MSA welcomes new coaches to our programs

We are pleased to announce the following MSA Sports have new coaching staff. And while we want to acknowledge them, we would also like to thank some of our great coaches who have left MSA.

Baseball  

Head Coach - Scott Meager

Scott is a highly accomplished and respected coach in the Victorian State system having coached the Victorian Under 16 boys team over the past couple of years.    In 2019 they played off in the Final v NSW.   Scott has been an Assistant Coach of Australian junior teams as well as an Assistant with the Melbourne Aces.    Scott replaces Natalie Titcume who has moved interstate.    MSA sincerely thanks Natalie for her work and contributions in setting up our Baseball-Softball program.

Netball

Fiona Fowler

Fiona Fowler is a former International player (Scottish Thistles) SSN player (Adelaide Thunderbirds) and Fury captain.  She is still currently playing for Melbourne University Lightening in VNL. 

Fiona replaces Liz Watson, a current mid court player for the Australian Diamonds and Melbourne Vixens.   Liz has a very heavy training workload due to her status as one of Australia’s elite netball players.    MSA thanks Liz for her elite mindset and training habits that she bought to her MSA training sessions.

Golf

Stuart Leong

Stuart is a Certified PGA Member of Golf Australia and a PGA Professional. He is Golf Australia’s Director of Technology, introducing many innovations such as Shots to hole and Aim Point.   He is Australia’s Senior Aim Point Instructor and works with a large number of Tour Players, National Squads, State Squads and Elite Programs throughout Australia and New Zealand in the area of green reading.     Stuart has built a reputation as one of the leading golf teachers in Australia. As a player he was a touring professional in Australia, Asia and Europe before he transferred this passion into being an elite Golf Coach.

Stuart replaces Robyn Sottile who has led the MSA Golf Program since 2010, and has been the driving force behind the program which has evolved enormously over the years.  Robyn’s passion for the program, care for the athletes and her drive to make it the very best program possible has seen many athletes go on to higher levels and also seen the program acknowledged by Golf Australia as one of the best of its type in Australia.  

Soccer (Football)

Max Clarke

Max is the Melbourne City Under 14’s Head Coach and was previously a full time football coach with South Hobart.

Daniel Girardi

Daniel is the MPL Technical director at Heidelberg Football Club. He was a Scout and Assistant Coach at Adelaide United in the National Youth League.

Sam Frangos

Sam is a Goal Keeping Coach and is MPL Head Goal Keeping Coach at Dandenong City.   Sam was previously Melbourne City MPL Senior Youth Head GK coach.

Sam replaces Peter Zois who was MSA Goal Keeping coach for 12 years, developing many young elite goal keepers and players.    Peter became a Coach after playing professionally in Holland.  He has been Goal Keeping Coach at Melbourne Heart and Melbourne Victory.    We congratulate Peter on his appointment to Melbourne City as a goal keeping coach in conjunction with being appointed as goal keeping coach of the Young Socceroos.   Peter has had to relinquish his coaching role at MSA due to his heavy elite coaching workload. MSA sincerely thanks Peter for his great contributions to our Football program. Pete’s vibrant and positive personality will be missed.

AFL

Leon Harris

Leon has been involved in the AFL Program at MSA since inception in 2008.  Leon led the program for many years and then took on a pure coaching role in recent times.  Leon has guided all of the MSA footballers including our past students who are now on AFL lists.  Leon is highly respected in the AFL recruiting world and his knowledge and experience in this area has been of massive value to the players in our program. 

Former Sydney Swan great, Ryan O’Keefe, was appointed as MSA’s AFL Head Coach last year.

MSA would like to thank Robyn, Leon and Peter for their huge contributions to MSA. 

2020 Simplot Games wrap

Once again our MSA Student Athletes have put up an amazing performance against America’s best Track and Field high school students to leave the 2020 Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho with their heads held high.

Year 12 student Aliyah Canepa finished third in the Girls weight throw event with a best throw of 15.66m. While this was 2.3m off the eventual winner.  This was the first time Aliyah has competed in this event and the first time at an indoor meet.  

Year 10 student Frank Mazza did an amazing job in the field events of High Jump and Long Jump.  Frank finished fifth in the Long Jump final while three of the four boys above him were seniors.  He also made the final of the Boys High jump, finishing equal 11th.

Copper Cavallo finished 10th in the Boys Long Jump with a best jump of 12 meters 90.

Meanwhile, Copper and Frank ran in the heats of the 60m dash against much older students.  While both missed out on the finals they tried their best on their first run on the wooden indoor track at Holt Stadium.

Year 10 Student/Athlete Lachie Attard ran an amazing race in the Boys 1600m prelims.  Running in Heat 8 of 19 Lachie set a time of 4.42 to win his heat by 50m. Unfortunately for Lachie though his time wasn’t quick enough to get him into the finals which will feature a lot of year 11 and 12’s.

Amiee Jungfer started off strong in her heat of the 1600m for girls, but found the pace a bit too hot in the end still finishing with a time that had her in the top 30% of runners on the day.

A spectacular run by Abigail Thomas in the girls 800m saw her finish 7th in the final.

Team captain Eliza Connors ran a lovely race in the girls 400m, but her time of 1.02.52 had her miss the finals of the sprint race by just six one hundredths of a second. And with only the top 18 runners going through to the final of the boys 400m, Jai Lever’s time of 54.44 had him miss the finals by just .9 of a second.  

Our boys also competed in the 1600m Sprint medley which consists of 2 runners running 200m each with a third runner running 400m while the final runner runs an 800m finish.  After finishing 8th in the preliminary times and making the A final the boys improved to 7th in the final.

So once we thank Simplot Australia, Oliver Wight, Linfox and Orora Packaging, our sponsors, who have made this possible for our students. We also thank our staff members Amy Holmes and Martin Cusack for the work they have done to keep the students focused and coach Brent Vallance for his leadership and guidance.

Simplot Games 2020 preview

Maribyrnong Sports Academy will once again send a team of Student/Athletes to Pocatello in Idaho, America to compete in the 42nd Annual Simplot Games. It will be the 6th year a MSA team has competed at the event having sent our first team in 2015.

The teams departs Melbourne on Monday the 10th of February for a 27 hour point to point journey to Salt Lake City in Utah where they will spend 2 days acclimatising to high altitude and training at the University of Utah.

The team this year is made up of 4 male and 4 female students, and for 7 of the athletes it will be their first trip to the Simplot games and for some their first trip to America.

Coaching the team this year is Brent Vallance, coach of the 2012 London Olympics 50km walk Gold Medallist Jarryd Talent. “ This is an amazing opportunity for this group of athletes to experience life on the road as an International Athlete.  Sleeping in a different bed, eating different food and getting use to different customs is all part of competing at the highest level.  We believe that simulating this process as part of the Simplot Games experience, will serve these athletes will into the future”

Once again the MSA team is being supported by Simplot Australia and their partners who have helped the team get to the USA through their generous sponsorship.  Managing Director of Simplot Australia, Graham Dugdale says his team is proud to give these young aspiring Aussies the opportunity to perform at the largest indoor high school athletics meet in the States. “At Simplot, one of our core values is ‘passion for people’ and this is about supporting our people and communities and providing opportunities for them to achieve their best. That’s why together with the combined support of our good friends and co-sponsors Oliver Wight, Linfox and Orora Packaging we couldn’t be happier to be again sending a team of eight outstanding young athletes from Maribyrnong Sports Academy to the 42nd annual Simplot Games. We wish you all the very best and look forward to hearing about your experience and what you have learned on and off the track – good luck!”

The 2020 MSA Simplot team is:

ELIZA CONNORS – Team Captain

Eliza is a y12 student who will captain our tam in 2020. Eliza has competed at the national championships in 400m and 400m hurdles and is a state medallist in both. Eliza will compete in the 400m at the 2020 Simplot games 

FRANK MAZZA 

Frank is a y10 student who has excelled in multi events. Frank won the 2019 Victorian Multi Events Championships and in the process broke the Victorian u15 and u16 state records. In 2018 at the Australian All Schools Championships, Frank won gold in triple jump and relay, silver in javelin and bronze in long jump. Frank will have a busy competition at the Simplot games competing in the long jump, high jump, 60m and medley relay 

JAI LEVER 

Jai is a y9 student and our youngest competitor this year. Jai is a 400m specialist who won the SSV state title in 2019 and was 3rd in the Athletics Victoria state championships. Jai was a national finalist in the 400m at the Australian Championships. Jai will compete in the 400m and medley relay at the Simplot Games 

COOPER CAVALLO 

Cooper is a y10 student who excels in jumps. Cooper has won state medals in relay, triple jump, long jump, and high jump. Cooper has won a national medal in triple jump. Cooper will compete in the triple jump, long jump and medley relay at the Simplot Games 

LACHLAN ATTARD 

Lachy is a y10 distance runner. Lachlan has competed at national level on a number of occasions and has won several medals at state championships. Lachlan will compete in the 1600m at the 2020 Simplot games. 

ALIYAH CANEPA 

Aliyah is a y12 student who excels in throws. In 2019 Aliyah represented Australia in the Oceania Championships where she won a silver medal in the hammer throw. Aliyah is a 4 times Australian National Champion and multiple state champion in hammer, discus and shot pt. Aliyah will compete in the Weighted throw and shot put at the Simplot Games 

ABIGAIL THOMAS 

Abigail is a y10 student and returning for her 2nd Simplot game experience. In 2019 Abigail finished 3rd in the C final of the 1600m. Abigail has competed in steeple chase at the last 3 national championships and is a state medallist in a number of distance running events. Abigail will compete In the 800m event at the 2020 Simplot games. 

AIMEE JUNGFER 

Aimee is a y12 student who is a state representative in both Hockey and Athletics. Aimee is competed at national champs in steeple chase. Aimee has won multiple state medals in the 1500m and will compete in the 1600m at the 2020 Simplot games 

You can follow the action at simplotgames.com or follow @marbisports on twitter as we keep you up to date with the performances of our athletes.