2015 School Magazine

SWIMMING LAUREN HOGG (12R), CAPTAIN

The 2014/ 2015 swimming season kicked off to a very promising start as we welcomed two Olympians to our coaching staff — four-time English Olympian, Suki Brownsdon and two-time Australian Olympian, Jessicah Schipper. The competition season began at our annual three-day holiday training camp held at the School pool. Over sixty-five girls attended this camp, including forty new Year 7 and 8 girls keen to kick start their involvement in Girls Grammar swimming. The swim team really flourished at the School’s interhouse competition with the breaking of records, extraordinary swimming and dedication displayed across all strokes, events and year levels. Congratulations to England House for their success as overall winners. At Interhouse Swimming, the School celebrated 100 years of the Burrell Cup for relays. This significant award was first presented by Mrs Burrell in 1915 to the winning swimming form in the School’s Interform Competition. The Cup was won by Form Three (equivalent to Year Nine). Congratulations to England House for receiving the Burrell Cup in 2015, an historic achievement. QGSSSA was a night of incredible swimming by all, with personal bests broken across all age groups. BGGS placed fifth overall, a very pleasing improvement from last year’s results. The vocal support provided by more than 160 enthusiastic Grammar Girls definitely contributed to this commendable success. TENNIS ISABELLA FRANKS (12B) AND KATIA PEDEN (12R), CAPTAINS The 2015 tennis season has been a very successful and memorable one! We won an incredible six premierships out of seven divisions, with the Open team winning their second premiership in a row and remaining undefeated for the season. The real success, however, was the effort put in by all teams each weekend as they showed great enthusiasm and dedication to the sport. All players are to be congratulated for their efforts. It has been an honour for us to captain the tennis team and we are proud of the efforts and sportsmanship shown throughout the season. Tennis has certainly become a tribe of BGGS warriors thus embodying the Sports Captains’ motto for 2015. Once again, we were lucky enough to have our home courts at Griffith University Tennis Centre. It was wonderful to see so many supporters at the courts each home game, and our famous spread of afternoon tea and sausage sizzle BBQ (thanks Dads!) added to the friendly atmosphere. Many thanks go to our new coordinator, Ms McCorley, whose positive attitude and determination inspired all of

I, along with the coaches and coordinator Ms Martel, am extremely proud of the team’s efforts this season. The encouragement displayed at the Friday night carnivals, training sessions and QGSSSA was outstanding and made my job as captain so enjoyable. I hope all girls continue to swim throughout their time at Girls Grammar. The swimming programme proves only to be getting better with age, and with some extraordinary girls in the younger grades, BGGS has an extremely promising future. Thank you to our coaches for their outstanding efforts and commitment this season: Suki Brownston, Jessicah Shipper, Damien Jones and old girls Emily Poole (2013) and Olivia Di Clemente (2013). We would also like to show our appreciation to Ms Martel for her dedication, organisation and support throughout the season. As captain, I have had so much fun this year and it has been a privilege to lead such a fantastic and spirited team. The Year 12s and I are excited to depart BGGS knowing that the swimming programme is in very good hands. the teams to perform to their best ability. Thanks must also go to our amazing team of coaches: head coach Rob Smeets, and old girls Shona Millman (1999), Tessa Millman (2003), Bronte Millman (2010), Sophie Kenny (2011), Ruby Graham (2012), Jordan Hondow (2012), Melissa Myrteza (2013), Rachael Williams (2013) and Sarah Ridgway-Cross (2014). We welcome new girls to the team each year to join us in playing such a great game. Next year is sure to be as amazing as 2015!

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SPORT