Summer Season. It’s a wrap!

Angus King Vice-Captain of School (Operations)

This year the boys were incredibly eager to start their training, and for the Year 12s to compete for one last time in their summer sports. The firsts teams got a head-start with a range of pre-season games before the formal fixtures started.

Basketball

Basketball had a large number of participants. The lower teams had some great games and a few laughs along the way. In the higher teams, the basketballers fought hard to make their mark on this season with some big wins in the first half of the season, but the boys couldn’t get over the line with some really strong opponents.

Our 1st V Basketball Team, finished fourth in the quest for the Blackwood Trophy. Hale proved too strong this season, winning ahead of Christ Church and Aquinas.

Cricket

Cricket also had some of the highest numbers in years. With five teams, it provided a fantastic atmosphere at training. Across the board, all of the teams were successful, losing only a handful of games.

Our 1st XI Cricket Team finished third in their quest for the Darlot Cup. The team had a strong Term Four season, finishing with four wins and two losses, and began Term One in great style winning their first matches. This left the team in a great spot. If they could win their final games against Hale, Aquinas and Wesley, they could take out the Darlot Cup. Unfortunately, Hale and Wesley proved too strong, and we were only able to achieve a draw against Aquinas. This meant that Wesley won the Darlot Cup, ahead of Hale and Scotch.

Rowing

The Head of the River was the culmination of the rowing season. Scotch crews performed strongly on the day, producing the best all round results for the College since 2015. Our performances were consistent throughout the day, with all 13 crews finishing between second and fifth in their respective events.

In the 1st VIII race, our crew executed a race plan that saw them up with the leaders at the halfway mark. The crew fought to the end, but Hale proved too strong on the day to take out one of the closest 1st VIII races in many years, ahead of Christ Church, Trinity, with Scotch a close fourth.

In the Hamer Cup, which is a measure of the strength of the whole Boat Shed, Scotch finished third behind Trinity and Christ Church. Having finished seventh in 2021 and 2022, and fifth in 2023, this was a huge step forward for our rowing programme.

Swimming

Our Swimming team produced an outstanding performance on PSA Inters night to win the Tregonning Trophy for the second year in a row. Our team got off to a strong start to lead by 50 points after the breaststroke events but fell one point behind Christ Church during the butterfly events. As the relay events continued, Christ Church and Scotch went head-to-head, and the Scotch boys showed great discipline and effort to continually edge ahead on the points table. At the end of the final Year 12 relay, Scotch had established a 118-point lead, to win the swimming title back-to-back for the first time since 1950, a wonderful achievement for the College.

Tennis

In Tennis, the boys continued to play well, building on the success of past years. It was amazing to see so many younger players getting their opportunity in the firsts team, whether playing in singles or in doubles. Across all teams, there was some seriously hard-fought matches. Whilst the firsts team couldn’t win this year, there is some real talent that will set the tennis programme up well in years to come. The Scotch Tennis Team finished in fifth place.

Volleyball

In Volleyball the boys finished fifth with Aquinas winning the Brother Carrigg Shield. It was a tough season with some new faces starting in the firsts team. Although they weren’t the strongest team this year, the boys made huge improvements and found their rhythm in the later games. Across some of the lower teams, the boys had a great time developing their skills to hopefully work their way up to stronger teams going forward.

Water Polo

It was a 50/50 season for the Scotch Water Polo Team with six wins and six losses, placing them fourth behind Aquinas, Christ Church and Trinity. There were a number of tight results, and with a large group of Year 11s returning next year, hopes are high to try and push to contend for the Dickinson Shield in 2024/25.

While there were many great individual performances it is important to recognise that these wins can only occur with a complete team effort. Congratulations to all the boys for the great sportsmanship they showed during the season. While we all like success, at the heart of what we are trying to achieve through PSA sport is that all boys strive to improve in their chosen sport, and win, lose or draw, we always show commitment, respect, and humility in our sporting endeavours. This applies to our 1st team and all the way through the grades of each sport. Thank you also to the coaches and to all those involved in making this another fantastic Summer Season. It’s a wrap!