SPORT

Improving our sports mindset

Congratulations to everyone for their sports achievements this week.

We took some losses this week and I want to remind everyone that a loss is not a failure to achieve your goals.  It is feedback that we have to do something differently.  Change the way we think, or change our decision-making process in the moment, change how we feel about our teammates, and build our trust with them.  There are many ways that tweaks and changes can be the difference between winning and losing.

In Legacy, Will Hogg, a management consultant says that there are four key areas for change to happen and without one of them, the end goal won’t be achieved.

The first is “A Case for Change”.  Why should we change?  What needs changing for us to get on a winning streak.  For the All Blacks, they had become a team of individuals, like little islands – they had forgotten what team meant.  I wonder what team means for us at Scotch Oakburn in our sporting endeavours?  Are we there for our team, have their backs, trust them with knowledge and are they receiving what we might send them?   A good thing to sit and reflect on.

The second is a “Compelling Picture of the Future”.  This week our Senior Firsts Footballers sat down together and worked out that their compelling picture for their future was to win the flag.  Now they are concentrating on the strategies and tactics they will take to win the flag for their sport.  I wonder what yours might be for your sport?

The third key area is “A Sustained Capability to Change”. One to focus on here is the passing of responsibility for appropriate areas of the game to the players so that management, coaches and players all have a responsibility and shared ownership.  In other words, they all have “skin in the game” to achieve their compelling future.   Do we, as participants in our sport, take responsibility for team protocols, principles and culture that gives structure to achieve our future, or do we leave those processes for team management and blame them for anything that goes wrong?

The fourth area is a “Credible Plan to Execute”.  For the All-Blacks, this is where they excelled.  The players were to “develop and deploy a self-reflective, self-adjusting plan that developed the technical, tactical, physical, logistical and psychological capabilities of their collective”.

Their plan wasn’t an immediate one though.  Their plan extended over years, seasons, series, weeks and “even the seconds the match clock travelled as it counted down to the final whistle”.  They executed their plan in public but it was all worked on behind the scenes and led them to their most successful period of All Blacks Rugby in history.

We are doing the same here at Scotch Oakburn.  We all believe in you, now the question is, Do You?

Could we execute a plan to ensure our sporting history is in the records?

Rev Grace
College Chaplain

2022 House Cross Country Carnival

Tuesday 24 May saw the Middle and Senior School Inter-House Cross Country held at Scotch Oakburn Park in ideal running conditions. We had some standout performances, but even more importantly, it was great to see many students grasp the opportunity, giving their all in support of their House and leaving the Park knowing they put forward their best performance.

It was great to see so many parents coming along to support the students as well as staff participating in the run.

A full list of placings will be on the Cross Country Dash page as well as the times for the top 10 competitors for each age group after assembly on Tuesday.

Thanks to all the staff for helping on the day, our Heads of House for their support as well as all the students that gave their all out on the course on a great afternoon of activities.

Ali Foot
Head of Sport

All Schools Mountain Biking

On Friday the 20 May the College Cycling team competed at the All Schools Mountain Biking Championships at Trevallyn Reserve, consisting of a cross country section, which is a lap-based race, and an enduro section which is a time-based race down a single trail.

Although we were unfortunate to be unable to come away with any pennants, in the Under 15 boys section we came tied for second place, the Under 19 men also came second place, and the Under 17 women placed third with only 1 rider in this category which is quite an achievement.

Our team of riders all performed well and upheld the College Learner Attributes. We did have two riders who did exceptionally well and were able to complete their seasons on a high; Maya Martin (Year 10), the current National champion for the cross country section, came second in her Under 17s enduro section and first in her cross country section and Henry Jones (Year 9) placed second in his Under 15 cross country section. Other results in the Under 19s cross country race included Harry Kilby (Year 11) placing 11^th, Kai Butler (Year 11) 10^th and Benjamin Findlay (Year 12) 5^th.

I would like to thank Mr Luke Hammond for a great season and Mr Cale O’Keefe for helping me organise the team on the day as well as all students that were involved.

Good luck to all riders in the future.

Ali Sport
Head of Sport

Next Week’s Sport

Download the full list of sporting fixtures for the upcoming week here –  Sport fixtures week starting 28 May