The Importance of Dads

Fathers’ Day

It was a pleasure to welcome over 150 attendees to the 2022 Father Daughter Breakfast, celebrated this year at the Royal South Yarra Tennis Club. Guest Speaker, Mr Kevin Sheedy AO, regaled the audience with many stories from his long career in the AFL.  

As the author of seven books, Sheedy drew upon his many interviews and conversations with Australia’s sporting greats during his keynote address. Keen to inspire the student audience, he drew our attention to conversations and the achievements of Ashleigh Barty AO, Jessica Watson OAM, and Michelle Payne OAM encouraging all to be suitably impressed with their remarkable accomplishments that have inspired and shaped his own views and values. Most notably, Sheedy wrote the book: Football’s Women: The Forgotten Heroes in 1998 and some 25 years after it was first published, footy for girls is the fastest growing sport in Australia today.  

Kevin Sheedy has arguably one of the most enduring and imaginative minds in the history of the Australian Football League. Whilst he weaved away from some key questions about topical coaching contracts, he entertained us all with good humour and positive messages for the girls to ensure a positive attitude to all their endeavours. 

I wish all fathers and grandfathers in our School community a wonderful day on Sunday. At the Breakfast this week, I drew on the research of author and journalist, Madonna King, author of Ten-Ager and recently released, Thirteen. 

King shares her research from interviewing over 3,000 students, teachers, principals, and parents to highlight the complexity of the father-daughter relationship. Girls look to ‘take on’ their dad’s intellectually, all while trying to work out how their mind works and what values they are establishing. In many ways, young girls are simply thinking aloud.  

The Thinking Agenda at St Catherine’s certainly instils in our students the need to have convictions, to analyse different sides of an argument, to find supporting evidence and then prosecute it with passion and clarity within the school context, in debating and public speaking. Our St Catherine’s dads are also encouraged to engage in this dialogue, and whilst the girls should be respectful within the exchange, their willingness to ‘take on’ dad intellectually is to be enjoyed as an opportunity to assist in shaping their values as young people. 

Michelle Carroll

Principal

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