Football is a growing sport at the College and one in which many of our Year 7 boys are contributing very positively to. I have to be honest, my own abilities in football were always very limited and while I don’t have the greatest understanding of the game, the skill that football players display continue to amaze me!

These skills were on full display as the whole school gathered at Lower Park last Saturday to witness our First XI Football claim victory over Sydney Grammar School to put them on top of the GPS ladder.

Our Year 7 boys have sharpened their own skills throughout the season and are working hard to continue to build the fine traditions that football have established since winning the inaugural GPS soccer competition back in the 1980s. We have a diverse group of sportsman – many who have played rep football and others who have never played before. Keeping this in mind, their successes and effort throughout the first half of the season has been impressive.

Below is a short report from one of our football players, Joseph Lawman (Seaforth).

Football at Joeys is a rapidly growing sport where the coaches are fantastic and help us improve all our skills and achieve the very best we can.  In the under 13s there are three teams, and this year Joeys has the biggest number of football players in the last four years.  The coaches are all fun but they also know when to be serious.

We do a variety of things that involve fitness (sprints, stamina, with soccer balls), skills (passing, dribbling and advanced tactics), games (against higher and lower teams as well as  games we have invented) and tactics for days when it is raining. We train three or four times a week and this keeps us strong against our opponents giving them a decent challenge each week.

All of the players in my team get along being led by Fred Maher (Cherrybrook) captain of the 13A team and I’m sure that each of the other teams are being led by their captains very well too. Currently this season we are doing well, having achieved both wins and losses. Our coaches work extremely hard to make sure we can be competitive against all the other GPS teams and we thank them very much for their effort.

Thanks to Joseph for a nice wrap up of what the football players are up to each week and we wish them all the best of luck as they take on Sydney Boys High School this coming weekend – one of the toughest of the GPS schools.

Photo 1: Michael Beynon (Marsfield) taking on his Sydney Grammar School opponent at Tarban Creek.

Photo 2: Charlie Gibson (Lane Cove) protects his team’s goal.

Photo 3: Matthew Snaidero (North Ryde), Ben Wilson (East Ryde), James Wall (Lane Cove North), James Der (Hunters Hill) and Michael Beynon (Marsfield) enjoy each other’s company at the conclusion of their game.