Sport

End-of-season presentations for volleyball and cricket were the focus of this week. The videos, prestigious awards and entertaining student speeches were a highlight. Support groups worked tirelessly to organise these spectacular events that served to celebrate and close out their seasons. I thank them for their efforts this season as they continue to support our directors in delivering a memorable experience for our boys.

GPS Sport and Activity Term One Sport Summary

We invite everyone to see this Term’s results summary via myChurchie – GPS Sports and Activities.

Cricket

On Saturday evening, over 280 guests gathered at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre to celebrate the 2024 cricket season at the annual Churchie Cricket End of Season Dinner.

The dinner was a wonderful evening, celebrating the successes of the boys on the field during 2024, with year-level representatives giving a season summary on how the teams in their year level fared during the season. Most valuable player, batting, bowling and fielding awards recognised those boys who performed their best cricket during the season.

The later parts of the evening recognised players who excelled at the highest level in 2024, celebrating those who scored centuries and took five-wicket hauls during the season, as well as acknowledging those who won Churchie Cricket’s most sought-after prizes.

A list of major award winners for the evening is below. However, a special congratulations to Year 9A (McKerrell Trophy), Angus Peters (Peter Burge Medal), Sean Hansen (Senior Cricketer of the Year) and Angus Storen (Sir Donald Bradman Medal, the most prestigious awards of the evening).

• Sir Donald Bradman Medal (First XI Cricketer of the Year): Angus Storen
• Mitchell Brent Memorial Trophy (First XI Player’s Player): Angus Storen
• WHV Jubbs Trophy (First XI Bowler of the Year): Henry Hillier
• First XI Batsman of the Year: Angus Storen
• First XI Fielder of the Year: Zac Griggs  
• Senior Cricketer of the Year (Year 10 – 12 Cricketer of the Year): Sean Hansen 11A
• Peter Burge Medal (Year 7 – 9 Cricketer of the Year): Angus Peters 9A
• McKerrell Trophy (Team of the Year): 9A
• Senior Wicket Keeper Award: Henry Benjamin Second XI
• Junior Wicket Keeper Award: Banjo Jenkins 9A
• Churchie Team of the Year:  
  • Conor Wrigley Third XI
  • James Turley 7A
  • Sean Hansen 11A
  • Angus Storen 9A
  • Liam Stieper 10A
  • Shoubhit Jain 8A
  • Riley Wondergem 11A
  • Angus Storen First XI
  • Rupert Bignall First XI
  • Rafa Schroor 9A
  • Henry Hillier First XI
  • Sam Wilkins Second XI

The End of Season Dinner was the culmination of an incredibly successful 2024 season, where 14 Churchie teams recorded top-three finishes on their ladder for the season, including 5C, 9A, 10A and the Third XI secured top place finishes, while the First XI’s third-place finish was the best result by a Churchie Cricket First team in over a decade.

Ladder First Place	Ladder Second Place	Ladder Third Place
Third XI	7A	First XI
10A	7B	11A
9A	6A	8A
5C	6C	8B
		5A
		5B

Well done to all boys in the cricket programme for their outstanding performances throughout 2024, and a huge thank you to our coaches, staff, volunteers and parents for the immense amount of work they put in to help make the 2024 season a huge success.  

James Patmore
Director of Cricket

Volleyball

Thank you to the volleyball community for an amazing end-of-season presentation night most befitting of an enjoyable and successful season. Over 300 avid Churchie Volleyball fans filled the Brisbane Entertainment & Convention Centre to celebrate the season that was.

Churchie Volleyball finished the 2024 season winning the top overall programme with 272 GPS points. The A team points were ACGS with 82 points, with an official win/loss percentage of 81.7%.

We finished the season with 20 GPS premierships—13 undefeated,  4 shared and 3 unofficial.

Our Year 9 cohort maintained an undefeated record for the 2024 season across all four teams. Additionally, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E (unofficial), 6A, 6B, 5A and 5B.

The First VI was able to defend the 2023 premiership with back-to-back undefeated premierships.

A team top three Firsts: Churchie, NC, BBC/GT

Award winners

Best and Fairest and Most Improved

• 7A Rhys Gezorke, Hugo Crawley
• 7B Edward Potter, AJ Smare
• 7C Shannon Moloney, William Clark
• 7D Orlando Culpo, Charlie Thomas
• 7E Nathan Wang, Oscar Chandler
• 8A Nic Price, Tom Barrett
• 8B Troy Ham, Coen Campbell
• 8C Oscar Moore, Zack Copland
• 8D Ben McKay, Aiden Jamieson
• 8E Ben DeLuca, Monte Lockwood
• 9A Kevin Tan, Hamish Rhodes
• 9B Jayden Ooi, Jed Foreman
• 9C Hamilton Chuang, Emmerson Westcott
• 9D Harvey Bowman, Archie Jarvis
• 10A Frankie Sharpe, Daniel Godfrey
• 10B Jacob Karlsson, Janik Nanayakkara
• 10C Ben Finucan, Lachlan Ball
• 10D Damien Ting, Ben McEntee
• 11A Max Lee-Hill, Tim Angliss
• 11B Jacob Robertson, Liam Gordon
• 11C Ben Williams, Finlay Ahern
• 11D Harry O’Connel, Hunter Evans
• Fourth VI Cooper Saunders, Hugo Hall
• Third VI Brendan Mullins, Ben Griffin
• Second VI James Morgan, Jett Mills
• First VI Luka Sazdov, Ben van Heerden

Volleyball Most Valuable Player

Cooper Sharpe

Team of The Year

First VI

Spirit of Volleyball

Sam Cooper

Rising Star awards

Each season the First VI players serve the volleyball community by connecting with a junior team, joining them for some training sessions and games throughout the season. As a part of this commitment, they also each select a player from their junior team to win their Rising Star Award. The criteria for these awards are at the discretion of the player giving them. The First VI players gave the students the awards on the night.

• 8A – Sam Butler Wood
• 8B – Luke Moody
• 8C – Justin Packenas
• 8D – Archie Reilly
• 8E – George Slaughter
• 7A – Rhys Gezorke
• 7B – Cruz Patton
• 7C – Shannon Moloney
• 7D – Cooper Jones
• 7E – Hudson Butcher
• 6A/B – 6A Harris Shonhan, 6B Caleb Cheng
• 5A/B – 5A Alexander Ling, 5B Ari Matthews

Carrie Mill
Director of Volleyball

Strength and Conditioning

Introducing the Churchie GPS Sport Triage Screening Service

We are thrilled to share some exciting news from Churchie Strength and Conditioning! We are embarking on a collaboration with the Integrated Physio Centre (IPC) to introduce a new, valuable service for our students: the Churchie GPS Sport Triage Screening.

In extending IPC’s successful management of our rugby programme over the past three years, we are excited to announce their expanded role in overseeing this service for our wider sporting community. These screenings will take place following each weekend’s GPS fixtures and during respective preseason training weeks.

The primary aim of these sessions is to offer our athletes additional support through comprehensive physiotherapy assessments. This includes initial assessments, injury assessments, injury observations, referrals, modifications to the Strength and Conditioning programme (conducted by our expert staff), and adjusted field/court training. The process follows a systematic approach to facilitate a safe return to training and play, with the option for further in-depth assessments during off and on-site clinic times.

This collaborative effort is designed to elevate the standard of care provided by the Churchie sports department. Our goal is to offer prompt, direct, and specific assessments, recommendations, and rehabilitation exercises, ensuring our student-athletes can remain actively engaged in their desired sporting pursuits.

Key details about the Churchie GPS Sport Triage Screening

Who: Open to Senior School GPS Sports students
When: Term 2, Monday mornings from 6:30 to 8 am
Where: Medical room of the Sir John Pigeon Sports Complex (SJPSC) foyer
Arrival: Students seeking assessment must be in the SJPSC by 7 am to ensure sufficient time for screening
Supervision: Churchie Strength and Conditioning Staff and Physiotherapists from IPC

We are pleased to announce that the Monday morning assessment is free of charge to the community. However, follow-up appointments will need to be covered by private health insurance, with charges at a reduced rate compared to private clinic fees.

For those interested in learning more about the program, please feel free to reach out to Jarrad Boswell, Director of Athletic Development, at Jarrad.Boswell@churchie.com.au.

To explore further information about IPC, visit their website: https://integratedphysiocentre.com.au/#about

We are enthusiastic about the positive impact this service will have on the wellbeing and performance of our student athletes.

Jarrad Boswell
Director of Strength and Conditioning

Sporting achievements

Congratulations to the following students who have achieved representative success in their sporting pursuits:

Track and Field

Charlie Lopes qualified to represent Queensland at the Nationals in the U13 boys 100 metres and 200 metres and will be at the Australian Athletics Championships in Adelaide next month.

Andrew McConnel secured a bronze medal and third in the Under 15 2,000 metres Steeplechase this was a 16-second PB for him and qualified for the Queensland Track and Field team Nationals being held in Adelaide.

Hockey

Riley Wondergem was selected in the Met East 16 to 19 Years Boys Hockey team to play at the Queensland Championships in Rockhampton in May.

Basketball

Connor Davidson and Jake Miles-Wrency were selected in the Met East 17 to 19 Years Basketball team to play at the Queensland Championships in Townsville in May.

Trent Goodrick
Head of Cocurricular