From the Head Master
The resumption of the CAS Track and Field Championships on Thursday was a wonderful occasion. Perhaps more than any other aspect of the School’s sporting programme, Track and Field was sorely disrupted by the pandemic. The Championships were cancelled in 2020 and in 2021 and our athletes had severely limited training and competition opportunities.
I suspect that the disappointment was particularly felt at Trinity. The School had won the Championships for four consecutive years from 2016 to 2019 and were understandably keen to maintain their streak. In May 2019, the Trinity team won the ISF World Schools Championship in Croatia. In late 2019, the Trinity athletes went on to win all three age groups at the Australian All-Schools Championships in Perth. All of which is to say, the disruption to the Track and Field programme in 2020 and 2021 was deeply felt by our athletes.
Therefore, the resumption of the CAS programme was greeted with great enthusiasm and hope. Once again we had extraordinarily large numbers of boys joining training and vying for a position on the team.
As it happened, our boys picked up where they had left off. Trinity won the Andrew Reid Cup as the champion school, coming in seventy-five points ahead of the second-placed school, Knox Grammar. There were many individual highlights, including four CAS records. Our congratulations to the following young men who are now in the record books.
- Jack Greaves (12We) – Open Javelin – 69.07m
- Jozef Cluff (8Ar) – 14 years Shot Put – 16.11
- Sebastian Ghisso (12He) – 17 years 100m – 10.81
- Matthew McLachlan (9WJ) – 14 years 1500m – 4min16.90s
However, for all of my delight in the success of our athletes and their prowess in their events, I found myself equally delighted in what I saw of their manner and conduct. I witnessed many occasions on which the boys supported and encouraged one another, regardless of the results. I was pleased to see the camaraderie between athletes from different schools, whereby they congratulated and thanked one another for the competition and demonstrated respect for the efforts of their opponents. Boys frequently indicated that their interest was more in their contribution to the team result, rather than their individual achievement.
I was also highly impressed with the contributions of our supporters in the stands. Prior to the event I had spoken to the boys about ensuring that their passionate support for their own team did not stray into disrespect for others; in my observation, they found the right line almost all the time. As I have written before, events of this sort provide young men with the opportunity to learn how to be tribal without descending into toxicity. It is good to learn that commitment to your own team does not have to entail hostility to others. Once again, school experiences provide invaluable learning opportunities for wider life.
Last night’s experience will live long in the memory of many of the boys, both on the track and in the stands. It would be remiss not to note the number of staff whose commitment and effort enabled that experience. Mr Matthew Wade and Mrs Elizabeth Murphy have led the coaching team in preparing the boys for their competition. The team in the Co-Curricular Office, led by Mr Lachlan White and Mr Mitchell Kearsley, are tireless in their work, as is Mr Brad Wirth and Ms Rosie Nunez in Campus Administration. Senior staff and the Housemasters put in long hours of supervision in the stands and other staff took responsibility for running events. The team in action last night was not just comprised of students. My thanks and congratulations to them all.
Detur gloria soli Deo
Tim Bowden | Head Master
