ST JOSEPH’S Primary School students tested their basketball skills against the best in the state recently.
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The group of 28 from Leeton traveled to Goulburn to play in the Catholic Schools Basketball Challenge for primary aged children.
The event is is held every year with Catholic schools across NSW in attendance. This year had 132 teams from 27 schools represented in four age divisions
St Joseph’s sent four teams – senior boys, senior girls, junior boys and junior girls.
On the first day of competition all teams played three games each within their respective pools. All teams were then ranked and placed in divisions.
Day one results
Senior girls: coached by Abbey Favell – lost qualifying final
Senior boys Stars: coached by Christian Werner – lost qualifying final
Junior girls: coached by Grant Dowling – runners-up for their division
Junior boys: coached by Ty Fletcher – lost qualifying final
On the second day it was “sudden death”, which meant teams only progressed if they won. Teams competed in quarter finals, semi-finals and grand finals.
In the junior girls division St Joseph’s won enough games on Saturday to progress through to the quarter finals for their division on Sunday. They won this game and made it all the way through to the grand final of their division where they came up against St Christopher’s Panania.
“Unfortunately the girls lost this close game,” St Joseph’s sports co-ordinator Brian Conroy said. The girls showed a great deal of determination and enthusiasm.”
The junior boys had a successful weekend winning a number of games on the first day. On Sunday they were unlucky in the quarter-final and went down to St Pat’s Albury in a tough game only losing by two points.
“While not being a very tall team they acquitted themselves exceptionally well against a lot taller opposition sides,” Conroy said.
In the senior girls division St Joseph’s worked hard on the Saturday winning a couple of games. On Sunday they were unlucky in the quarter-final and went down to St Pat’s Griffith in a tough game.
The senior boys worked hard as a team to win two of their three games on the Saturday. On the Sunday they went down in the quarter finals to St Mary’s Young.
“The boys played with pride which was evident in the smiles on their faces,” Conroy said.
“For a school the size of Leeton to have all teams progress through to the quarter finals was a tremendous effort.
“All students performed very well and should be commended for their efforts.
“A huge thank you to all the parents and St Francis students who assisted in coaching the students. They not only did this for the weekend, but gave up their time to train the teams in the lead up to the competition.”