There was a great ‘community feel’ on the evening of Wednesday 20 June at the Westbourne inaugural “Round Ball” carnival. No doubt heightened by World Cup fever from Russia, it was soccer action in all directions as we hosted 3 matches against Overnewton College. Overnewton would be well known to Senior School parents as along with Loyola, St Michael’s, St Leonard’s and Thomas Carr they help us form the six school Association of Co-educational Schools more commonly known as the ACS. This is the very well organised association that all our Year 7 – 12 students compete in across the summer and winter sporting seasons.

The first match was the Junior School challenge and starting at 5pm was played under lights as the darkness fell. The contest was willing and very skilful from both teams. Westbourne had the better of the play in general and finished off with a 3 – 0 win. Following this, as the temperatures dropped, the crowd were fairly pleased to head inside for the Senior girls Futsal fixture. This was a fast paced match with wonderful agility and touch on display from both teams. Overnewton started with the first 2 goals but gradually our girls got on top and with some incredibly accurate shooting and deft teamwork eventually pulled away with a 9 – 7 win.

As the crowd moved out for the final match of the triple-header we passed the Friends of Sport barbecue, where this dedicated group of parents were braving the cold and making sure there was a steady supply of hot food and hot drinks. They all spent hours working this stall and like all our parents groups we are greatly indebted for their tireless work and fundraising. The last match saw our Senior boys Soccer team taking on the highly fancied, and undefeated, Overnewton. It was pleasing to see many alumni, staff, parents and current students at this event and the boys played a strong, competitive match ensuring that all three games for the evening were exciting showcases of skill and sportsmanship. Early in the contest the scores were level at 1 – 1, but eventually the talented opposition pulled away to record a 6 -2 victory, including two very late goals.

Congratulations to all the players and coaches who contributed to this extremely enjoyable showcase event.

Andrew McGregor – Associate Principal