Westfields Sports High School, Australia's First Sports High School

Westfields Sports
________________________________________________________________ First In Australia

18th March 2002 Basketballs Page 7

STANCE
Issue #1 February 2001 -- Westfields Basketball

Family Information Evening set down
for 7.30pm Wednesday 27/02/02
Page 1:. Westfields Basketball Program will be holding a Family Info Evening on the above date. The purpose of this evening is to inform all families of some vital parts of the program. Firstly parents will be introduced to our coaches. It is good for parents to meet the coaches who will be working with their children. We will outline the weekly training timetable for all squads. Parents should know how much training is expected of their children.

We will also outline the annual playing schedule for all groups. There are more school basketball today, and we must keep a balance. You will receive a "Code of Conduct" document that all families will need to read and sign. We will also discuss our Overseas Tour plans, Fund raising activities, and the formation of a Parents Support Group for basketball. You will also have the opportunity to put questions to the coaching staff.

EDITORIAL
By Bernie Slattery
Page 2: Westfields basketball has now undisputedly come of age. We have in the past won numerous state championships (both CHS & All Schools, both Boys & Girls, both Open & 15yrs), we have had players represent NSW (both CHS, All Schools & NSWBA teams), we have had players and coaches selected to All Australian Camp, we have had players and coaches gain AIS Scholarships, we have won Under 17 Nationals, but in December 2001 in Ballarat our open girls team created school history as they became the Champion School in Australia (after being runners up in 2000). We have attained the highest honour in School girls basketball. The team comprised, Kiri TeWhata, Sarah Hately, Vanessa Wong, Fiona Buchan, Katherine Watson, Adrianne TeWhata, Pete Sinclair, Jamie Samuels, & Bec McLeod, and the team was coached by Owen Craig. Congratulations to you all, a wonderful achievement.

Six of these girls return to the team in 2002, and we have a very strong group coming through from the younger classes. We look forward to another great year in 2002. I am that the girls will be very keen to defend their titles. Miss Healy also returns from the AIS where she was the scholarship coach for 2001.
The experience that she has gained at the elite level is sure to

Thought of the Month
Decide what it is that you want, Decide what you are willing to give up for it..... Then go to work!!

Table of Contents

Family Info Evening....... 1

Editorial......................... 2

Sponsorship................... 3

Welcome back............... 3

Competition Structure..... 4

benefit the girls in their endeavours. Is it harder to get to the top, or stay there? Right now the challende is not to win that last game in December, but to do things right everyday, so that you will be ready you get there!

Our junior teams encounted less success in terms of victories, but will all benefit greatly from their experiences. The junior girls narrowly missed the bronze medal, finishing fourth in Division 1. The junior boys who went with higher ambitions had to settle for fifth spot in Division 1, as they struggled against more aggressive and skilled teams.

The tournament will again be held in Ballarat in 2002, and we will be better organised this year, sa we learn from our 2001 experiences. Our first priority will be to start fund raising much earlier to take the pressure off families financially.

Ideally we will take both Junior and Senior Boys and Girls teams. Teams will be selected as early as possible to give families the chance to plan ahead.
Together Everyone Achieves More!!!

The Sponsorship Hunt Begins Again Page 3: With ever increasing numbers of students in the basketball program (56 total students in 2002) we are now catering for six teams in some competitions. We are on the lookout for companies who would like to sponsor our team uniforms. I will be starting work on this project again in coming weeks, hpwever I am always interested to hear from any parents who may have contacts with potential sponsors. Parents can contact me on 02 9862 8852 or 0418 627 343. Our current uniforms are starting to show signs of wear, and all need replacement.
The alternative tp sponsorship is a new system that would see a student get a playing number when they arrive at the school , and keep it for theit entire school career. In this system, we would allocate numbers from year 12 down, place the order, and students would then buy their jerseys when they arrived. When the uniform no longer fits, a student merely puts in an order for a bigger size, keeping their number. Students would be required to purchase both a blue and a gold jersey. We are allowed to utilise the numbers (4 - 15, 20 -25 -30 -35 -40 -45 -50 -55) thus not requiring the duplication of numbers. We may put this plan into place this year if required.
We would prefer to avoid additional costs to families, however that is dependent on our gaining sponsors in the immediate future, so again parents, if you have any leads let me know and I'll get to work.
Welcome Back Miss Healy
The basketball program welcomes back one of its most loyal and hardworking servants. Sonia Healy joined us some years ago from Taree via Uni of Newcastle. Since her arrival, Sonia has worked hard for the students in the program and has earned their respect.
The appointment to the Scholarship Coaching position at the AIS for 2001 was a great honour for Miss Healy and the exper-
ience and knowledge that she has gained will benefit both the students and coaches here at Westfields. Sonia takes over the senior girls team this year and is eager to get back to coaching the team. The AIS girls team plays in the WNBL, ans Sonia has gained first hand experience at this level. She has also been exposed to the complexities of one of the premier Sports Insti-
tute in the world. We are happy to have Sonia back and on behalf of the Basketball Program, we welcome her home. We hope that you settle back into the rewal world with the minimum of problems. Yes that's right teaching and coaching all day every day.

Competition Overview For 2002
Page 4: There are some important adjustments to the school basketball competition structure for 2002. I am happy to say that the challenges reflect the increasing support for school basketball.

The first change relates to the CHS tournaments. In both boys and girls Open age & 15Yrs State Knockouts Westfields Sports has been granted byes for the first four rounds. We now enter the competition at the Final 16 stage. If we win our first game, we will then progress to the Final 8 Tournament. The CHS has made this change to avoid the one sided games that we were having in the first few rounds. It is accepted that, year after year, we are considerably stronger than most schools. Thus if a school draws us in an early round they are finished. This had the effect of discouraging schools from entering the tournaments. The change is an attempt to improve the competition, make it fairer for the comprehensive schools, and we support the move. It also means that we don't have our students missing class for games that have little benefit to anyone.

The second chance applies to the Champion Schools Cup run by Basketball NSW. They have not released full details yet, but have given us some general info. The tournament this year will see teams from Viv, ACT and NSW competing, with a finals weekend to be held in ACT. The tournament will also cater for Yr 7/8, Yr 9/10 & Yr 11/12 boys & girls divisions. These changes will serve to strengthen the competition, and include more of our students, so with the Finals set for the middle of term three.

The third significant change is related to the Sydney Kings & Panthers tournament which has been conducted at various times, and in varying formats over recent years. This year the tournament is tentatively scheduled for the last three days of the October holidays (11 - 13 October) and will be run for both boys and girls open age teams only. The tournament will be conducted at the new basketball stadium at Narrabeen. Final details will be forwarded on as soon as we are informed.

Not so much a change as a notification, but we will again be attending the National Schools Basketball Tournament in Ballarat. We will be putting fund raising activities in place before the end of term one.