2016 School Magazine

ROWING The 2016 rowing season has been a memorable and rewarding five months. From weekly trainings to regatta days, all girls worked tirelessly with their coaches, striving for the podium on Head of the River day. We had 140 girls competing in the Brisbane Schoolgirls’ Rowing Association regattas this year, each week learning more about racing, mateship and how to work together as a team to make a boat go fast.

The 2016 season saw our shed grow, with crews throughout all year levels becoming more competitive, producing fantastic results right from regatta one. As Captains we are enormously proud of every crew in the Girls Grammar shed and hope that their experience holds the same valuable memories that ours do. The shed community is truly a group of unified and wonderful girls, coaches and parents. Thank you to everyone who supported the BGGS rowing program this year, we are incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity.

SOFTBALL The 2015-2016 Softball season at Brisbane Girls Grammar School was full of success, with the junior teams competing across Term IV in 2015 and the senior season being played on Saturday mornings in Term I 2016. All the girls demonstrated their #blunity by forging new friendships and showing their true BGGS spirit. It was another a great season for all girls involved with a lot more wins than losses. After all of the training and matches, all players should be congratulated on a wonderful effort and a fantastic season. Out of the ten teams, we came away with four premierships, with the 7Bs, the Senior As and Senior Bs who all managed to finish their seasons undefeated, while the 9Bs shared a premiership with only one loss during the season. It has been a season of early morning trainings and Saturday matches and I want to thank all the girls for their hard work and the commitment that has been shown throughout the year. Thanks must go to the scorekeepers: Mrs Pauline Harvey-Short, Dean of School; Mrs Kristine Cooke, Director of Information Services; Ms Jennifer Fukushima, Head of Japanese and Ms Gerri Bernard, Science Faculty Teacher. Also a big thank you to all the parents for their constant support throughout the softball season and commitment to the softball programme here at Girls Grammar. I am fortunate to have been a part of Girls Grammar softball for the past five years and it has impacted significantly on my time here with the teamwork and team spirit Our novice Year 8 rowers went from never having held an oar to flying down the Kawana course in a matter of weeks. We were so proud of their determination and teamwork. Our senior crews flew into racing with the same competitiveness, aiming to defend their titles or crack those places they just missed out on the year before. In order to succeed in any crew, complete commitment is a must. In all sessions, each girl must be fully committed, have tremendous focus and grit, and as the girls learned, be able to go beyond the comfort zone.

MADELEINE WILLIAMS (12R) AND EMMA BRYSON (12L) CAPTAINS

making it the most memorable. This Girls Grammar tradition of hard working commitment to softball will undoubtedly lead to many more amazing memories created by the younger year levels, forever leaving a legacy within the School. I hope that in the years to come Girls Grammar softball will continue to be as successful and competitive has it has been for so many years.

SAMANTHA CATON (12E) SOFTBALL CAPTAIN

SPORT / 139