The Score - 010823
Once again our Alumni have been doing their thing in the world of sport. This is how they have been going.
Once again our Alumni have been doing their thing in the world of sport. This is how they have been going.
Golf
Stephanie Bunque has finished tied for 8th place in her second LETAS tournament in the space of a week carding an even par score for the 3 days, 10 shots off the winner. Steph continues to accumulate points towards the order of merit moving up to 26th place with her goal of top 6 and automatic qualification into the European ladies tour next year. Steph’s next tournament is in Denmark starting on the 31st of July.
Athletics
Celeste Mucci has won both her heat and the final of the 100m Hurdles at the 2023 True Athletics Classic in Leverkusen, Germany.
Badminton
Gronya Somerville and her Women’s doubles partner were knocked out of the Japan Open in the round of 32. The Japan Open is on the second tier of Badminton tournaments and attracts the world’s best players and teams. Gronya now moves onto the Australian Open this week with Jacob Schueler also playing in the men’s singles.
NRLW
The Tigers beat the Sharks 10-0 and MSA Alumni Najvada George was right in the thick of things playing 60 mins in the Lock position for the Tigers.
AFL
Geelong V Fremantle
Fremantle travelled to Geelong to collect the 4 points with a 7-point victory. Luke Ryan had 28 disposals, 6 marks and 644 metres gained for the Dockers.
Bulldogs v Giants.
Rhylee West had 11 possessions and kicked a goal in the Bulldogs loss to GWS in Ballarat by 5 points.
Gold Coast Sun v Brisbane Lions.
The Suns beat the Lions by 41 points. For the Suns Rory Atkins had 28 possessions and 564 metres gained. Touk Miller 29 disposals, 579 metres gained and 5 tackles. For the Lions Cam Rainer had 14 disposals and 4 tackles and 4 clearances.
Essendon v Swans.
In Buddy Franklins final game in the AFL, Peter Wright had 8 disposals, 6 marks and kicked 4 goals 1 in the Bomber’s loss to the Swans by 2 points.
Adelaide v Port Adelaide.
Favourites Port Adelaide lost the Showdown by 47 points to the Crows with Zak Butters having 32 possessions, 6 clearances and 518 m gained for the Power.
Richmond v Melbourne
Melbourne beat Richmond by 32 points with Joel Smith having 5 disposals and 3 marks after being subbed on in the 3rd quarter.
West Coast v North Melbourne
North Melbourne lost by 5 points to the Eagles, storming home in the final quarter to nearly win the game. Paul Curtis had 15 Possessions and kicked 4 goals 1 in the second quarter to nearly carry the Kangaroos over the line.
Bridget Mihulka - Tennis
There are so many great stories here at MSA and this one is no exception. Bridget Mihulka is a year 11 student athlete in our Tennis program and recently had the opportunity to head overseas to play some tennis. Read more to find out how she went.
When year 11 MSA Tennis athlete Bridget Mihulka looks back at her junior tennis career, the European summer of 2023 could be the time that she looks back on with interest. For it was this period a month ago that Bridget played on the ITF’s junior tour in Europe.
The trip organised by Tennis Australia is designed to give players a feeling of what it is like being on the tour and living out of a suitcase for a period of time, and for Bridget the trip was very educational. “I went to Europe 4 weeks ago and went to the Netherlands and Germany and played in 3 tournaments. My best result was reaching the semi-finals in doubles in the second week. It was really a great trip organised by Tennis Australia, and I went with 2 other girls and 3 other boys, and it was an amazing experience playing in international tournaments and learning how to travel and live out of hotels.
While Bridget didn’t make it past the 1st round in her singles competition, she says the competition was as hard as she has been involved in. “The competition was strong, and all the Aussies who played were not that highly ranked. All the girls we played were like so strong and we had to work hard to get a point.”
The experience taught Bridget a lot about playing tennis on the road. “I now understand how difficult it is to be on tour and how hard it is to stay focused on the job because it would be easy to get home sick. It was a great experience though because we got to learn to do everything by ourselves like prepare our food and washing our clothes and just learning all those things, while still trying to focus on playing good tennis and managing everything else.
While the overall experience will no doubt benefit Bridget over time, she is expecting to see immediate improvement in her game. “The trip will benefit my tennis quite a lot as it really taught me about my game and where I need to improve. I now know what I need to focus on for my next training block and that will be helpful.”
Bridget continues to enjoy being a part of the Maribyrnong Sports Academy tennis program, sighting it as a massive benefit to her improvement. “Training at MSA is really good because there is a really good balance of match play and consistent drills, and it’s great to get like a feel going into tournaments, I love it.”
We wish Bridget all the best as she starts to prepare for the Australian summer of Tennis.
The Score - 230723
Here is how our MSA Alumni have performed in their chosen sport around the world and here at home.
Here is how our MSA Alumni have performed in their chosen sport around the world and here at home.
Athletics
As Celeste Mucci continues her lead up to the World Championships, she has set the fastest time in the 100m Hurdles, at an EAP Atletica event in Italy.
Golf
Stephine Bunque has claimed 3rd place in a Ladies European tour golf event held in the UK. Steph finished 4 under par in her debut event on the LETAS tour giving her valuable Order of Merit points. The top 6 in the order of merit at the end of the season will gain automatic entry into the Ladies European tour for 2024.
WNRL
Former MSA Basketball Athlete Najvada George had debuted with the West Tigers in the 2023 Women’s National Rugby League season opening game against Parramatta. The West Tigers won the contest 36-8 with Najvada playing lock for the Tigers. Najvada has now played 10 games in the WNRL, 3 with the Dragons in 2019 and 6 with Parramatta in 2022.
AFL
Bulldogs v Essendon
In his return game to the AFL Senior team, Buku Khamis had 6 possessions in the game against the Bombers. Rhylee West had 7 disposals and kicked a goal for the Bulldogs in their 41-point victory. Peter Wright had 13 disposals and kicked 3 goals 1 for Essendon.
Carlton v West Coast Eagles
Josh Honey returned for the Blues kicking a goal in his teams 71-point win.
Brisbane v Geelong
Cam Rayner had 14 disposals and 3 clearances for the Lions in their 11-point victory.
Fremantle v Sydney
Luke Ryan had 23 disposals and 8 marks for the Dockers in their loss by 29 points to Sydney.
Port Adelaide v Collingwood
Zak Butters had 31 possessions and 6 clearances in their 2-point loss to the top of the table Pies.
GWS v Gold Coast Suns
Suns Captain Touk Miller had 19 possessions, 4 tackles and gained 431 meters while Rory Atkins continued his good form with 29 disposals and 739 meters gained in the Suns loss to the in Canberra by 40 points.
Melbourne v Adelaide
The Demons used Super Sub Joel Smith to help them get over the line against the Crows. Joel had 3 disposals but kicked the first goal of the last quarter to assist his team in taking victory by 4 points at the MCG.
St Kilda v North Melbourne
Jack Bytel had 12 disposals in the Saints 8-point victory while Paul Curtis had 7 disposals and 5 tackles for the Kangaroos.