Term 3 sporting competitions in Basketball, Rugby League and Tennis commence this weekend with over 4000 students participating each weekend between the three sports.

Basketball
Basketball continues to be a popular sport within the AIC Competition. This year 243 teams will compete during the AIC Basketball Season. Primary (Year 5 and 6) basketball teams will again play on a Friday afternoon, with all secondary games scheduled to be played each Saturday.

Villanova First V defeated St Augustine’s (Sydney) in their annual tour game.

Villanova will be out to defend the First V Basketball premiership they have held since 2021. Securing 3 premierships in a row is an incredible achievement by the ‘Wildcats’. In preparation to defend their title Villanova travelled to Sydney to play their annual tour game against St Augustine’s, defeating their Sydney ‘brother school’ and showing they will again challenge for the premiership this year.  A number of teams will challenge Villanova for the First V Premiership in 2024. A number of First V teams have played against GPS opposition in preparation for the season, with St Edmund’s and Iona also competing in Division 1 of the Gold Coast Invitational Tournament. St Edmund’s also entered an Under 15 Development Squad in the same tournament which was great preparation for the AIC season and development of future First V players. St Peters who were runners up in the First V in 2023, prepared for their season with a training clinic and matches against a number of Gold Coast schools.

St Edmund’s competed at the Gold Coast Invitational Tournament

Each year the Aggregate Championship for Basketball is hotly contested with Villanova holding the prized shield since 2015. They narrowly held onto the shield last year, in a very close finish with Iona (2nd) and St Laurence’s (3rd), only a game or two behind. Over the break, Colleges across the Association hosted training clinics and camps for their basketball teams and played a number of trials against GPS opposition. Schools were able to use last weekend’s final trial round to fine tune their teams in preparation for Round 1 this week.

Rugby League 
AIC Rugby League continues to grow with the inclusion of an extra division in 2024- 7B, along with the entry of St Peters teams for the first time. Our AIC guest College- Ambrose Treacy College will also enter teams. This expansion has seen this year’s overall team numbers competing across all divisions grow to 83 teams- a record for the Association. Rugby League will again be played in the ‘carnival’ format in 2024. This will see a Senior (Years 8-Open) and a Junior (Years 5-7) venue each week. Venues will be rotated throughout the season, with Ambrose Treacy College hosting their fixtures each week at their Indooroopilly campus.

Padua were runners up in the Confraternity Shield Competition.

The First XIII competition looks headed for another exciting season after the shared premiership between Padua and Villanova in 2023. 7 AIC First XIII teams participated in the annual Confraternity Rugby League carnival over the winter holidays in Townsville. AIC schools achieved incredible results at this major carnival. Padua were overall runners up in Division 1, losing a very close final. Iona finished 3rd – only being defeated narrowly by Padua in the semifinal. In Iona’s short history in the competition, this was their highest ever finish. Both Padua and Iona played outstanding Rugby League while in Townsville and their match-up during the season should be one of the games of the season. Marist College Ashgrove won the Confraternity Bob Lindner Trophy (9th overall) and displayed some great skills that will have them challenging for the AIC Premiership. Villanova won the Division 2 Confraternity Bowl competition- this was a repeat of their achievements in 2023 at the carnival and from there they went onto securing a share of the AIC premiership last year. St Edmund’s, St Patrick’s and St Laurence’s all attended the Confraternity Carnival. All three schools demonstrated the development over the 6 challenging games that will have each of their teams ready for the Round 1 this weekend and the season beyond.

Marist College Ashgrove won the Confraternity “Bob Lindner” Trophy

In the Aggregate Competition for Champion Rugby League School in AIC- Iona will be out to defend the shield won in 2023. This will be an incredibly tight competition amongst a number of schools.

The AIC would like to take this opportunity to thank the National Rugby League (NRL) for their incredible support in the delivery of the AIC Rugby League season. The NRL will supply both referees and match managers for every AIC fixture and have supported with coaching development across all schools in the lead up to the season.

Tennis 
127 Tennis teams will compete on courts across Brisbane and Ipswich this term in AIC competition. AIC Tennis fixtures are always exciting with all teams competing in a “Best of Eight” match format that includes both singles and doubles. This year, to further increase the opportunity for boys to compete, a modification of the playing conditions for some divisions will allow extra students to participate in teams each week.

St Laurence’s First IV will aim to go one place better in 2024.

St Peters will be out to defend the First IV Tennis trophy they won in 2023. It will be a close competition for the school from Indooroopilly, who will have a number of players returning from last year’s successful team. St Laurence’s who finished runners up in 2023, will have all of their team returning from last year to again try to challenge for the prestigious trophy.

St Peters have been crowned the Aggregate Tennis Champions each season since 2012 (with the exception of Covid affected years where no Aggregate Championship was awarded). They are now equal with Marist College Ashgrove on 10 Aggregate Championships each since the commencement of AIC competition in 1999. With Marist College Ashgrove finishing second in the aggregate in 2023, they will have motivation to prevent St Peters taking the outright lead in the historical Tennis Aggregate leaderboard and claim that title for their own community.

In preparation for the season, a number of schools held Tennis clinics and their College Age Championships over the winter break. This included St Laurence’s who annually hold their Age Championships on the last Sunday of the winter school holidays.

Round 1 Fixtures 

Villanova v Marist College Ashgrove
St Edmund’s v St Peters
Iona v St Laurence’s
St Patrick’s v Padua

Good luck to all teams for the season ahead!