30 April 2010 Bill Turner U15 Knockout

Tim was excited to make the school soccer team after 2 intense rounds of tryouts. In his own words, he didn't think he was good enough to make the team, however he underestimated himself. Yesterday was the first (and last) game for them as they lost 3 - nil. Here in Australia, the school team sports tend to all be knockout games. No best out of 3 or anything so you always have to play your best all the time.

28 April 2010 Year 5 Camp

Aimee is very excited as she is about to board the bus to take her away to year 5 camp. At year 5 camp the kids get to do fun things like: archery, kayak, hiking, swimming, etc...

It used to be a week long event; however, Tim's year 5 camp was the last time the school did that. It is now cut down to 3 days, 2 nights. Tim's year must have been a naughty year. :)

The only things Aimee says she's afraid of are leeches and wild turkey!

Wild Turkey???!!!

April 23 2010 Cross Country Carnival

Here are the girls before they run their 3k cross country races. The students run a set course around the school and neighborhood grounds that total up to 2k (grades 4 and under) and 3k (grades 5+). Girls race against girls and boys against boys in their age catagories.

Like the swimming carnival, Aimee is not 100%. She is sporting a blister (she wore her sisters old school shoes by mistake) and heel pains. We were not sure the night before if she would even be able to run. Like the trouper she is, Aimee decides to give it a go and what do you know, Aimee finishes strongly in 2nd place.

Erika's race is the last to take place. I get a bit worried from the sidelines as the first few girls re-enters the school grounds and I don't see her. I shouldn't have worried though because she comes round the corner and onto the field with me yelling from the side. I can't help myself and encourage her to kick it in. At this time she is in 5th place but Erika has the most awesomest kick I've seen and overtakes her friend in front of her to finish with a strong 4th place. For Erika's race the first 4 girls to cross the finish line are from Ruse.

Ruse wins again! Erika and Aimee will help represent the school in the upcoming Cross Country Zone Carnival. Will keep you all posted on the outcome. Good Luck Girls!

February 19, 2010 Swimming Carnival

Another great victory for Ruse! At the 1st of 3 major sporting events Ruse wins by a landslide.

Aimee is actually sick with a bit of a head cold. She is still determined to participate and enters the 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke and places 1st in both. She advances to the 50m freestyle and finished with a 3rd place overall.

Erika has come out of her shell this year as she is now Sports Captain. She decides to enter ALL of the races:
100m freestyle - 1st
50m freestyle - 1st in heats & 1st in finals
50m breaststroke - 2nd
50m butterfly - 1st
50m backstroke - 2nd by a hair (judges had to deliberate). She qualified to be part of the relay team where all 4 houses (Ruse, Sturt, MacQuarie, and Flinders) verse each other in the junior and senior catagories. For the 1st time in history, Ruse won 1st place in all relay teams, girls and boys, junior and senior races.

Erika joined 28 other students from Thornleigh West Public School (TWPS)to compete in the Swimming Zone Carnival a few weeks later. She represented TWPS in the 50m butterfly and senior girls relay team catagories. She placed 1st in her butterfly heat (out of 4 heats); however, her time did not qualify her for the finals. The relay team struggled and placed last.

Sports Captain

Congratulations to Erika for receiving an overwhelming majority vote and becoming the 2010 Sports Captain of her house - Ruse. Her job will to be fire up her fellow Ruse team mates to victory. She will accomplish this through cheers, war crys, war paint and silly dances. The main sporting events of the year are: Swimming Carnival, Cross Country Carnival and Athletics Carnival.