Richards Awarded Basil Sellers Scholarship
Illawarra Academy of Sport hockey graduate Daine Richards was recently awarded one of Hockey NSW Basil Sellers Scholarship, having demonstrated credentials in academia, citizenship and hockey performance.
The 2016 Hockey NSW Awards night of nights, was held at the beautiful Mount Panorama Rydges, rightfully overlooking the Bathurst regional center of hockey; as the best and brightest of the State were honored for their efforts over the past twelve months.
Emceed by two-time Olympian and Hockeyroo Emily Smith, the hockey community of NSW came together to revel in the afterglow of a fantastic year, full of highlights with the State Championships, Trans-Tasman Tournament and Olympic Games offering much to celebrate.
Hockey NSW proudly announced the recipients of six Basil Sellers Scholarships. The grants of $2000 each will go toward members of Hockey NSW’s Athlete Acceleration Program for exceptional athletes who’ve shown promise on field and off, helping them achieve their dreams of representing Australia.
As a student leader at his local college, Daine’s charitable work with St Vincent De Pauls and the Red Cross, along with his notable achievements on field – including being part of the prestigious Sydney Premier League first grade comp – helped him stand out as our first Basil Sellers Scholarship holder.
Olympic swimmer Jarrod Poort takes out solo in the Rottnest Channel Swim
Near-perfect conditions were not enough to break the record for the fastest solo swim for the annual Perth to Rottnest Island Channel Swim.
IAS Graduate and Olympian, Jarrod Poort won the solo category with a time of four hours and 12 minutes, well shy of the record set in 2000 of four hours and 15 seconds.
Poort, from NSW, raced the 10km open water swim at the Rio Olympics and made headlines when he broke away from the pack to lead for nine kilometres, but then finished 21st.
Conditions were ideal with winds moderate north-easterly for the start of the swim, dropping to less than 20 kilometres per hour by the afternoon.
The swell at Cottesloe Beach, where the swimmers started from, was around one metre.
It reached a maximum of 39 degrees in Perth and 37 degrees at Rottnest on the day, so swimmers battled sunburn rather than hypothermia.
The 19.7km open-water swim from Cottesloe Beach to Rottnest Island was once again a sell-out event, with more than 2,500 solo, duo and team swimmers surrounded by a support network of paddlers, boat skippers and crew.
Competitors were aged from 16 to 74.
The elite solo swimmers started the event at 5:45am and the last wave of team entrants entered the water just after 7:30am.
WA Premier and member for Cottesloe Colin Barnett said he has sounded the horn 22 times.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-25/records-expected-to-be-broken-amid-near-perfect-conditions/8303426
An Ogilvie among Kookaburras
Illawarra Academy of Sport hockey graduate and Australian Kookaburra Flynn Ogilvie was an instrumental part of the Australia’s win over Pakistan at the International Hockey Open.
The Kookaburras kicked off their first game of the year today with a huge 6 – 1 win against Pakistan at the Marrara Hockey Stadium, Darwin. Ogilvie played out an impressive on ball performance in front of over 600 enthusiastic local school children, including 20 who had travelled from as far as Katherine to attend the game.
The Kookaburra play their next game against Pakistan later in the week.
