Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 1995

Sport

I

Netball goals

The Great Wall of Grammar

climbs have proven to be the most difficult to master. ManyoftheGirls' climbers have extended the limits theirenduranceandskill,joiningmore experienced climbers on the Kanga rooPointcliffs. Theseexcursions have been very successful and have given the students a chance to experience the excitement and challenge that a "real" cliff offers. Rockclimbingrequiresstrength. fitness, flexibility, agility and determina tion; it's a very challenging sport. How ever, it also caters for a range of ability. From the reactions of everyone who has hadachancetotryrockclimbing so far, it appears that the thrill of the wall is some thing that Grammar students want to ex perience again and again. Therefore, students, don sit in assembJy and gaze up at scorers,referees, can !

ing to the Australian levels, climbs are graded from 0 to 34 and the climbs on Girls' Grammar's wall range from a level 12 to 24. The B.G.G.S. Rock Climbing Club has been formed and has proven to be an outstanding success in ils first semester. Each Tuesday and Wednes day afternoon , students attempt to scale the twelve metre cliff faces, all striving for the sense of exhilaration that comes when the fingers curl over the ledge at the very top. The manager of the complex, Barry Greatorex or Spiderman, and his assistant tutor, ex-Grammar student Miriam Axelsen, assist the students in meeting rheir challenges, encouraging them with sound advice and good hu moue. The speed of some ofthe climb ers is amazing and it sometimes seems impossible to believe that anyone could cling to the sandstone-like surfaces while hanging almost parallel to the ground. At this early stage, the "green" proximately three grade eight support ers -day girls and boarders and year 12 basketballer Kate Davidson, the team emerged from their next game victori ous. Beating Brisbane State High 31 27, the team secured their place in the next round of the McDonald' s Cup Competition. The stronger perfonnance by the team continued as the players sub sequently swept St Margaret' s and Somerville House off the court 82-4 and 43-28 respectively. The girls also smashed their previous record against tournament champions StPeter's , be ing defeated by a mere seven points. The gym proved to be a valu able venue and proved its worth as a facility for similar competitions. One off-court feature of the day was the opening of the canteen - a service ex tended IQ the general public by the B.G.G.S .BasketballSuppnrters' Group under the specific guidance of Mrs Davidson. The spectator area was well utilised and the installed electronic scoreboards convenient. All teams ap preciated and enj oyed the use of Lhe popular new sports compJex. Overnll, the girls found the five successive games to be an enjoyable and fitness-enhancing experience. We would like to thank all staff, parents, coaches,

Benita Newton The three-grade climbing wall with a four metre overhang in the new McCrae Grassie Indoor Sports Centre is already the focus of a great deal of attention within and outside the School. Students from year twelve participated in a rock-climbing dis play for the opening ceremony of the facility in March. Many year twelves also joyfully climb every week. Out sidepartieshaveexperiencedthethrill of climbing, including boys from other high schools anduniversity stu dents. Andrew Smith, the designer of the waU, recently visited Girls' Grammar to grade the climbs . Andrew Smith, along with some of the best rock climbers in Brisbane, spent a day assigning each climb a different difficulty rating. Accord At 7.15amonSaturdaythe29th of April1995, eight dedicated, yet-to be-defrosted and altogether delusional Grammar basketballers gathered in the new gymnasium for the annual Q.G.S.S.S.A. open basketball carni val. Dreruning, in their semi-con scious state, of victory, or altemat ively a hot shower and at least seven hours sleep, the chosen ones traversed the court while the rest of the worJd slumbered. Naturally, being an inani mate object, the ball had more energy than did our players at that horrendous hour for a Saturday. Inevitably,the under 18A B.G.G.S. basketball team ofCaitlin Clare, SophieAshover,Anita Hom, Mikala Haberfield, Natalie Pegg, Kristie Sage and Megan McGregor lost their first game to Ipswich Girls' Grammar School 20-14. Anne Jordan was unfortunately afflicted by knee injury and therefore unable to partici pate. At nine o'clock, the girls re ally began to play. Urged on by an anny of ap Megan McGregor and Krlstle Sage

Trim League is a stepping stone to higher representative honours". She also added, "I hope to go to the A.I.S. and play for Australia at the 2000 Olympics." More recently, Susan was selected as a member of the Metro politan East Netball Team, which will compete inCairns at theQueens land Schoolgirls' Netball Champi onships on the 19 May. With various netball com mitments, Susan still manages to find time to complete her academic studies, although , according to Susan, "Juggling sporting commit ments and Year 12 is a real chal lenge, and often tiring, but the expe rienceI'mgainingmakes it all worth while." The completion of the

Stephanie Dee &

Melleah Clarke Netball has always been a popu lar sport within Brisbane Girls ' Grammar School and it is set to continue growing in popularity this year. A student who bas excelled in the sport is Susan Anderson, one of the Netball Captains for 1995 . Since attending B .G.G.S., Susan has achieved great success as a netbaJI player, both inside and outside the school. When Susan was only in Year 10, she was selected in the B.G.G.S. Mobil Netball team and the open A team. Susan is an expe rienced netball player and confesses that, to succeed in the sport, "you have to be tough mentally and physically." This philosophy has guided Susan to seleclion in Ihe J 995 Broadwater Under 21 Netball team, which plays against other netball asso ciations in the Paul's Trim League. Susan believes, "Playing in the Paul's

awesome structure. Don't just imag ine scaling the heights and abseiling down in a amazing display of skill . Join in. Basketball in our own gymnasium

McCrae Grassie Sports Centre has provided an excellent venue for spec tators andplayers. It has also inspired Susan to incorporate a weights pro gram into her often gruelling training schedule. Undoubtedly, Susan' s re markable netball achievements con fum she is a valuable asset to Netball both inside and outside B.G.G.S. Mobile Mobil netballers Susan Anderson Brisbane Girls' Grammar is once again proving to be extremely tough competition on the netball court . 1995 sees Grammar again competing in the Mobil Schoolgirls' Knockout Compe tition with a team consisting of girls in years 10 to 12. The competition is state-wide and, in the past, Grammar has always fielded a strong team but rarely made it past the third round be fore being knocked out. However, thj s year the team is sure history will be re writtenasthedynamicGrammarMobil team strive for on-court success. So far, everything is going ac cording to plan with the first round match against Kedron StateHighSchool played on Wednesday, May 3. Gram mar came away with a convincing win of32-13 with all players contributing to the victory. The Grammar Mobil and 'A' Grade coach for 1995 is Amanda Grassick, a well-known and talented coach who also plays for Downey Park underway for the Grammar teams competing in the Q.G.S.S.S.A. com peti tion which is held during terln three. 1995 gives the opportunity for Grammar to field two new teams, 3fl 8C and a 9C. There are now ten offi cial Girls' Grammar Q.G.S.S.S.A. teams competing and, with the talent across the entire school, thenetballers and their supporters are looking for ward to a successful season. - --- -- ·· -·- -- ~ - - .. ---- ~- ···· ······ ·· .. .. -· · · ~- ~ . .. ·-· .. .... in the Paul's Trim League. Amanda has several years of state and national representative squad experience and has spent over three and a half years training at the AustraHan Institute of Sport in Canberra. We welcome Amanda and look forward to the ben efits of her experience throughout the season. The Girls ' Grammar Mobil team consists of Louise Barber and SusanAnderson (captains), BenaRid dle, Claire Miller, Jacqui Smith, Brenda Carson, Kate Miller, Jade Giles, Debbiel..auritzandAlexMoles. Selections are now