2022 saw the advent of a new sporting format in SACSA for our Year 11/12 students. This year, SACSA introduced the Rijken Cup (named after Marcel Rijken, head of SACSA for many years), which saw schools participate in 6 sports across 4 days, much like an interstate sporting trip. Schools were allowed to choose up to 45 students to fill the teams across the 4 days, which meant that many students represented the school in multiple sports. TVCS entered teams in all but one event (girls Volleyball) and we were well-represented by our students during the course of the week. On the Wednesday and Thursday nights, competitions ran through until about 9:30, so it was definitely a different kind of tournament to get used to.
SOCCER
The carnival kicked off with our 5-a-side soccer teams heading to the new complex at Gepps Cross on Tuesday. In what turned out to be a tough day of competition, both teams missed the finals but were competitive in all their games. Josiah, Jamie, Phil and James were quite strong for the boys’ team while Aliyah, Tamara and Kate (in goals) were standouts for the girls.
NETBALL and VOLLEYBALL
Wednesday saw our netball teams heading to the community centre at Lightsview. The boys performed extremely well throughout the minor round, making it to the semi-finals. Glen and Phil were exceptional in defence and the team gelled well together. Their loss in the semi-final saw them finish equal third.
The girls had a tough draw and only just missed out on making the semis, with Jacinta and Isabelle leading what was a very good team effort in each game. We had a special guest coach on the day, with past scholar Jessica Brookes helping out and looking right at home behind the clipboard!
The boys’ volleyball team took to the courts at night, in what was our first ever volleyball team entered into SACSA sports. With no real expectations for the tournament, it was with great delight that we took our first set win against Emmaus, before going down in three sets. Jeuniko, Tom and Nathan controlled the ball well while Max was very dangerous near the net. Late in the day, we played a friendly against another school that had been knocked out of finals and this was a time of good laughs, played in the spirit of building community, which is a highlight of SACSA competitions.
BASKETBALL and TABLE TENNIS
On Thursday, our basketball and table tennis teams set off with high expectations to perform well. The boys lived up to their expectations, battling through a tough pool to make the semi-finals. Zach performed consistently well in all games with the rest of the squad stepping up and contributing strongly in different games.
The girls found themselves in a very strong pool, facing off against two of the eventual semi-finalists. They struggled to score against these two teams, but their defensive pressure was very good. While they didn’t make the semi-finals, they did have a very good win against Temple Paralowie.
In the table tennis, the boys looked set to play finals after the first two rounds before a quirk of scheduling saw them play the team they had beaten in Round 1, to determine who would go through to the semi-finals. After a closely fought round, it turned out that the teams had won the same number of matches and sets throughout the day, so the convenors had to tally up all the
points that both teams had won. In the end, our boys narrowly missed out on progressing, scoring just 11 points less than their opponents, who eventually made it through to the grand final. There was definitely a feeling that we had let this one get away!
The girls played exceptionally well, winning through to the semi-final and a match up against Kings. It was another closely fought battle, with many sets being extremely close or going to deuce. It eventually came down to the third and deciding set in the doubles match (the decider) to see who would progress. At 7-7, our team again ran into some controversy after a ‘let’ call and were unable to recover, going down 11-7 shortly afterwards. It was a great effort to make the semi-final but this definitely left a sour taste in our mouths.
TOUCH
The final day of competition saw the mixed Touch team in action. We started with a tough first game against one of the eventual grand finalists and then played a tight second game before being knocked out. It was great to see the team develop over the course of the day and start putting into action some of the plays that Matt Parker had been teaching them. Brady and Hartley formed a very good combination in attack, while Phil again showed his versatility on the sporting field. Once again, the highlight of the day was probably the friendly game we played at the end of the day (this time, against Prescott), which soon devolved into some questionable rules being developed and tactics introduced from other sports, but which certainly included a lot of laughs.
Overall, TVCS finished 8th out of all the schools competing in the Rijken Cup. Our students battled hard all week and had some exceptional performances against schools much bigger than us. The Year 11 students are keen to see what this event looks like in 2023 and to return with the current group of Year 10s in next year’s event.
