One of the great things about Term 1 for me this year has been not coaching a sport. Don’t get me wrong … I love coaching. What has been so good about this term though has been my freedom to get out and watch the our Year 7s playing their own sport. In many respects, this is the best level of sport to watch because while it is competitive, the boys at this age have a genuine understanding about the importance of sport being fun. They appreciate the need for good sportsmanship and they just love getting out with their mates and playing.

Throughout the season I have been able to see almost every Year 7 team play – unfortunately, with the Water Polo being away each week I haven’t seen them in action, however the reports from the coaches have been nothing but positive. Likewise, with the swimming who compete early on Saturday mornings – both Mrs Quinn and Mr Frost have continually give wraps to the boys in Year 7.

For the teams I have seen play, it has been great fun watching them. Not all the results went our way but no matter the score, the boys were always giving it their best effort and showing the utmost respect to their opponents. It was clear as I watched the boys interact with each other that in only a short time as a team, they had bonded so very well.

Last Saturday was the perfect way to finish the season. I ventured over to more familiar ground at the tennis. It had been a few weeks since the tennis had been at home and it was great to see the weather hold out for a beautiful day.

As we alll know, the stories that we can all tell from sport are endless, however, I think it is worth mentioning the efforts of three boys in particular. The first was one of our D players, Jason Baumli (Putney).When I arrived at Jason’s match, he was down 4-1. This, as you would appreciate is a big lead to chase down. What was so impressive about Jason’s game was his composure. He increased his consistency of shots and slowly closed the gap. Despite his efforts, he still later found himself down 5-3 – a point in a match where often the nerves get the better of you. Well, not for Jason. he remained calm, played two deuce games and clawed the score back to 5-5. In GPS Junior tennis, we play the tie-break at 5-all rather than 6-all and I must say, I was a little concerned for Jason’s chances of success when I heard him ask his opponent from Newington “How do you play a tie-breaker?” In his first tie-breaker ever, Jason took an early lead that was never closed in on by his opponent and won an epic affair. It was an awesome win which was characterised by his “Never Give Up” attitude. He was down and almost out … he dug deeper and came away with a fantastic win!

I was talking to his mother after the game and she had mentioned that she had once said to him to play like Federer. Well, Jason did exactly that and was rewarded with the win and the new nick-name “Roger”!

Later in the morning I was fortunate enough to see the 13As play. While the style of tennis is a little different, the attitude that is required to win is exactly the same.

Will Wennerbom (Birchgrove) has been playing as our A1 this season – something that is never easy. He has hada  wonderful season with several wins. Like everyone, he was desperate to finish the season well. In the early stages of the game Will made plenty of un-forced errors – errors that he wouldn’t normally make. Like Jason, he was also down on the scoreboard. Some players at this level will often show a lack of self control and lose their temper … not Will … he stuck at it, grinding away at his opponent and slowly getting his consistency back up. With a couple of superb backhand volleys we started to see Will come into the net a little more – a great sign of confidence. The tides turned and Will took the lead – a lead his opponent never caught up. Another fine performance that epitomised the Joeys traditions … the chips were down so Will knuckeld down, did the hard yards and came out on top for an impressive win.

And one more example of our fine tennis players was Jack Fox (Glebe). If I was to sum up Jack’s game on Saturday and his style of play in general, it would simply be “HARD WORK”. Jack is not a flashy player (although don’t get me wrong he has a couple of weapons up his sleeve) but rather he is a worker. He will play a point out as long as it takes to tire his opponent. On Saturday he did this and as a result finished his season off in the perfect way!

The atmosphere over at the tennis was just so positive. The boys were supporting each other, chatting with coaches and other boys’ parents and put simply … were just so impressive. I can’t think of a more accurate and appropriate way to bring closure to the summer season as I know that across all sport, our boys maintained the highest standards both on their field or court and off them.

Pictured in Photo 1:  Lewis Chan (Randwick)

Pictured in Photo 2:  Jack Fox (Glebe)

Pictured in Photo 3:  Will Wennerbom (Birchgrove)

Pictured in Photo 4:  Matt Curtin (Gordon) and Will O’Leary (Elong Elong)