School Holiday Medals

We have had some great performances over the school holidays at championships around Australia for our current student/athletes.  Let’s take a look:

Volleyball

The Victorian U19 Boys and Girls teams and the Victorian U23 Girls team all won bronze medals at the Australian Junior Volleyball Championships held at Sydney’s Olympic Park last weekend.

Congratulations to the MSA athletes who played for their state.

U19 Girls: Luella Greer (Captain), Cat Smith

U19 Boys: Morris Armstrong and Callen Fowler

U23 Girls (Former Students): Marija Lukic (Captain) and Isabella Maticevski

Taekwondo 

There were 3 major events for our Taekwondo Athletes to compete in during the school holidays and our student/athletes represented MSA to the highest standard, bringing home plenty of medals.

Australian Open

The standout performance was from year 12 student Jamie Cefai in the senior division, winning 3 fights and just losing to the World number 4 in the final.  Also a special mention to year 8 student Sara Wong who had her first sparring competition after transitioning from poomsae. A very bright future!

Our medal Winners: Lucas Sabljak – Gold/Junior, Lacie Gleeson – Gold/Cadet, , Leo Hollis – Gold/Junior, Jamie Cefai – Silver/Senior, Mason Harrison – Silver/Junior, Ava Tang – Silver/Junior, Aavik Shrestha – Bronze/Cadet, Sara Wong – Bronze/Cadet, Teddy Kaing – Bronze/Cadet, Beau Brecely – Bronze/Junior.

Presidents Cup

Once again we had some amazing results in this tournament including Xavier Nikolovski who was defeated 2-1 in the Quarter Final by the World Championship Silver Medallist.

Our Medal Winners:  Mason Harrison – Gold/Junior, Lacie Gleeson – Gold/Cadet, Leo Hollis – Silver/Junior, Teddy Kaing – Bronze/Cadet, Jobe Stewart – Bronze/Junior, Grace Siwek– Bronze/Junior, Ava Tang – Bronze/Junior.

Also congratulations to Lacie Gleeson, Lucas Lai and Teddy Kaing on their gold medals in the World Championship Selection event.  They will now be part of the team that is going to the Cadet World Championships in Bosnia.

AFL

We had Students representing Victoria in the Australian Rules National Championships. Congratulations to the following players:

U16 Vic Metro - Tom McGuane – Vic Metro won the Championships.

U18 Vic Metro – Jordan Croft and Lucca Grego – This competition is still being played.

U18 Girls Vic Metro – Sierra Grieves – This competition is still being played.

Basketball

Congratulations to the following Student/Athletes who competed in the Basketball National Championships in Perth.

U16 Vic Country girls - Lilly Impey – The team finished 6th

U16 Vic Country Boys- Sonny Maxwell – The team finished 5th

Netball

MSA competed in the Victorian Schools Netball Championships at Waverley Netball centre over the holidays. 

Senior Girls finished 3rd in their Competition.

Junior Girls finished 2nd in their Competition losing the Final to Rowville Swifts 33-16.

Tennis

Year 11 student Bridget Mihulka travelled to Europe to play in 3 tournaments.  While her singles matches didn’t go past the first round in the main draw she did get to a doubles Semi-finals at a tournament in Bruchkoebel, Germany.  Bridget’s ITF Junior Singles World Ranking is currently sitting at 421.

MSA Alumni WE 090723

As the Northern summer continues, so do the great performances from our Alumni. Have a look at these great efforts:

Athletics

After nearly 6 weeks off, Celeste Mucci has come back to competition with a strong second placing at an international meet in Montgeron, 14kms outside of Paris.  Celeste ran a sub 13 sec time in the 100m Hurdles in what is her first led up race to the World Championships, held in Budapest in mid August.

Badminton

Gronya Summerville made it through to the round of 16 in the Super 500 Canadian Open in the Women’s doubles, and the round of 32 in the mixed doubles.

Meanwhile current year 10 MSA student Shrey Dhand has finished off an amazing U19 Australian National Championships with a Silver in the Boys Doubles, Bronze in the Men’s Singles and Bronze in the Team Event.

Basketball

Johnny Furphy and Sa Pilami were a part of the NBA Global Academy tournament in Atlanta, Georgia   They played for the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence team which went onto win the whole event. 

AFL

Western Bulldogs v Collingwood

Rhylee West had 16 disposals, 4 tackles and 3 goal assists in the Bulldogs 12 loss to the Premiership favourites Collingwood at Marvel Stadium.

Brisbane v West Coast

Cam Rayner had 21 disposals, 6 Marks and kicked a goal in the Lions demolition of the West Coast Eagles by 81 points.

St Kilda v Melbourne

Joel Smith was subbed on late in the Demons 21point victory against the Saints.

Port Adelaide v Suns

Three MSA Alumni figured prominently in the game, including Suns Captain Touk Miller, who has made a welcomed return to football collecting 20 possessions, 1 goal and 7 marks in his sides 33 point loss to the Power.  Meanwhile teammate Rory Atkins had 26 touches, 8 marks and gained 762m for the Suns. 

For the Power, Zak Butters had 22 touches, 4 tackles and 5 clearances in another solid performance. 

Geelong v Nth Melbourne

Paul Curtis had 10 possessions and 6 tackles in Norths 62 point loss to the Cats.

Essendon v Adelaide

Peter Wright kicked 3 goals 3 behinds and took 8 marks in the Bombers 18 point victory over the Crows

Fremantle v Carlton

Jordan Boyd had 10 disposals for the Blues, meanwhile Luke Ryan had 35 disposals, 10 marks and gained 880m for the Dockers in their 47 point loss to the Blues.

Spotlight: Naomi Chinnama

Naomi Chinnama is making waves in the world of women’s football, once again being selected for the Young Matilda’s which is the Australian Women’s U20 soccer team.

Naomi finished her schooling here at Maribyrnong Sports Academy in 2020, before turning her attention on becoming a professional footballer while home schooling herself.

Naomi started playing football in the Point Cook U7 boys team where her father was coach.  Her brothers also played, and Naomi was the designated defender while her brothers were the attackers in the team. 

She joined Maribyrnong Sports Academy in 2017 in Year 7 and continued to grow as a player and a student through her junior years.  Her PE teachers all describe her as a highly motivated person who was 100% dedicated to improving herself on and off the field.  A true leader in the making.

MSA Head Coach Adrian Mazzarella says “ Naomi has always been a student of the game. Always wanting to progress, looking to constantly improve her knowledge of the game, her technique as well as her physical conditioning. She has always had a growth mindset, appreciating feedback and not afraid to make mistakes. Most importantly, Naomi remained motivated to balance her Football and academic studies, pursing excellence in both.”

Naomi is currently with the Melbourne City Women’s team and described her playing style to the Football Australia website, “I would say that I'm composed under pressure. I analyse my game to help me with my tactical awareness. I see myself as a leader and I am also physical. I would describe myself as a warrior on the field because I will fight for my team until the end.

My team is basically my second family, so I just give it everything. I also have a passion for clean sheets, so I do take it personally if someone scores against us.”

Naomi sent this message of inspiration to our current student here at MSA.

We look forward to following Naomi’s progress over the upcoming years and know that she will take every challenge head on.  Good luck in the AFC Championships Naomi.