It has been great to see the extensive support and participation in all completed events, along with the flourishing House spirit, passion and culture that is continuing to emerge throughout the college.
On behalf of the House Prefects and Year 12 House Captains, we would like to congratulate the recently appointed 2021 House Captains from Years 7 to 11. They will prove crucial in the organisation of events, along with driving healthy House competition and representing the very essence of the Wesley Cup spirit.
The first week back for 2021 saw the inaugural whole school House meeting during Tutor Group, to provide House captains with the opportunity to share key wisdom for upcoming events, inspire peers to get involved and most importantly prepare chants that would spread their house cheer and passion throughout.
Early in Term 1 saw the first event take place in House Badminton which was held in Stadium 1. It proved to be an event that simply could not be missed! The week-long event, saw just over 100 boys competing in singles elimination matches against peers of the equivalent age range, in order to reach the top 4. The finals saw fierce competition and friendly rivalry against opposing Houses, showcasing some of the college’s finest badminton athletes. Ultimately the players who came out victorious were James McFarlane (WF) winning the Year 7 & 8 group, Don Bui (WF) proving too strong in the Year 9 & 10 group and Gavin Sim (WH) winning the Year 11 & 12 group. For having the highest score, Watsford were awarded 40 Wesley Cup Points, as the overall winners of House Badminton.
The major event of Swimming Carnival was next, and proved to be a successful, memorable day for all involved at the Adelaide Aquatic Centre. It was fantastic to see the increasing number of boys who are wearing the new House shirts and has largely contributed to the growing House spirit and sense of friendly rivalry between Houses. We encourage all boys to own a House shirt and be a part of this growing culture and spirit.
Throughout the day, we saw three college records get broken by Fergus McLachlan (WF), which were achieved in the Year 11 50m Butterfly (25.60), 50m Freestyle (24.54) and 50m Backstroke (27.77).
The main event the Champions of Champions race, lived up to the hype with many household names competing for PAC’s highest internal swimming honour. Fergus McLachlan raced out of the blocks early and never looked to be beaten as he claimed his third consecutive title.
Watsford was able to take out the top honours by managing to accumulate 1207.5 points, having a number of strong swimmers across all year levels. However, Taylor was able to take bragging rights in one of the main events; the 6 x 50 Freestyle relay, winning by just under a second in what was one of the closest races of the day. Thank you to all the staff for their help in making the day possible in particular Mr Cleveland, Mr Brown & Mrs Trengove. The final scores for each house are outlined below.
The brand-new event of Spike ball encouraged much excitement and enthusiasm amongst boys to represent their Houses, post the high of the Swimming Carnival. The event had 84 teams enter across all Houses, which equated to approximately 168 boys competing in teams of two. These were huge numbers for a brand-new event and demonstrated the growing excitement of the Wesley Cup and its wide range of events.
The tournament was played on the Back Oval. Well done to the following teams who won their respective year groups Yr 7/8 Naite Slade & RJ Walter (C), Yr 9/10 Angus Catt & Henry Goold (WH) & Yr 11/12 Ben Piper & Shae Olsson-Jones (C). Cotton was victorious in the Spike Ball event, accumulating the most points from the Top 4 results, collecting 40 points towards the Wesley Cup. However, Taylor should also be commended for having the highest participation across the week.
The continuation of the House Gaming event was extremely popular across the College and offered a new aspect to the Wesley Cup for boys to get involved in. The 130 boys that entered and participated in the competition, fiercely battled one another at 2K21, in which a line-up of NBA players was chosen for them and then they were tasked with defeating their opponent, first to 10 points. Finals were played for each sub-school’s competition on Friday’s, in which the following finalists were successful in winning: Ben Fraterman (WF) in the Senior School Competition while Tom Neal (WF) won the Middle School event. No surprise Watsford with 11 points came out victorious, winning the Gaming event overall, earning them 40 more points to advance their current lead in the Wesley Cup.
In trying, hot conditions the House Cross Country got underway in the last week of term 1, at the demanding 2km Park 15 course. Congratulations to all boys that participated and competed, your efforts demonstrated the passion and commitment to your Houses. Well done to Ethan Bald (T) (7.05.09) and Henry Pearce (WH)(7.18.28) who proved too dominant, winning the Senior and Middle School Competitions. Overall, Waterhouse won the Cross-Country event and should also be acknowledge for having the highest participation, earning themselves 60 points towards their chase to overtake Watsford in the Wesley Cup.
With the postponement of the Year 8, 9 and 11’s playing this term, the House Volleyball competition came to an end. Taylor finished on top with the most amount of points, earning themselves the 40 Wesley Cup points, while Waterhouse held on to a fast-finishing Watsford to claim second place. Thank you to everyone that was involved in the success of the Volleyball competition this season, it was great to see boys showcasing their competitive stripes amongst their peers.
After eight events Waterhouse have claimed a well-deserved lead in the competition but with exhilarating 10 events still to come, anything is still possible for the opposing houses. We look forward to seeing all the boys continuing to passionately compete for their House next Term with Indoor Soccer, Table Tennis, Dodgeball & AFL coming up in Term 2.
Rory O’Callaghan
House Prefect
