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It’s been a big couple of weeks for our MSA Alumni and current students.  Lets have a look at how they went.

Hockey

Congratulations to Connar Burns and Cooper Otterbach on making the final 18 squad for the Oceania Junior World Qualifiers in Canberra from 8-11 December.  We wish them all the best.

Takewondo

With 2 months of competition under her belt after a 4-month layoff recovering from a back injury, Reba Stewart has flown 80,000km to compete around the world. 

From a WT Grand Prix event in Paris, Reba went to Tahiti where she won 2 gold medals.  She is now home after just missing the quarter finals in the Manchester WT Grand Prix.  Reba next competes in Mexico.

AFLW Finals.

Melbourne v Adelaide

Melbourne had a 21-point win to go straight through to the preliminary final.  Libby Birch had 13 possessions, 4 marks and 6 tackles in the Demons victory.

Brisbane v Richmond

Richmond lost their qualifying final to Brisbane by 17 points.  For the Tigers, Monique had 15 possessions and 7 tackles while Elle McKenzie had 11 possessions and 5 marks.

North Melbourne v Geelong

The Kangaroos held onto to beat The Cats by 2 points in their Elimination final

Amy Smith had a breakout finals performance with 16 possessions and an AFLW record breaking 17 tackles.  Georgie Prespakis was gallant for the Cats in their defeat accumulating 14 possessions

Western Bulldogs v Collingwood.

The Bulldogs are out of the AFLW finals after losing to Collingwood by 5 points.  Jess Fitzgerald had 10 possessions, 2 marks and 2 tackles in the loss.

The AFLW finals continue this weekend with the semi finals where Richmond play Nth Melbourne and Adelaide take on Collingwood.

Also we congratulate Monique Conti, Elle McKenzie and Georgie Prespakis on making the initial 42 women squad for the AFLW All Australian team.  The squad will be cut down to a final group of 21 players and we wish our MSA Alumni all the best.

A-League Men

Rhys Bosinovski came onto the park at the 52nd minute mark in Western United’s loss to Adelaide United 4-2. 

Volleyball

Lorenzo Pope and his Modena team in the Italian Volleyball League had a win against Cisterna in the Supaleagua 3-0

Cricket

Year 8 student and 14yo Pearl Kapoor made her maiden half century in Premier Cricket playing for Plenty Valley on the weekend.  Pearl finished with 54no in the seconds at Plenty Valley, helping the team to their first win since March 2020.

Athletics

Congratulations to MSA Alumni Amelia Mazza-Downie on her championship victory in the Mountain West cross country event in a time of 19.39.3 over in the States. That makes it back to back cross country titles for Amelia.

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Once again, our MSA past and present students have been hard at it again.  Here are their results from the weekend at the top level of sport.

Hockey

Former MSA Athletes Connor Otterbach and Cooper Burns are currently playing for Australia in the U21 Sultan of Johor Cup in Malaysia.  Connor has been named a captain of the team while Copper is the leading the goal scoring for the tournament scoring 4 goals in Australia’s first 2 games.  Connor scored a goal in the 3-2 win against Japan, and 3 goals in a best on ground performance against Malaysia in Australia’s 8-0 win.

Badminton

Gronya Somerville has had a disappointing finish to the Victor North Harbour International in Auckland, New Zealand, losing the final of the women’s doubles with partner Wendy Chan 21-19, 21-17 to the Chinese Taipei combination.

Jacob Schueler lost his round 32 games in both Men’s Singles and Mixed Doubles. To read more about Jacob and his Commonwealth Games experience click here

Ice Skating

Congratulations to current year 10 student Ella-Grace Santos who has qualified for international competition in her long program.  The long program in Ice Skating is also known as the Free Skate.  It last around 4 mins and highlights the skater’s ability in skill, grace and jumping.

Soccer

MSA Alumni Polly Doran plays in the EPL Women’s competition.  Last Saturday her team Crystal Palace lost to Bristol City 3-0. 

Connor Metcalfe’s St Pauli FC lost both their games this week.  In Germany’s equivalent to the FA Cup, St Pauli FC lost their second round match 2-1 to SC Freiburg with Connor starting in the game which saw 5 yellow cards handed out to his teammates.  In the second game of the week, Connor started on the bench but was brought into the game at the 81’ with Arminia winning that game 2-0 in the Bundesliga 2.

Sebastian Pasquali started on the bench for Western United in the A-League as he continues his return from injury.  He didn’t get a run in their 1 all draw with Macarthur.  Read this story about Seb and his return from Groin surgery.

https://wufc.com.au/news/sebastian-pasquali-feeling-like-a-footballer-again-after-injury-return

AFLW

The Adelaide Crows defeated the Cats by 2 Points at Unley Oval.  Georgie Prespakis had 23 disposals and 5 tackles for the Cats in their loss.

The Kangaroos have beaten Collingwood by 32 points with Amy Smith grabbing 10 disposals and 9 tackles in the win.

Sydney Swans lost to Fremantle by 14 points with Alisha Newman getting 6 possessions and 4 tackles for the Swans.

The Bulldogs went on the road and had a 32 point victory against the West Coast Eagle.  Jess Fitzgerald had 14 disposals for the winners.

The Hawks lost to the top of the ladder Brisbane Lions by 54 points.  Charlotte Baskaran had 7 possessions and 6 tackles for Hawthorn

St Kilda won by 2 points over Port Adelaide with Georgia Patrikios accumulating 19 Disposals.

Richmond had another victory this time a 43 point win over the GWS Giants in Mildura.  Monique Conti had 24 possessions, 8 tackles and kicked 3 goals for the tigers, while Elle McKenzie continued her strong form with 15 disposals and 8 tackles

Second placed Melbourne had a 41 point win over Essendon at Casey Fields.  Libby Birch was once again strong in defence with 15 possessions and 3 marks.

Volleyball

Former student Lorenzo Pope is currently in Italy playing Volleyball with one of the biggest teams in the world, Modena, in the Italian Volleyball League.  Modena have had a slow start to the season losing 3 of their first 4 matches. 

NCAA Football

In his 5th year as part of the University of Rutgers football program, Adam Korsak continues to lead the punting ranks in the topflight College System.  An All American punter and Captain of his College team, Korsak has led Rutgers to a 4-3 season in the Big 10 East. 

Jacob Schueler

It’s been just on 3 months since the Commonwealth Games were held in Birmingham in England, but for MSA Alumni Jacob Schueler the memory will live on forever.  It was Jacob’s first Commonwealth Games and he says the atmosphere was amazing. “The Commonwealth Games were unbelievable.  It was big, and everyone was so friendly and the vibe around the town was the same.  As soon as you arrived at the airport, people directed you to your baggage, busses and your accommodation.  Like no one has ever done that at a tournament for me before.”

For Jacob being in a team environment was something new and something he really enjoyed. “When you normally arrive at a tournament you are on your own and playing for yourself, but the Australian team were so close throughout the event.  We all went to each other’s games and cheered hard for our teammates.  I even got in trouble one day for using a horn to create an atmosphere, which we had used every other day.”

While Jacob is now used to international competition and knows the level needed to medal at these tournaments, he says the Commonwealth Games are a small step up from a normal Badminton major event. “While you still have your major countries in the competition such as India, Malaysia, and Singapore, you also have countries playing that you normally don’t see as much throughout the year.  So, the Commonwealth Games are great for the fact they showcase the major Badminton playing countries but also give the smaller countries a chance to compete at this level.”

Jacob won the 2022 men’s national championship and was proud to carry the title of Australian Champion into the event.  “It is what got me through to the Games and I was very happy to be playing in the men’s singles tournament.  I must say though when you see a capacity crowd watching you in the stands and all eyes are on you, it doesn’t matter what title you hold, it’s all about who adapts to the situation quicker, and that can give you a massive advantage.  Seeing it was my first Games, it just took me that little bit longer to get used to it.  That sort of environment and crowd is something we don’t get in Australia.”

Now that he has experienced this one, a home State Commonwealth Games in 2026 is something he would love to be a part of. “While I have my eyes on Paris 2024, Victoria in 2026 is something I really want to be at as a competitor.  Being at home in regional Victoria, I believe Badminton is in Gippsland, I am looking ahead to that, and it is an event that is really on my radar.”

For now though, Jacob continues to travel around the world, working on his game with the hope of climbing the ranking as he does.  “ I am playing in New Zealand next week in Auckland and hope to get to Bahrain for a couple of tournaments later in the year, before starting to focus on Olympic Qualifiers next year.”

When Jacob is not traveling around the world playing Badminton he works here at the Academy as one of our night duty managers, helping to service the community groups that utilise our facilities.  We wish Jacob all the best as he attempts to make his first Olympic games in Paris in 2024.