Sports News 6 May 2022

Rugby Union, Rugby League, Basketball, Badminton and Football

Rugby Union

What an impressive start to the season from our rugby union teams with pre-season culminating in practice games vs Tangaroa, Avondale, Kelston Boys and Sacred Heart. Registrations continue to climb for 15 a side where our 1st XV is looking very competitive. Our results will always reflect our preparation - this is no different to the classroom, we can't expect our students to perform if they don't prepare accordingly. I'm pleased to see our rugby union preparations have stepped up another level from 2021 where we experienced great success across the grades. Good luck to the 1st XV who take on last year's champions, Howick College, in their first home game.

Rugby League

Rugby league sees an increase in teams from two to four in 2022. An under 15s development team and 2nd XIII have been added to our sports offerings. Our 1st XIII has their work cut out for them with a big game vs De La Salle first up. Our U15s development team, mostly made up of Year 9s will provide an insight into the future and offer players valuable experience playing against older oppositions. This team has been initiated and driven entirely by parents (with the help of Ms Tagaloa), our sincere thank you for stepping up and helping us get even more students playing sport for their college.

Basketball

Picking up where we left off, our basketball programme continues its momentum from 2021. This year St Paul's will have five teams in College Sport competition and two teams in Years 7/8, meaning that basketball is the most popular code at the College. This is a theme across all secondary schools, where basketball is now the most popular sport, over-taking football in 2021. Well done to Mr Jebb and his hard working players who gave up many days of their holidays to prepare for the season, I'm sure these efforts will pay off when competition begins shortly.

Badminton

Badminton continues to grow at St Paul's where our participation has doubled on 2021. We will shortly be competing in ABA's Thursday night competition, hosted at Mt Roskill Grammar. We look forward to this and our presence in the competition is a reminder that St Paul's men can compete in any code - whether it's a collision sport, using a racket, a bat or otherwise.

Football

Monday and Friday mornings see our Football Academy training in the gym from 7:30am. This is open to all age groups and offers the chance for students to learn skills for futsal and soccer. We hope to organise inter-school fixtures in this space, so if your son is interested, please encourage him to go along.