2023 Vic Sports School Awards

The 2023 Victorian Sports Schools Awards (Sporting Blues) were announced at the Melbourne Cricket Club members dining room just before the end of term 1 and once again Maribyrnong Sports Academy students have done extremely well.

Congratulations to the following students for their achievements in 2023.

Jamie Cefai competed in the 2023 Taekwondo World Cup Team Championships in Korea. He was presented with an Outstanding Sporting Achievement Award for his exceptional commitment to his sporting pursuits in 2023.

Other winners included:

AFL – Jordan Croft and Piper Dixon

Volleyball – Lucas Maticevski and Sakura Nakadai

Golf – Charlie Roylance and Georgia Schwartz

Badminton – Sai Tanvi Mushini

Baseball – Declan Speirs

Cricket – Bailey Toseland

Swimming – Rosie Bilszta

Tennis – Gabrielle Villegas

Tennis with a Multi Class – Jin Woodman

We congratulate all winners on the day and look forward to our Student Athletes having a succesful 2024.

Johnny Furphy in Paris 2024 Squad

Johnny Furphy, the big 6 foot 9 (205cm) MSA Alumni, has been selected in the Australian Boomers training squad for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In early July, the 22-man squad will be reduced to 12 players who will then go onto represent Australia in Paris from July 26 to August 11.  Ten members from Australia’s 2020 bronze medal team at the Tokyo Olympics are also vying to make the 2024 final squad.

Furphy is a freshman at Kansas University and has been a star player for the team in his first year playing college basketball.  He started in 19 games for the season, with 18 of those being in the final 19 contests.  Furphy averaged 11.4 points and 6.1 rebounds in Big 12 play. He also led Kansas with 44 three-point field goals made in the season.

Before heading off to college, Johnny spent time at the Basketball centre of excellence at the Australian Institute of Sport which also included the NBA Global Academy.  Johnny has been touted as a first-round draft pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, by plenty of experts.

We wish Johnny all the best in the upcoming months and hope he makes it all the way to Paris later this year.

The Score 270324

Beach Volleyball

MSA Alumni Garang Anyang and his partner Justin Schumann were knocked out in the Quarter finals of Beach Pro Tour Futures at Coolangatta Beach.  Having had a number of 2 sets to love victories through Qualifying and their first 2 pool matches the combination went down 2-0 in the quarterfinal.

Football

MelindaJ Barbieri was subbed off in the final minute of Newcastle’s 3-2 win over the Melbourne Victory in the A-League women’s competition.

Naomi Chinnama was subbed on in the 90th minute for Melbourne City in their 3-0 win over Central Coast Mariners.  Annabel Martin was a starter for Central Coast and was yellow carded in the 44th minute.

Seb Pasquali and Matthew Grimaldi both started for Western United in their 2 all draw with Melbourne Victory

AFL

North Melbourne lost to the Fremantle dockers by 26 points.  Paul Curtis had 12 disposals, 3 marks and kicked 2 goals 2 for the Kangaroos.  Luke Ryan had a solid game with 23 disposals, 7 marks and 3 tackles.

Sydney defeated Essendon by 30 points at the SCG.  Peter Wright had a day to forget with 9 disposals, 4 marks and 2 goals.  Peter was also reported for a head high bumo and given 4 weeks at the tribunal.

Hawthorn went down to Melbourne at the MCG by 55 points.  Massimo D’Ambrosio had another good week for the Hawks with 23 disposals, 8 marks and 4 tackles.

The Western Bulldogs turned their game 1 form around defeating the Gold Coast Suns by 48 points in Ballarat.  For the Bulldogs, Buku Khamis kicked 1 goal 1 while having 10 disposals, 6 marks and a tackle.  Teammate Rhylee West had 12 disposals, 3 marks and 3 tackles.  For the Suns Touk Miller had 30 disposals, 1 mark, 10 tackles and 4 clearances.

Port Adelaide were too strong for Richmond at the MCG with by 30 points.  Zak Butters had 34 disposals, 7 marks and 7 clearances for the Power.

Basketball

Johnny Furphy made 2 from 7 three pointers and 3 from 12 two pointers in Kansas’s loss to Gonzaga in the round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament.