Sport
Special congratulations to the 2024 Basketball First V and Chess Premier teams for winning their respective GPS premierships and to the Rugby First XV for their valiant effort despite ongoing injuries, achieving sixth place. The sports and activities department is looking forward to concluding the year with the forthcoming GPS Track and Field Championship in October. Our pre-season Term 1 sports—rowing, volleyball, cricket and swimming—are underway this term. For all current information regarding trials and training, please see each sport’s myChurchie page.
We invite everyone to view the Term 3 sports summary via myChurchie – GPS Sports and Activities page.
Trent Goodrick
Head of Cocurricular
Volleyball
Welcome back to Term 4 and the exciting start of the volleyball preseason! We are thrilled to acknowledge some outstanding achievements by our athletes during the break. Luka Sazdov represented the Queensland U18 Maroon team, clinching the National Final, while Edison Du represented the Queensland U14 White team, finishing third overall at the Nationals. Well done, boys! The entire Churchie community is incredibly proud of you both.
GPS selection trials and training
As we gear up for the upcoming GPS Volleyball season, please note the following key dates:
AVSC selection trials – Week 2:
- Wednesday 9 October – 3:15 to 4:45 pm – Years 9, 10 and 11 (2024 year levels)
- Thursday 10 October – 3:15 to 4:45 pm – Years 7 and 8 (2024 year levels)
Students must be available during the December holidays for selection.
GPS selection trials – Weeks 4 and 5:
Due to increased cocurricular registrations, some participants may not be selected for a GPS team.
GPS pre-season teams training – Starts Week 6
GPS pre-season matches:
- Saturday 16 November – Nudgee College
- Saturday 23 November – Brisbane Boys’ College
Important: New students arriving in 2025 are expected to attend the selection trials in Term 4, 2024. Exceptions will only be made for boarders or students coming from interstate or overseas in January.
New initiatives
This year, we are pleased to introduce several new initiatives within Churchie Volleyball:
- Junior spike squad – tailored for developing young talent.
- Student competition – offering students an opportunity to showcase their skills in a competitive environment.
- Mixed social competition and division one – providing additional avenues for volleyball engagement. Please see the flyers in the newsletter for further details.
We look forward to a strong pre-season and an even more exciting GPS season ahead!
Carrie Mill
Director of Volleyball
Rowing
The 2025 Churchie Rowing Season got off to a fantastic start over the Term 3 break with our Pre-Season Camp at Maroochydore being a huge success.
Open and Year 11 boys spent four days getting back in the boat and building fitness, with some hotly contested beach cricket games and watching the Lions win the Grand Final on Saturday. Back in Brisbane, our Year 10 group kicked off Term 4 training at the shed with a tough ergo and run fitness session while our new and improved pontoon is in its final stages of installation.
A final call-out for Year 7 boys wishing to join our programme as a cox this season. Please directly email Director of Rowing Tyson Sholl, to register your interest. Successful boys will be added to the programme by Week 3.
Tyson Sholl
Director of Rowing
Debating
The 2024 Debating season wrapped up with outstanding results in both the QDU and Debate of Origin competitions, reinforcing both Churchie’s competitive strength and character.
The QDU Brisbane Secondary Schools is a gruelling knock-out competition drawing schools from both independent and state sectors. With our 8.1s reaching the top two teams of competition with 160+ teams, we had high hopes for a team that had taken out the GPS premiership for their division. True to form, their performance in the Grand Final was phenomenal, with the boys winning the premiership with a unanimous 3-0 adjudication panel ruling in their favour.
At the top end of the competition, our Senior A boys fought off fierce competition from seasoned teams to reach the grand final against Somerville House. While the team came away with second place in their division, they delivered a polished and gracious performance despite the pressures of mock exams. A special congratulations to Dario Lim for winning speaker of the grand final—a truly deserved recognition for such a classy performance.
On the last day of Term 3, a squad of eleven boys, Grant Smith and I flew to Sydney to compete in the Debate of Origin competition. Started in 2020 as an opportunity for students from Churchie, Melbourne Grammar School and Cranbrook School to continue debating during COVID-19 competition cancellations, it has become an excellent chance to maintain a competitive edge and build friendships across Australia. St Peter’s College in Adelaide joined in 2024.
After some sightseeing and fish and chips at Bondi Beach and scenic drives through Bellevue Hill, we met Cranbrook’s debaters and staff for a welcome dinner and trivia competition. The teams participated in three short-prep debates in a single day with tough topics, and an expectation that all speakers—even those in Year 8—would do points of information questions, usually only expected from Year 11 in the Queensland competitions. In this, the. Juniors won 1 of their 3 debates (with close 1-point margins in the two losses), Seniors won 2 of their 3 debates (again with close 1-point margins in their loss) and Intermediates were tremendously successful in winning the comp for their division by winning all three debates. This resulted in Churchie emerging as the clear winner of the Debate of Origin, with our Seniors and Intermediates winning their divisions and the Juniors coming a close second.
With the 2024 competitions now wrapped up, we are already preparing for our 2025 performance. Preseason training will commence in Week 1 and we will post notifications for trials shortly. Keep an eye on the debating page on myChurchie for more details.
Rebecca Hewitt
Director of Debating
Sporting achievements
Congratulations to the following students who achieved representative success recently:
Volleyball
At the National Championships, several Churchie players represented Queensland:
- Luka Sazdov represented and captained the Queensland U18 Maroon team, winning the National Final.
- Edison Du – Queensland U14 White team – third place.
- Adam Sullivan – Queensland U16 White – fifth place.
- Frankie Sharpe – Queensland U17 Maroon – second place.
- Wil Fernley – Queensland U18 White – third place.
Rugby
Congratulations to the following boys who were selected for the Queensland Reds U14 and U16 representative teams during the holiday break. The boys will play against NSW during Term 4 and on behalf of Churchie Rugby and the school community, we wish them the best of luck for those games:
- U14 – Elijah Nosa, Kolby Walters, Noah Mariner, Billy Gough and Kane Kinnaird
- U16 – Sio Kite, Alfie Bowman and Angus Underwood
Trent Goodrick
Head of Cocurricular