Our Sport Teams have backed up their success in Term 1 with a great Term 2. 

GSV Carnival Sport

Cross Country 

Congratulations to Charlotte Roe, Year 7 who placed fourth in the Junior XC race

Our runners put in a tough term of training which culminated in some excellent performances during the GSV Championship Carnival.  

Overall, a great team effort saw St Catherine’s finish third in Division 2 (effectively 11th out of the 24 schools).  

This is a jump of three positions from 2022. 

Congratulations to Charlotte Roe, Year 7 who finished fourth in the Junior race, Emma Peele, Year 9 who finished sixth in the Intermediate race, and Mattea Demetriou, Year 11 and Matisse Stafford, Year 12 who finished sixth and eighth respectively in the Senior race.  

GSV Weekly Sport

Hockey 

Our talented Senior Hockey Team successfully defended their 2022 title, making it back-to-back A Grade Premiership this season.  

The Team showed their dominance of the competition, beating MLC 8-3 in the Semi-Final and Firbank 8-1 in the Grand Final.  

Following in the footsteps of our Seniors, the Junior Hockey Team also took out the A Grade Premiership. A tense 3-2 win over Strathcona in the Semi-Final, followed by a 4-0 win in the Grand Final capped off a brilliant term on the hockey pitch. 

Netball 

The Junior A Netball Team won four of five games to win their zone pennant. At the finals, they fought till the end but were narrowly beaten by Star of the Sea.  

Our Senior A, Inter A and Junior C Teams had strong seasons, just missing finals by percentage.  

Congratulations to Camille Brownjohn, Year 9 and Zoe Hall, Year 12 who were selected in the GSV Representative Team.  

Water Polo 

Made up of mostly Year 9s, the St Cath’s Water Polo Team bravely competed against teams much older than them. With a couple of strong wins, our Team narrowly missed a finals berth. Full of potential, we are excited to see what this talented Team can achieve over the coming years! 

AFL 

While it was a tough season for both our Junior and Senior AFL Teams, our footy players never gave up. One of the highlights of the season was the annual Huntingtower/Heyington Shield Match against Lauriston. The Match saw a big crowd support our Team, while also raising funds for the Breast Cancer Network of Australia. Congratulations to Year 12 student Mietta Passon who was voted best on ground.  

It has been incredibly exciting to use our new sports court as well as the Strength & Conditioning Studio within our refurbished Sports Centre. Our Athlete Development Academy participants and our Rowing and Snowsports athletes have been undertaking regular sessions in the Studio. It has also been great to see a number of staff and students utilising the facilities during lunchtimes and spare periods.  

We look forward to commencing Term 3 sports after the break, with training for Soccer, Badminton and Track & Field all starting in Week 1, as well as the House Snowsports weekend from July 22 to 23.  

Support from Japan 

It was great to receive a visit from Old Girl Miss Michiko Matsuda (’00) during Term 2.  

Michiko came to St Catherine’s in 1998, undertaking a huge change moving from Japan into our Boarding House. At home in Japan, Michiko had been introduced to Hockey and was developing a fondness for the sport. As a shy student who did not have a lot of confidence in her English language skills, Michiko bravely decided she would join the St Cath’s Hockey Team to get to know other students and be involved in the School.  

When she visited us in May this year, Michiko reminisced of training and playing on the old grass field, long before the synthetic pitch we now have. She spoke about how influential this choice to get involved in School Sport was. Michiko commented that St Catherine’s Sports Program allowed her to build relationships with her teammates, and the need to communicate on the field provided her with the confidence to use and develop her English skills.  

Michiko’s connection and love of St Cath’s is very clear. She openly spoke about how our School allowed her to become the person she is today. She went on to play Hockey for Melbourne Uni during her tertiary studies and continued her involvement in the sport when she returned to Japan. 

Incredibly, Michiko is the current High-Performance Manager of Hockey Japan. This role sees her organising international tours for the Japanese National Teams, including a recent trip to the Gold Coast as well as to next year’s Olympic Games in Paris. 

Michiko is very proud of her St Catherine’s roots and still follows our sport teams from Japan. You may notice her sending support via our Facebook or Instagram posts. Likewise, we are very proud of what Michiko has achieved. She is proof of the positive impact that involvement in school sport can have on your path in life.