Welcome to 2019! Our athletes certainly haven’t slowed down for the holidays, with competitions galore and training and education sessions recommencing. January has had it all – with new uniforms, gym inductions, fitness testing, Media Skills sessions and admirable athlete achievements.
Following the Movement Testing musculoskeletal screening conducted at Induction Day, we have now commenced the testing process for each athlete’s Strength, Power, Speed, Agility and Conditioning. Our Rugby squad got the ball rolling last Tuesday for their first session back. We saw some great results particularly in everybody’s favourite – the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recover test!
Last Thursday was our first UOW Education Session for the Scholarship year with Media Skills. New athletes gained an insight into ‘What is media?’ and how the media plays an integral role in the progress of an athlete. Our returning athletes continued building their skills and interview techniques – a highlight of the night being the mock interviews they conducted with each other.
We now look forward to continuing these Media Skills Sessions and Fitness Tests with the remainder of the squads. This weekend (2 February) will see our first Berry Personal Development Camp conducted – stay tuned to our Social Media channels to see what challenging and enjoyable activities our athletes get up to!
January highlights for IAS Scholarship holders include:
- Holly Holmesby and Zara Sharman (BluescopeWIN Lonestar – Surf Life Saving) represented NSW at the Australian Pool Life Saving Championships, with the 16-person NSW Team winning both the Women’s Overall Pointscore and Overall Championship Pointscore. Holly had a fantastic competition and won the U16 Individual Overall Pointscore and made the Junior Barra’s Development Squad. Zara also had great results competing up in the Opens Division and won minor individual places.
- Ava Parry (BluescopeWIN Lonestar – Soccer) contested the SELECT Futsal Premier League 2 U13 Grand Final with the South Coast Taipans against Sydney team SD Raiders. After fantastic results all season Ava’s team unfortunately went down 5-1 in the Grand Final.
- Tahlia Dole (Cycling) raced at the 2019 FedUni Road National Championships from January 4-8 in Ballarat, Victoria where she placed 4th in the U19 National Road Race, her first road race in this older age group. This success came after a strong month of results for Tahlia including winning the team pursuit whilst representing Australia against NZ for the Oceania Track in Adelaide, and placing 6th in the National Omnium in Melbourne.
- Kieran Woolley (BluescopeWIN Lonestar – Skateboard) has continued his sensational form into 2019 competing in the King of Concrete, Hobart where he won the Open’s Men and picked up 2nd in Men’s Street. Kieran then went straight to Melbourne for the King of Concrete, Noble Park and took out the Open Men’s division again – his 3rd Open’s Men win from four King of Concrete competitions this season! Kieran also competed in King of Vert, Prahran, and came 1st on the Mini Ramp and 3rd on Vert.
- Mia Parker and Jack Hatcher (BluescopeWIN Lonestar – Waterpolo) competed at the inaugural Australian Youth Water Polo Championships in Brisbane 12-17 January 2019. Both contested the U14s age group with Mia in the Cronulla Sharks and Jack for the Ryde Rhinos. Mia scored 3 goals and Jack scored 5 goals throughout the tournament.
- Alexandria Kerrigan (Netball) competed at the Indigenous School Girls Netball Tournament in Melbourne where she was named the U14 MVP and made the Australian Budgies Team to represent Australian on the Gold Coast in June.
- Sharnee Behr and Ruby Sargent-Wilson (Netball) have been selected in the NSW Regional Talent squad for 2019. The squad has commenced training and the opportunity provides specialist coaching, and Strength and Conditioning sessions.
- Hannah Crinnion (BluescopeWIN Lonestar -Athletics) competed at the 2019 NSW Country Track & Field Championships at Hunter Sports Centre on 26 and 27 January. Despite tough conditions with 38-42 degree temperatures Hannah won the 400m and Long Jump and came 2nd in the 200m.
