Sydney Boys High School

High Notes, Vol 16 No 22, July 24 2015

From the Principal

High Talent
Congratulations to Manson Luk for his bronze medal at the Australian Taekwondo Open Championships in the 15-17 years Division. Congratulations also to Dibyendu Roy and Kieran Shivakumaarun (Year 10) who have been invited to sit the next contest in the Australian Mathematics Competition (AMOC) next month. They are two of only 20 students in NSW invited to attend. Jason Phu (SHS 2007) won the prestigious Sulman Prize. Well done to our two successful teams of 15 that qualified for the NSW Final of the Dr Evatt Competition. 250  school teams competed. 

Great job Hugh Bartley, Arthur Chao, Max Koslowski and Thomas Shortridge.  Max and Thomas, along with Ganeshmoorthy Chandrasekaran and Nasrur-ul Joarder, will contest the CHS Hume Barbour PDC final in early August. We wish them good fortune.

Winter Sports Assembly: Rugby, Football, Fencing, Cross Country.
Our special guest, Andrew Edmondson, retraced his journey from sport-mad teenager to a quadriplegic in hospital for 11 months, to a young man restored by his involvement in wheelchair rugby.  His natural ability, drive dedication and strength of character have taken him to the pinnacle of his sport as a member of the Australian team. He reiterated the defining importance of sport in his life and commended participation in it to the audience.

My address to the assembly is reprinted below:

"Special Guest Andrew Edmondson, coaches, parents, staff and GPS representatives, welcome to our winter sports assembly for 2015. We come together again today to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of those boys selected for GPS teams in Rugby, Football, Cross Country and Fencing.  Our co-curricular program just wouldn’t function without the dedicated efforts of so many of our teaching staff, parents, Old Boys and committed friends of High. To all of you, thank you on behalf of the boys.

"Thank you to our new Fencing MIC, Dat Huynh, who has brought passion and dedication to his role. High boys compete in foil, epée and sabre. Our teams have won consecutive National School Team Championships in sabre and silver medals in epée. John Tian was ranked 14th at the Commonwealth Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships in Cape Town. Also, James Siu won a bronze medal in sabre at that competition. Head Coach, Dimitra Giovanni, has made a big difference to our program assisted by Alex Andre, David Lu (SHS 2012) and Dat. Thank you to our coaches for raising the standard of our fencing and to the parent supporters of the sport.

"Cross country running is becoming a very prominent sport at High, with the U16s leading in the GPS point score so far this season. Luke Schofield qualified for the National Schools Championships with Jayden as a reserve. We have strong prospects for CHS medals in the age team events. Thank you to Rebecca Dam for her great organisation and management of the sport and to her staff Clay Kesting and John Prorellis. Thank you particularly to Head Coach, Dani Andres, for his oversight of the coaching program and to his coaches Adam Booth (SHS 2012), Kenneth Liu and Steven Chung (SHS 2014) for their assistance. Team morale and self-efficacy levels are high and fuelling better team achievement.

"MIC Geoff Tesoriero has raised the profile of Football in the school this year. Coordinating our program as Head Coach is Tony Dunn. His coaching staff includes Jason Conroy (1st grade) and Ilan Bermeister (2nd grade). Thank you to the teaching staff who contribute so much to the program: Peter Loizou, Ms Julie Eggleton, Kety Manolias, Ingrid Hybler, Mina Genias, Madeleine Rigby, Rosy Tracey and Natalie Luu. Thank you also to Tony Nimac for his very significant input into the administration and development of the football program at High

"In Rugby, Matt Cotton has taken over as MIC and has brought fresh  ideas  and  a  changed  style  to our rugby administration. Andrew Walters (SHS 2003) is guiding first grade, with David Knox as backs and skills coach across the senior age groups. In CHS representative teams it is great to see Sam Musgrave, James Tinker, Bennette Jiang, Jacob Katafono, David Kim & Nigel Zhang were able to impress selectors with their high quality rugby. Our junior program is managed very well by Mick Aldous, Paul Scrivener and Geoff Stein. Thank you also to Luke Aldous and Cheyne Whitelaw for their assistance in the 13/14 age groups. Sam Gribble (SHS 2006) and Rob Lyon (SHS 2001) are working well with the 15s and 16s. Thank you to all the supportive parents in the Rugby Committee, particularly Julie Fox, for their catering, administrative and financial support to High Rugby.

"Thomas Hughes, author of the classic Tom Brown’s School Days, believed team sports, played an important role in secondary schools for three reasons: First, they give the student (like Tom Brown) with average, or below average, academic interest, something in which to take pride, providing a reason to work hard enough to remain in school. Second, team sports keep students busy and therefore out of trouble. Finally, team sports, as Hughes emphasises, provide an important form of socialisation because they teach participants the value of individual sacrifice for the sake of a group.  The need for discipline and reliance on one another is very good training for life and work, where even more than at school, the individual and the team merge into a solution or product or report. Team sports are integral to our co-curricular education program at High for reasons not so dissimilar to those of the mid-19th century at Rugby School. They build character and corporate focus.

"I congratulate all the boys who have been selected for GPS competition. You are deriving the benefit from participation in team sports that will be enduring in terms of skills learnt, dispositions acquired and memories retained. Good luck in the contests ahead."
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal