Heads of Signature sports

Not only is St Margaret’s blessed with excellent sporting facilities, but we are also fortunate to enjoy the expertise of outstanding staff to help coordinate and manage the sporting programs.

However, running a sporting program is so much more than logistics. In this issue of the Flyer, we profile our four full-time Heads of Sports of swimming, netball, rowing and athletics, and reveal their philosophies and goals for St Margaret’s students involved in their programs.

Head of Rowing Jared Bidwell began his rowing career at Churchie. He was part of a winning U15 four in 2002, and he and the other three oarsmen in that four went on to win Head of the River in three consecutive years in the top crew of their age group – the first Churchie oarsmen to achieve that feat.

An Australian representative career followed, taking him to the AIS in Canberra and onto the Australian team in World Champions, to Henley, and as an Olympic reserve. A bout of acute ill-health curtailed Jared’s rowing ambitions, upon which he opted to complete his business management degree, finally going into business banking alongside St Margaret’s rowing veteran and Olympian Sally Kehoe. Business banking, however, failed to float Jared’s boat, so he headed back to Queensland where he became head coach at Brisbane Grammar School in 2015 before taking up the St Margaret’s role in 2016. In that time, St Margaret’s has enjoyed continued rowing success and the rowing program has flourished, attracting record numbers in 2022 of 230.

Despite a disrupted start to the 2022 season with the new pontoon floating down the river and the subsequent logistics of rowing out of several locations not designed for launching boats – at one point Jared was chopping washed up logs to clear a path to get boats in the water and taking apart motorboat engines compromised from floodwater-contaminated fuel – the shed still prevailed, taking out the First VIII Head of the River and the percentage cup.

‘Embrace the challenge’ was the theme for the season, and probably highlights what Jared loves most about the sport.

‘It’s never about winning,’ he says emphatically. ‘It’s always about the journey and enjoying the ride from pre-season right the way through to the Head of the River.

‘You don’t sacrifice the journey for the outcomes.

He says sometimes when winning is the sole focus, rowers will hang up their oars after a victory as they only had their eyes on a single prize, rather than embracing all the great things the sport can give back. Jared says he tries to make the process of the pre-season very inclusive to ensure all rowers get the maximum amount of time to learn, grow and develop through the sport and reach their potential before its time to select the crews for the season.

‘I have found that this process develops more trust throughout the shed and more bonding between the girls and between rowers and coaches. It creates greater engagement and the sense that as a shed they are working towards something bigger than themselves.

‘Not every rower will enjoy a podium finish, but as much as possible I hope they all feel as a shed they contributed to every win the shed achieves.’

In recent years, Jared has also focused on refining the selection process of the coaches.

‘I will select coaches more on their attitude and philosophy than their credentials, and the merits of that process really shone through this year.

‘In a season that demanded more of everyone, our coaches really stepped up to help ensure the season’s success despite many obstacles, and they proved to be outstanding role models for our rowers.’

‘Rowing,’ Jared insists, ‘is the greatest gift you can give anyone.

‘You can have a life’s worth of tests and challenges in one season; you can learn so much about yourself and about other people; you will make best friends; you will learn all about work ethic, humility and sacrifice; and rowing can take you round the world.

‘There are also opportunities and benefits that will manifest later in life. Rowing brings people together – you will immediately find a kindred spirit in another passionate rower, and you will make connections that will open doors.’

2032 is an exciting prospect for Jared.

‘I would love to see St Margaret’s rowers in the Olympic mix, competing in their home state.

‘It’s definitely within their reach if they want it.’

Head of Netball Gayle Coutts has been with St Margaret’s for five years now, firstly as a part-time coach in 2017 before taking on the role of Margaret’s first ever Head of Netball in 2018. We first introduced Gayle in the 2018 Spring/Summer Flyer issue, which you can read on our website, so we asked Gayle to reflect on the program since she first joined.

Gayle said the program has had significant growth in club netball, with 27 club teams last season and growing. The QGSSSA competition has grown in strength and is always very competitive, coming away with a third place in the Opens and second in the Year 7A and 9B teams in 2022.

As with rowing, a key focus in recent years has been the coaching component of the program.

‘I am proud of the retention of our coaches,’ Gayle says. ‘Of our 25 coaches in 2021, 23 returned for the 2022 season.’

All coaches are fully accredited with a netball specific coaching credentials from Netball Australia.

‘If we expect good attendance and participation in the program, we must field excellent coaches,’ Gayle says.

‘You can’t have one without the other.

‘We also try to find the right niche for our coaches – some will be better with beginner netballers, others with the more experienced players.’

A major shift in 2022 was for Gayle to step back from coaching an individual team, allowing her to focus on running two big competitions concurrently and on growing coach development.

Former Firebirds player Karen Brown works with the senior program while long-time coach Karen Booth heads up the junior program.

Gayle says the netball program is building in consistency, with more netballers and elevating the strength of the players.

While it is a big program, Gayle believes there is something for everyone from beginners to aspiring Firebirds players. Our littlest netball players in Prep to Year 2 can join our Magnettes program for a five-week session in Term 4 each year. New to Netty (Years 3 to 12) invites anyone who is interested in netball but is inexperienced to come along to learn the rules and develop new skills. Then there’s the chance to compete in the prestigious QISSN competition, in which St Margaret’s won Division 4 this year.

‘We are becoming known as a netball school. Girls will enrol at Margaret’s because of our strong netball program.

‘Within the Downey Park Association’s club netball program, where we are considered a big club, we are known as a ‘good club’ – well organised, with well-mannered and talented players, coaches and referees.

‘I am very proud of the profile of our program; all involved represent the school extremely well.’

‘For all this,’ Gayle says, ‘it should be noted that we are teaching so much more than shoulder passes.’

Netball, like most sports, teaches discipline, commitment, teamwork and expands your friendship circle.

‘I always say to girls new to the school, that if they join the netball program, they will have at least 10 instant friends and start to feel a sense of belonging.’

Gayle considers this last point.

‘There have been very few other places where I have witnessed girls to be so accepting of newcomers.

‘I see it everywhere, not just in the netball program. We are already living our new school value of Inclusivity, and we should be very proud of that.’

Serendipitous events sometimes have the most profound impact on people’s lives. So it was for St Margaret’s new Head of Swimming Matt Brown, who as a ten-year-old wanted to surf with a leg rope in Lorne, Victoria, which required him to be a stronger swimmer. That need led him to a swimming club where he discovered a love of competitive swimming, which set him on a path to becoming an Australian representative swimmer and renowned swimming coach.

After hitting the pool so he could surf the waves at Lorne with a leg rope, Matt made his first state final as a 14-year-old, secured a coach, and within 12 months was the second fastest swimmer in Australia. A car accident in 1978 just before the Commonwealth Games slowed his trajectory, but Matt went on to have a stellar swimming career before retiring from competitive swimming in 1987, after a six- year stint as an AIS swim team member in Canberra and competing in national championships, where he excelled in the 400m IM and was national champion from 1981 – 84, won a silver medal at the Pan Pacs, and competed on the world stage at the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the US National championships.

Matt went on to complete a Bachelor of Sports Studies majoring in coaching and realised he wanted to continue his association with swimming as a coach. He coached in Perth from 1987 until 2002, when he was appointed Director of Swimming at St Joseph’s Nudgee College. Matt spent the next 12 years building the number one club program in the country, coaching the likes of Emily Seebohm, Brit Elmslie, and Jack McLaughlin.

Prior to his St Margaret’s appointment in late 2021, Matt was considering retirement after a successful few years coaching members of the Chinese national swimming team; however, the St Margaret’s job offered him an exciting opportunity to work with swimmers at all levels that he found hard to pass up.

Given his experience coaching at elite level, Matt says he will be aiming to give St Margaret’s swimmers at or aspiring to representative level a true pathway at the school. For most students, he will be focusing on encouraging them to develop a passion for swimming and to really enjoy the water and the sport.

St Margaret’s offers Andrew Cup competition in the primary school, the QGSSSA swimming competition in the secondary school, and Club swimming for all ages. Matt hopes to encourage more students to join the club which has programs to cater for all levels of swimmers and inspire improvement through access to more training and competitions all year round within an enjoyable environment.

St Margaret’s is so fortunate to have secured the Matt’s expertise as someone who has both swum and coached at the highest levels of competitive swimming. Paired with great all-year round facilities in the heated pool and strength and conditioning gym, there are exciting times ahead for St Margaret’s swimming.

STOP PRESS: This year, at the QGSSSA Swimming Championships, St Margaret’s swimmers competed magnificently to place second overall and fourth in the Sheena Dyason Percentage, with the 13 years and 12 years and under age groups placing first and third respectively.

St Margaret’s new Head of Athletics and Development Josh Partridge comes to the school with a wealth of experience working with young athletes, having spent the past decade as both a strength and conditioning coach and an athletics coach. After graduating from The University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Sciences (First Class Honours), Josh spent seven years as a performance coach at a private training facility working with young athletes at all stages of their development. This included time with the Brisbane Bullets and Netball Queensland’s Elite Development Program. Josh has also been a sprint coach and spent time at the elite training facility ‘ALTIS’ in the USA, which is internationally renowned for its coach development.

Over the years, Josh has also worked with various schools on a seasonal basis and is excited to now be able to step into a fulltime role in the area about which he is most passionate – developing young athletes.

While Josh will work with the cross country and athletics teams, he will also be developing the strength and conditioning/ athletic development offering across all sports and the wider student body. The initial St Margaret’s Strength and Conditioning Program was launched in early February and is focused on developing the fundamental capabilities for sports and physical activity, catering to all levels of experience and ability. The program is facilitated by Josh, Dane Larsen and Ryan McCure.

The eventual goal is to build out a comprehensive athletic development program that will be individualised and offered to students in all sports. Josh says to call it ‘strength and conditioning’ doesn’t truly capture the benefits of the program.

‘At first it is about developing proprioception, commonly referred to as body awareness, learning where our limbs are in space and improving the control of our bodies in as many ways as possible.

‘As well as physical preparation, it is also about building confidence and coordination, injury prevention and rehabilitation, as well as providing foundations for future physical pursuits – whether it’s joining a local gym, playing social beach volleyball or competing at the Brisbane 2032 Olympics,’ Josh said.

‘Of course, for our athletes, it is also for the express purpose of running faster, jumping higher, and throwing harder for sporting performance.’

Josh is also looking forward to working with Director of Sport Lloyd Knight and other St Margaret’s heads of sports to further develop the Flyers Program for elite athletes, offering each ‘flyer’ a mentor to work with and to tailor a truly individualised approach for each student athlete.