about 3 metres but missed the putt leaving Sarah to finish off for par and complete an unexpected win.
The semi-final followed against Mirabel Ting and she ended Sarah’s remarkable run 5 and 4. To reach the semi-final of the Queensland Amateur is a fantastic achievement for anybody, let alone someone so young. Sarah certainly has a bright future ahead and her positive attitude to sport is an example to everyone.
Sarah and her two brothers (Justin and David), together with Flynn Carter are off to Cairns this weekend as part of the South Coast team to play at the Queensland Schools State championships. Justin and Sarah are competing in the 13 to 19 years championships and Flynn and David are in the 10 to 12 years event. Go South Coast!
Sarah still has a busy year ahead. In the September School holidays, she plays in the Katherine Kirk Classic, an Australian Junior ranking event, which is played on the Sunshine coast at Maroochy River Golf club. Normally, she would also be playing in the Jack Newton International in the Hunter Valley in the second week of the holidays but with the border closures, unfortunately, they have had to cancel that tournament this year. She will play in a number of one day events through to December when she will compete in the Greg Norman Junior Masters which is a great event to finish off the year.
There are others who would have us shun the day for fear of offending those who do not have a father and those in non-traditional relationships, or worse, those with poor experiences with fathers.
Sadly, they miss the point. While there is truth in both lines of thinking they are responding to an impression about Father’s Day, not the true history or essence of the event.
Interestingly, the first celebration of Father’s Day was instigated by the daughter of a man who raised his six children on his own after his wife died in childbirth. In 1910 Sonora Smart Dodd was celebrating a man who deserved honour because he was both father and mother. The celebration was all around his actions, not his maleness or contribution of chromosomes.
In our College community we have different kinds of families: many with a mum and dad, some with just a mum or just a dad, some with a dad they live with most of the time and another one somewhere else, some with mums and some with dads. This doesn’t mean only some people can celebrate Father’s Day because Father’s Day is not about being a man, or even a dad, it’s about celebrating great Dad Things. Every family has parents or grandparents who do these Dad Things, and that’s what we’ll celebrate on Sunday.
The only prayer Jesus actually taught is called The Lord’s Prayer, we often pray it at College events. In Jesus’ words it is directed to His Father and as we look at it through that lens it is a wonderful statement about the truly great Dad Things.
Our Father in heaven,
Dad Thing 1 is giving us confidence for the future by showing us where we can be and the life we can have.
Hallowed be your Name,
Dad Thing 2 is generating respect by your character, setting an example for us to follow.
Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Dad Thing 3 is setting rules and guidelines so we know how to live well and stay safe.
Give us today our daily bread.
Dad Thing 4 is providing for us – food, shelter, clothing, schooling and more.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Dad Thing 5 is forgiving us when we have done the wrong thing, at the same time as helping us understand when we’ve done the wrong thing
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
Dad Thing 6 is protecting us and keeping us safe from what others might do to us, and from what we might do to ourselves.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever.
This is beyond even the best earthly Dad Things, but in this prayer to His Father Jesus is basically saying “thanks for being so fantastic”.
On Sunday, make sure you say “thanks for being so fantastic” to the person, or people, who deliver the Dad Things to you.
Once we arrived and had our safety briefing, we passed through the airlock and entered the Cosmodome Science Theatre. Inside the dome was a big screen which projected the sky.
Firstly, we learnt about the difference between the day and night sky, we also talked about the compass points in relation to where the sun rises and sets each day. Before long it was time to jump in our spaceship and blast off taking a journey to each of the planets. This is where we learnt interesting facts the planets in the Solar System.
Year 1 had such a great time at the Star Lab planetarium which inspired many future astronomers!
Unlike the Gold Coast competition, teams had access to their devices and support from their coaches in the time between receiving their topic and the commencement of their debates.
Although an unorthodox approach for those used to preparing with no outside assistance, these new rules allowed students to infuse their arguments with research and evidence. This created many compelling cases on topics including 'Space exploration is worthwhile', 'Academic achievement is overvalued' and (possibly the most contested): 'TikTok should be banned'. Having coaches present in the room also gave new debaters the opportunity to create a good foundation of debating knowledge in preparation for next year’s competition.
After all teams competing in four rounds, the Intermediate and Senior competitions concluded last week, with the finals being held at Palm Beach Currumbin. We were very impressed with our Year 8 Intermediate team, consisting of Anna Thomas, Patrick Liu, Elliot Bartley, Hayeon Byun, Penelope Deacon, and Emmeline Anthony. In a division dominated by students from Years 9 and 10, this team was pitched against an undefeated PBC team for the final. The team put up an incredible fight, ultimately only losing the debate by one point, placing them second overall for the competition.
Although our Senior teams did not qualify for a final, all debaters from both the Intermediate and Senior divisions performed extraordinarily well throughout this competition, and we cannot wait to see their successes in the years to come.
There were five Somerset teams competing in the Junior division, with new and returning debaters from both Years 7 and 8. Throughout the course of the competition, all of these students improved by leaps and bounds in both confidence and skill.
On Wednesday night, the two undefeated Junior teams, SOM 3 (Bella Beer, Emily Nickels, Anika Lu, Leylah Zubair, and Riley Jennings) and SOM 5 (Summer Edgely, Georgie Kilmartin, Lael Jeon, Luke Jeon and Jaden Lee) competed against each other in a live-streamed final debate. After presenting two very strong cases on the topic 'Everyone should become vegan', the panel of adjudicators ultimately gave the debate to SOM 3 by an extremely small margin, making them the winners of the Junior competition. Congratulations to both teams for an excellent debate!
Special thanks must go to Miss Burgess for giving our students the opportunity to participate in this competition, and we wish all of our debaters the very best of luck for 2021.
They spend much of their own time helping native animals. Therefore, we decided to collect towels from the families in the College to give to them. The towels will be used by the volunteers to wrap native animals in which helps to keep them warm and feeling safe. Not only does this help the people in Wildcare save native animals, it also saves towels which would normally pile up in landfill.
The project has been a great success as shown by the giant mountain of towels in Mr Stafford’s room!
Make sure to stay tuned for our next Sustainable Spartans Project: Litter Legends.
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