A great news weekend. MSA Students win Gold

It was a big weekend for MSA student athletes Casey Paea and Paul Tsapatolis  winning Gold medals in international Basketball competitions, while on home soil Georgie Prespakis won the 2019 NAB League Girls Best & Fairest.

Casey was part of the victorious Australian Women’s 3x3 team which won Gold in the FIBA U18 3x3 Asian Cup defeating Japan in the final 21-10. Australia were undefeated in the tournament winning all 5 games.

Paul Tsapatolis won Gold with his Aussie teammates in the FIBA U18 Oceania Championships defeating New Zealand in the Final 85-56. Paul was also named in the 2019 FIBA U17 Oceania All-Star Five.

Meanwhile Georgia Prespakis has completed a unique family double by winning the 2019 NAB League Girls Best & Fairest, one year after her elder sister Maddie achieved the same feat.

Georgia scored 20 points in the vote count (4 more than her sister) to win the award by 5 votes.  Fellow MSA Athlete Ellie McKenziefinished equal third on 14 votes.

Both Georgia and Ellie were named in the 2019 NAB League Girls Team of the Year.

MSA Students shine on a National and World stage

Maribyrnong Sports Academy students have played a major part in sporting success for their state and country around the world during the past few weeks.

Here at home our Basketballers have ruled the boards at the School Sport Australia National Championships played in Bendigo.  

Zac Triplett and Joe Brazier won gold at the final of the Men’s U18 Nationals when they beat New South Wales by 4 points.  Zac was Co-Captain of the Blue team had a team high 26 points in the Gold Medal match.  Zac’s effort was off the back of an impressive time at the NCAA Basketball camp in Texas in July.

Tess Barnes, Casey Paea, Tylah Hooper, Victoria Ikenasio and Ally Keating were all part of the U18 Victoria Blue team which won the silver medal, losing to New South Wales in the final 56-53. New South Wales was the only team to beat the Vic’s throughout the whole tournament with our girls losing the first match to them by 4 points and the grand final by 3 points. Casey Paea was Victoria’s highest scorer with 94 points made during the 7 games of the tournament. Tess Barnes landed an amazing 90% of her 2 point attempts, while Casey made a team high 41% of her 3 point shots, scoring from 10 of her 24 attempts.

Kera Bennett, who was part of the U18 Victoria White team won a bronze medal

We welcome back Year 12 student athlete Bonnie Yu who was Co-Captain of the Australian Under 19 Lacrosse team playing in the World Championships in Ontario, Canada. Bonnie and her teammates did Australia proud winning the bronze medal at the Championships defeating England 13-8 in the final.  Bonnie scored 2 goals in the Bronze medal match, including the opening goal of the game, and had 1 assist.

A huge congratulations to Maribyrnong student athletes Reba Stewart and Leon Sejranovic for winning Gold Medals at the Pacific Games and backing it up 2 days later, winning Gold again at the Oceania Championships, both held in Samoa. 

This is a huge achievement for these 17 year olds, winning 2 Gold Medals each in the Senior divisions competing against older, more experienced athletes.

Congratulations to all our students for their amazing efforts and we would also like to congratulate our coaches and Phys prep staff for all the work they do getting our students ready for top level competition.

MSA Students invited to AFL and AFLW draft combines

Two current Maribyrnong Sports Academy students have been invited to the National AFL Draft Combine with the hope of impressing recruiters  ahead of the 2019 AFL Draft.

Emerson Jeka and Josh Honey, who both play for the Western Jets in the NAB League, have impressed on the field throughout the year. Injury has kept Emerson to seven Western Jets games this year while he also represented Vic Metro twice at the NAB AFL Under 18 Championships. Josh has played eleven games for the Jets this year and also one game for Vic Metro in the U18 Championships.

Jeka saying he is wrapped to have been selected. “ It’s a great opportunity and I’m really fortunate to get picked and It’s going to be a good couple of days.  It’s a great opportunity to showcase our attributes and impress some people.  It means a lot.”

And while selection to the Draft Combine doesn’t guarantee a spot on an AFL list, Emerson sees this as being just another step in the process. “ While it is just a stepping stone, it can lead to possibly getting drafted, so you need to work hard to impress, go well in the interviews and work  hard to get the tap.”

Jets Football Operations Manager Matthew Dervan telling the Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay Star Weekly the boys have deserved their chance. “ They’ve continually put themselves in the forefront of VicMetro Selectors, All Australian selectors and they’ve obviously been strong performers for the Jets over the past couple of years. It’s a testament to their hard work, their attitude and dedication”.

Former MSA Student Daniel Mott has also been invited to the National Draft Combine while Sam Ramsey has been invited to the State Combine.

Meanwhile Former MSA AFLW student and All Australian Georgia Patrikios has been invited to the AFLW combine.

The NAB AFL Draft Combine will run between October 1 and October 4