On Wednesday 19 February, 37 keen sportsmen and women set out from Glenaeon to the far away Bankstown basketball stadium. Two junior and two senior teams competed in intense games and close battles against 10 other schools which are part of the ISD association of which Glenaeon is a member. Some of the schools involved such as MFIS are Islamic schools so the carnival is not only a big sports event but also comes with a cross-cultural learning element for our students. Their sporting ability, however, is as strong as anyone’s and impressed our students again as they played along their team mates from different year levels in teams that only form on the day with little practise beforehand.
It is always great to see how the boys and girls rise to the occasion, confident, courageous and also accepting when stronger opposition just makes playing that much more challenging. During the day, they grow as a team, bond, and have a lot of fun trying their skills in sprinting, dribbling, passing and shooting in many games.
Despite stronger opposition this year, all teams got away with a win, the junior girls even had two wins and a draw and narrowly missed the finals. We had amongst us a French, a German and a Japanese exchange student (Adele, Merle and Itzaki), who each enriched our teams and made Glenaeon even more attractive as an open and welcoming school.
I want to congratulate all my students who came along and showed their skills, who were excited in winning and humble when losing and grew as teams, made new friends, and had a sense of belonging to the Glenaeon tribe! Well done!
Jonas Stoebe
PDHPE Teacher