The 2021 CQ University QISSN Carnival kicked off in great style with a real celebration of the spirit of netball throughout the opening ceremony conducted by host school St James College. Captains Charlie Ricketts (girls) and Bailey Sewell (boys) made a pledge on behalf of the teams that they would play hard and play fair.

 

For the very first time, the competition would see a Marymount College boys’ team taking the court in the inaugural QISSN Boys competition.

  

Many of the girls were playing in their first QISSN. With a disappointing loss against Coomera Anglican College, Captain Charlie Ricketts reported that “being a fairly young team heading into the competition, it was a bit nerve-racking. However, in the first game we proved how good a team we are.” The girls came out on top against St Margaret Mary’s to get their first win of QISSN 2021. In a close final game, the girls played strongly on the show court, but couldn’t quite get over the line against Rockhampton Grammar.

 

Similarly, Day 1 saw the boys’ team also get off to a slow start, making history as the first ever boys’ QISSN match. Whilst they played in tightly contested games of netball throughout the day, they were unable to come away with any wins from their four games on that day.

 

Day 2 for the girls was against St Patrick’s College Mackay. Marymount came out firing and showed determination and grit to take away the win. At the completion of this match, it was announced that teams would be able to play their final pool game but the carnival would then end due to the immediate COVID lockdown. Although disappointed, the girls rallied together to compete in their last game of QISSN 2021 against Canterbury College Waterford. A particularly physical game, Marymount was unable to get the win in their final game.

 

No confidence was lost for the boys going into Day 2; they were eager to get back out on court and build on their efforts of the first day. Up against some extremely competitive and athletic opponents and showing moments of brilliance and tremendous enthusiasm, they were unable to come away with a win from their two games. The team fought hard both days, showing great resilience by not giving up and a wonderful team comradery in their first-ever QISSN Carnival.

 

The girls team, having won two of their pool games over the two days of competition, finished in 4th position overall in their pool. Should the carnival have continued to go ahead the team would have made top 8 of Division 1, which is an incredible achievement with many of our team members in Year 10!  Captain Charlie Ricketts said she was “very proud of our discipline, our sportsmanship and overall, how we conducted ourselves on court. Even though we only had three days together it was still an experience to remember, with every girl and boy in the team giving it their all and performing to the best of their ability.” 

Understandably, students were unhappy to have ended the Carnival early but were grateful to have been able to enjoy two fantastic days of competition.

  

Both Marymount girls and boys teams should be very proud of their team and individual efforts, they represented Marymount with pride throughout the Carnival. The future of netball at Marymount with many exciting players coming up the ranks is exciting – bring on 2022!

 

Up the Makos!!

Trent Balym