The team was pleased to welcome Jacob Stubbing on board to fill the gap of a student who had since left the school.

At our team meeting on the morning of the tournament we set down some goals for the day. Knowing that some of the schools that we would play against had much larger student bases than us, we were expecting some serious competition and decided that our goal was to defeat just one of these larger schools.

Our first match of the day was against Kardinia International College, who were a very technical and well drilled team. The Warriors played as a tight-knit team right from the first serve and, despite trailing for much of the first set, the boy rallied and took the early lead. The second set was also close, seeing Kardinia levelling the match at one set all. The deciding set again went down to the wire, but in true Warrior spirit the team stuck to their game plan and managed to take the win – goal achieved! 

Next team on the schedule – Christian College Geelong, who were shaping up as the toughest competition of the day. The Warriors spirit was dampened after the first set was dominated by Christian College – our tournament looked over. We needed a hero, someone who would step up and lead to team back into the game. On this occasion, our hero was found in Tane Rabbas. Tane opened the second set with 10 straight points from his serve, allowing the team to again level a match at one set all. The decider was intense, with both teams knowing that this game was likely to decide the day. The Warriors were again able to dig deep and take out the match – goal exceeded!

Our final two matches for the day were not as close as the previous two with the Warriors victorious over Christian College Bellarine and Geelong Baptist College.

The boys were ecstatic and with no defeats on the board to Warriors were deemed 2009 GISSA Junior Boys Volleyball Champions! Captain Hamish Lawrence accepted the trophy on behalf of the team – it was great to watch the boys pass it around and enjoy holding onto what was a token of a day of amazing teamwork, gritty determination and superb sportsmanship. 

The boys proudly boarded the bus and the celebrations continued on the drive home with these Warriors knowing that they were a part of Covenant’s first ever GISSA championship team. I suspect, however, that the coach who sat quietly at the front was the proudest team member of all.

Well done to Hamish Lawrence, George Kikos, Aiden Johnson, Jacob Stubbings, Oliver Myers, Tane Rabbas and Brandon Efthomiou on their wonderful achievement. 

Jonathan Feldman
7/8 Boys Volleyball Coach

The key, in particular, with the 9/10 Boys was depth, as a single team of four players was not enough to contain the developing talent, so a second team was formed. Therefore, a 9/10 Covenant Warrior tennis squad running eight deep took to the court, and headed by #1 Ranked player, Shaun Howard, took not lightly to their opponents.

Team 1 consisted of the experienced Shaun Howard, the highly unorthodox yet athletic Josh de Hoog, the sleekly skilled Stefan Luong, and tenacious power of Luke Sacco.

This team went undefeated throughout the competition and claimed the overall tournament victory, almost with ease. They worked hard, erred not cautiously with displaying their talent, yet did it with humility and grace. What pleased me as Coach is the cohesiveness of which this team meshed, particularly during the training process in the lead up to competition. This displayed itself well on the day, as the guys encouraged one another and worked strongly together in the ‘heat of battle’.

Team 2 consisted of the perseverant Josiah Bashta, the surprising and unpredictable talent of Lincoln Trinh, and the sheer athleticism and focussed drive of both Daniel Alexander and Jack Whatnall. Unfortunately this teams preparation was greatly hampered by the Year 9 Long Tour, thus, had only a week of training together. Despite this, this team placed 3^rd overall in the competition! Had they had the capacity to train, the Covenant Warriors may have claimed both 1^st and 2^nd place on the day, with the two teams vying for Tournament honours.

The Year 9/10 Girls were driven at the helm by a talent deep Claudia Gebert, who’s experience on court was evident throughout training and competition on the day. As our #1 ranked player, some of her duels with the #1 ranked players from rival schools were epic, and was easily some of the highest tennis standard seen on the day, male or female. 

Yet she was not alone, as #2 Ranked Alex Johnson was genuinely impressive during competition, really raising her game on the day, replacing her high arcing returns with more concertedly powerful strokes when it counted. Really strong effort and marked improvement from Day 1 of training through to the day of competition. Making up the Year 9 component of the 9/10 Girls team was Jenny Luong and Sjaan Warren, both with sound tennis experience and proven capacity to perform in competition. They did so again at this Tournament, and contributed greatly to the girls placing 2^nd overall in the competition, only narrowly going down to Tournament Champions, Victory Christian College.

As Coach, it was great to be able to sit back and observe these guys almost train themselves in the lead up to competition, as the experience and talent was already developed and strong. Also, to see them raise their game even more so during competition is an indicator of an accommodating mental game that sits well alongside their physical game.

Congratulations to all players of the Year 9/10 Covenant Warriors Tennis squad.

- Coach McEwen

The girls started the day with 2 wins, one against Creek Street 1 (COV 12 def CKST1 2) and the other against Creek Street 3 (COV 7 def CKST3 5) but weren’t able to hold this form as the day progressed.

Hard hitting Gianni Otienno, Stephanie Wilson and Chloe Fowler were in fine form, making their presence known form the outset. Pitchers Georgia Sutcliffe and Annie Cassidy did a fantastic job under pressure, working effectively with the base fielders (Sally Frame, Elizabeth Brown and Rosie Debets) to hold some teams ‘run-less’ in a number of innings. Shortstops Emma Schrederis and Sharayah Fisher kept their eyes on the ball and contributed to many of the ‘outs’ on home plate.

Despite cheers and encouragement from the bench, at times our runners didn’t know which way to go, for too much noise at times lead to confusion. Going into the final for third position, the girls were hot and tired but kept on working hard. In the end they were defeated and took out fourth place.

Overall, we had a wonderful day and the girls did the Covenant Warriors proud, representing the motivation, passion and camaraderie that we at Covenant stand for in the sporting arena.

Final results were:  
 
1. Geelong Baptist College
2. Macedon Grammar School
3. Creek Street 2
4. Covenant College Warriors
5. Creek Street 3
6. Melton Christian College
7. Victory Christian College
8. Creek Street 1

WELL DONE GIRLS!

- Coach Kennedy

The results of the preliminary games were as follows:

Game 1 :         Creek St [79] def. Covenant [72] by 5 runs.
Game 2:          Covenant [149] def. Macedon Grammar [47] by 102 runs.
Game 3:          Covenant [89] def. Victory Christian School [49] by 40 runs.
Game 4:         Covenant [110] def. Melton Christian College [57] by 53 runs.

 The FINAL:

 Creek Street Christian School [78] was defeated by Covenant College [79/1] by 7wkts.

Everyone in the squad of 10 enjoyed success on the day. The boys really enjoyed cheering for each other, singing the “Barmy Army” chant and celebrating boundaries with a funny jig laying on the ground. The team was well led on-field by co-captains Luke Nowlan and Nat Stubbings and they ensured that the boys were humble in victory. Nat Stubbings was the stand out batsman on the day with Josh Varcoe again showing his all round sports ability by excelling in the bowling department. Deserved winners on the day!

Player summaries:

Nat Stubbings; One of the two best batsman on the competition across the school. Inspires team mates with his on field deeds.

Luke Nowlan; Excellent bowler, bowled with pace and scared several batsmen, calm influence on the team, great team man, solid performer.

Josh Lendon; Improved with each game, particularly with his bowling. Excellent athlete.

Dave Baird; Another non cricketing person who got better as the competition went on. Naturally competitive…and funny. We enjoy having him around.

Jerry Manning; Excellent team man. Bamboozled batsman with his spinners.

Tom Berry; Proved to the tonker of the side with great success. Kept wicket and did well.

Luke Schultink; Surprised everyone, perhaps even himself with his batting. He is a budding cricketer.

Josh Varcoe; Fierce competitor, hardly bowled a bad ball all day, leading wicket taker.

Robert Rice; Solid contributor with bat and ball.

Jacob Plumridge; Everone team should have a JP, competitive, gives his best, encourages, performed admirably with the bowl.

- Coach Johannes

Year 9/10 Boys Cricket (Tournament Champions)

Year 7/8 Boys Tennis (4th Place)

Year 7/8 Girls Tennis (Tournament Champions)

Year 9/10 Boys Tennis (Tournament Champions)

Year 9/10 Girls Tennis (2nd Place)

Year 7-10 Softball (4th Place)

It was a big year in 2009 WCSSA competition for Covenant College, entering for the first time under a new banner, the Warriors. Akin to the implied characteristics of a warrior, many of the Covenant teams and individual players bestowed these necessary characteristics throughout the year. As a result, the Covenant Warriors finished the 2009 season with their greatest winning percentage since the inception of WCSSA, in 2004.

In 2008, Covenant College had a WCSSA tournament winning percentage (that is, the percentage of all possible WCSSA tournaments they actually won) of 29.2%, higher than any other WCSSA affiliated school, leading to being crowned 2008 Overall Champions.

It was the 2009 goal to improve upon this, and after last Thursday’s Summer Tournament, the Covenant Warriors finished the 2009 season with a tournament winning percentage of 31.3%. As a result, it looks very much like Covenant College will go back-to-back as WCSSA Overall Champions for 2008-2009 (follow link to see year by year progress).

At seasons end, Covenant College hold the title for the following WCSSA tournaments, which make up their competition leading 31% success rate:

• Year 7/8 Girls Basketball Champions
• Year 7/8 Boys Volleyball Champions
• Year 9/10 Boys Volleyball Champions
• Year 9/10 Boys Tennis Champions
• Year 7/8 Girls Tennis Champions
• Year 7/8 Boys Netball Champions
• Year 9/0 Girls Netball Champions
• Year 9/10 Boys Cricket Champions

As a school we can be pleased with these results, as they indicate ever improving standards within Covenant College Sport. Truth be told however, their were numerous tournaments that we were so close to winning, and having gone into them as favourites, sadly fell away in the Finals. Commiserations to such teams as the 7/8 Boys Cricket, 9/10 Boys Basketball, 9/10 Boys Soccer, 9/10 Boys Netball and VCE Boys Basketball, to name a few. But that’s the nature and beauty of sport, its unpredictability, with so many variables playing their roles on the day to turn cemented outcomes into altered outcomes.

Nevertheless, 2009 was indeed a success in the realms of WCSSA competition, with the Covenant Warriors once again stamping their authority as the dominant school in the organisation.

Stay tuned for the wrap up on CSSN and GISSA competition in 2009, where the most impressive Covenant Warrior athletic performances took place…

Standard is on the rise. The Warriors are on the rise. Expectations are high, and so they should be, as being crowned 2008 WCSSA Champions is a title that demands it. The Warriors come into the Summer Tournament bearing a burden, and the burden of being champions is not light, yet it a a yolk we are pleased to carry. It is a yolk keenly visibly by our opponents, and it is a yolk yearned for by our opponents.

It is the yolk of success. And we shall not be so hasty to part with it.

Training has been extensive in the lead up to the Summer Tournament, to be held next Thursday, 29th October in Ballarat, whereby conditions (rain, hail and monsoonal winds) have tested the mettle of our student-athletes. Yet, being able to perform in such conditions in a training environment means that nothing can present itself on competition day that will prove too difficult for the Warriors to combat.

Our most competent Cricket, Softball and Tennis players have been selected from amongst the pool of students from 7-10, and Coaches are confident that we can claim Tournament victories. The 9/10 Cricket boys are keen for “amicable” revenge against cross town rivals, Geelong Baptist College, who snared the victory in 2008, while the 7/8 Cricket Team are looking to go Back-to-Back and continue their domination from the year before. The 7/8 Tennis Girls are looking to do likewise, and retain the trophy that was earnt last year, while perhaps our strongest Year 9/10 Tennis squads have been assembled this year to try and make a mark on the Year 9/10 Division, which has eluded as for numerous years. Our softball squad is also keen to begin an era of Covenant Warriors impact within what is a somewhat foreign Sport at Covenant. Despite this, Coach Kennedy has complied a strong team that has grasped the games fundamentals, which coupled with a Warrior work ethic and cohesiveness, has the capacity to overcome any WCSSA rival.

It will be a great day of competition, one in which the Covenant Warriors anticipate using to send off 2009 with a climax.

For full team lists, follow the links below:

Year 7/8 Covenant Warriors Team Lists

Year 9/10 Covenant Warriors Team Lists