One of the largest weekends of AIC Sport for the year was completed last weekend. Over Saturday and Sunday, close to a thousand students participated in AIC Invitational Carnivals across the sports of Esports, Touch Football and Water Polo. The invitational sport weekend is an excellent opportunity for both the talented athletes in the sports being contested to show their skills to their peers, but equally as important to introduce new sports to many students who might not have necessarily played the sport in a semi competitive environment before. While competition is included over the weekend, participation and enjoyment is definitely the focus.
Esports is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. It is a multi-billion dollar industry and is not just for the players but for a variety of roles that are required to ensure the smooth running of any event. These include broadcasting, computer and software engineering and event management. The AIC Esports event showcases all these roles and is a great introduction to the Esports sporting world. The AIC event includes commentary, live video on massive screens and computer networking preparation. The majority of these roles for this event are led by students, supported by staff.
On the ‘playing fields’ it was again a close contest throughout the morning between teams representing 6 schools. Minecraft Education: Capture the Flag was again the platform used for the Esports event. This always ensure an exciting contest, as teams aim to work together to maneuver inside their oppositions base, collect their flag and return to their own base. Just like traditional sport having the best skills and teamwork are the keys to success and the best teams are highly trained at the task. This year Villanova and Padua were able to secure passage through to the final after some intense games throughout the morning including a number where the result was only decided in the final seconds. Congratulations to Villanova who were able to secure the title for a second year in a row.
While Esports was happening, the AIC Touch invitational event was being held at St Laurence’s Runcorn Playing Fields. This is the 4th year the event has been held and it continues to grow each year. The AIC has a number of schools who regularly compete and excel at the various Brisbane and Queensland Primary and Secondary All schools Touch Championships. At the recent Queensland All Schools Touch Championships, Iona College finished runner up in the Open Boys division.
Runcorn was a sea of school colours on Saturday with all 8 member Colleges and AIC Guest College- Ambrose Treacy competing in 4 different divisions- Primary, Year 7, Year 8/9 and Year 10/11. The primary school competition was incredibly close throughout the morning with four different schools qualifying for the semi-finals. St Patrick’s defeated Iona in the first semifinal with St Laurence’s claiming the other semifinal with a win over Marist College Ashgrove. In a very entertaining final, a late St Patrick’s try was able to secure the boys from Shorncliffe the win. The Year 7 final was the closest of the day with a ‘drop-off’ required to determine the winner between St Laurence’s and Iona. Iona scored first in the drop off and was then able to hold off a number of spirited St Laurence’s attacks to claim the title. Villanova claimed the Year 8/9 division with an equally exciting grand final. In a seesawing game where the lead changed multiple times, the game came down to the final play and an excellent touch by a Villanova defender in the corner secured the game for the boys from Coorparoo. The final of the Year 10/11 competition was a rematch between Iona and Set Edmund’s- two schools that have regularly met in the final of the AIC Invitational Carnival throughout the years. This year Iona was too strong for St Edmund’s in a game of the very highest standard.
To conclude the trilogy of events for the weekend, the Marist College Ashgrove pool hosted the annual AIC Water Polo invitational event. The number of talented Water Polo players who attend AIC member Colleges is incredible. A large number of Queensland and Australian players were on display during the carnival with some of the skills shown during the day incredible to watch. The AIC Water Polo event highlights the philosophy of the weekend with these skilled players being able to highlight their talents alongside their school mates who might be trying Water Polo for the first time. The games are always played in great spirit between schools and the positive energy around the pool throughout the day was a credit to the “Spirit of AIC”.
In the pool, three divisions were contested- Year 7, Year 8/9 and Year 10/11. The Year 7 final was contested by St Peters and Padua. The boys from Indooroopilly were able to win a very close and entertaining final 7-6. St Laurence’s claimed the Year 8/9 final with a skillful display against St Peters in the final. The St Laurence’s team had won the recent Brisbane All Schools water Polo competition hosted by Water Polo Queensland. In the final of the Year 10/11 boys, Marist College Ashgrove claimed the Water Polo Trophy with an excellent victory against Iona. The Marist College team contained a number of state and national representative players, and their experience was able to gain the ascendency in the final against an Iona side who contested bravely throughout the game.
A huge weekend of AIC Sport does not occur without the support of a large number of people and organisations. Thanks must go to the three host colleges- Villanova (Esports), St Laurence’s (Touch Football) and Marist College Ashgrove (Water Polo). The AIC Esports event would not be possible without the tireless hard work and enthusiasm of Mr Jason Lane (Villanova). The AIC is very grateful for Jason’s organisation of the Esports event. Thank you to the ground staff at Runcorn for their efforts in preparing the fields, including line marking all 10 fields that are necessary for the carnival. Thank you to all referees who assisted with the Touch Football Carnival. Water Polo Queensland are great supporters of the AIC Water Polo event, supplying both referees and officials to ensure the smooth running of the carnival. Thank you Water Polo Queensland. Finally, thank you to all players, coaches and spectators for your involvement in one of the biggest sporting weekends on the AIC Calendar!
