Secondary Sport

Redlands Rhino – Weekly Fixtures
 

From the Head of Secondary Sport

Sport for Enhanced Learning

Sport and physical activity has a multitude of benefits and is vital to the holistic development of a child. More often than not these benefits concentrate on the more obvious physical and mental aspects, such as positive self-esteem, confidence and reducing the risk of lifestyle disease. Most people would agree that sport makes children ‘generally’ happier and healthier. However, we rarely discuss the positive influence sport has on an individual’s learning and cognition.

Physical activity has been shown to stimulate brain development and this correlates with improved academic performance. It also ameliorates the health risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle so that healthy, active children become better learners. The evidence has accumulated across several contexts and settings – including informal physical activity, structured sport programs and school-based curriculum.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in the USA (2015) published a report titled ‘Active Education: Growing evidence on physical activity and academic performance.’ The report outlines the growing body of evidence indicating that physical activity and sports participation benefits both health and academic performance for children. This report summarises the research and published scientific articles that examine how physical activity and sport may help school-aged children maximise their academic performance. It also provides an overview of the effects of physical activity on the developing brain. The research indicates that providing opportunities for physical activity is consistent with the  overall mission and objectives of schools.

A further study titled ‘The associations between physical activity, sedentary behaviour and academic performance’ (2016), investigated cross-sectional relationships between children’s measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour patterns and academic performance using the standardised, nationally-administered academic assessment (NAPLAN). Academic performance was correlated against an individual’s moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) across a range of academic measures. Writing and numeracy achievement were positively, significantly related to MVPA, as was overall proficiency score. Children categorised as achieving high MVPA (ie. 45 minutes/day) scored, on average, 10 points more than those having low MVPA (ie. 19 minutes/day or less). Impacts of MVPA, and in particular aerobic exercise on cerebral blood flow, and neuroplasticity and executive function, may underpin these associations. This was a landmark study done that consistently identifies a favourable relationship between total sedentary time and academic performance; sedentary time during weekdays was positively related to academic performance in reading and spelling.

References

ClearingHouse for Sport. (2018, May 2). Retrieved from Sport in Education: https://www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/knowledge_base/organised_sport/value_of_sport/school_sport

Maher, C. L. (2016). The associations between physical activity, sedentary behaviour and academic performance. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 1004-1009

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2015). Active Education: Growing evidence on physical activtiy and academic performance. USA: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

General

 

Fitness Centre

Fitness Centre session times available to students are Monday – 6am (female athletes only), Monday – 3.30pm (female athletes only), Tuesday – 6am (all athletes), Wednesday – 6am (all athletes), Wednesday – 3.30pm (all athletes – very good for Juniors/first timers), Thursday – 6am (all athletes) and Friday – 6am  (all athletes).

ISA Nominations

Please note we are accepting nominations for Open Boys Touch Football, Open Girls Touch Football, U15 Girls Touch Football ISA Sports. If you are interested in being nominated, please send an expression of interest to sports@redlands.nsw.edu.au with a brief playing history and preferred positions. 

Wet Weather

The Wet Weather process for the Winter season: for any inclement weather, please check Redlands Pulse and also the Redlands Sport Twitter account @RedlandsSport. We will update you with as much notice as possible. NSNA Netball can also check nsna.com.au as they update their website with wet weather notifications.

Winter Sport

Winter Sports are now in full swing. Students and parents are reminded that training schedules are available on Redlands Pulse. If students are going to be absent from any training session or Saturday fixtures, please let your respective Sports Administrators know, the earlier the better. Injured students are still required to attend training to support and assist their team and coaches where possible. They are also encouraged to attend all home fixtures to support their team. It would be great to see as many students as possible out supporting our respective 1st teams.

Sports

Athletics

We are excited to announce a partnership with Mosman Athletics Club for the upcoming Track and Field season. More information can be found on Redlands Pulse Athletics  

Cross Country

Cross Country training has begun. We had a great turn out last Friday and looking forward to many more attending this week. 

Football

Saturday was always going to be a tough day. The teams went out trying to play possession-based Football to keep the ball under pressure and to make better decisions during the game. Well done. There are areas of the game that still need a lot of work (across all teams) and that is the focus of our training to improve decision making under pressure.  It’s extremely important to attend both training sessions so that each coach can improve the players and the team week after week. 

Some of the games were close losing only by a small margin, we are building character and a good attitude in our players so they keep working and playing the way we want to play for the duration of the match. 

Congratulations to everyone for giving it a go last week and now we know what to expect this week – there are no easy games in ISA Division 1 and therefore we need to be prepare and have belief in our ability to play possession based Football even when is not going well.

This week the Girls are away in the Mountains and the Boys are facing St Pats at home. I believe that we will bring away points and get points at home.

My team of the week is the Under 15s for playing so well under pressure and never giving up as a TEAM.  

Netball

We are in full swing for the 2018 Netball season. Round 3 in NSNA saw a number of positive results across the teams, with some mixed results over the weekend. Our NSNA 7 Navy, Gold and Blue teams all see themselves inside the top four of their competition, and the NSNA 8 Navy, Gold and Blue teams also see themselves with a number of wins from the opening rounds. Our NSNA 9 Navy and Gold teams are constantly showing signs of improvement and will be looking for some great performances (albeit after camp) this weekend!

Our ISA competition kicked off on Saturday with a number of teams securing opening round wins – our 1sts, Inter A and Jnr B teams had strong wins against St Pauls, our Junior A and Inter C teams also had strong showings against St Spyridon and St Andrew’s respectively. 

We will be starting up some skills specific training sessions (shooting and defence work) on Thursday mornings at Dunnet Hall from 7.00 – 8.00am. More information will be available on Redlands Pulse Netball on Monday. This will be open to all Secondary School Redlands netballers and we encourage as many of you as possible to come and take part.  

Rugby

The Redlands 1st XV started off their 2018 season with a resolute win against Oxley College. From the first set piece, our forwards dominated possession allowing our backs to run quick and controlled lines through a broken defensive line. After a few linebreaks that weren’t completed, we had a strong scrum that pushed the Oxley forwards away from our backline, a perfect decoy line drew two defenders allowing us to score our first try. Redlands continued to control the game going into halftime with leading 2 tries to 1.

Throughout the second half we continued to control the opposition and with so much possession through the second half we were able to run in another 3 tries, finally winning the game 38-12. Thank you to all who attended what was a fantastic celebration of Redlands Rugby across both the Secondary and Junior Schools.

Tennis

Wow, what a fantastic start to the ISA season for all players. Our 1sts went down narrowly to Oakhill. All players proved that this is going to be a very competitive year for Redlands Tennis. The 2nds had a really hard-fought draw on sets and games. It was a fantastic to see the effort and gamesmanship shown by the players. The 3rds travelled to Oakhill and came away with a win. All players should be very proud of their game play. The 4ths also had an away fixture at Oakhill and managed to secure a win. This is a wonderful achievement. Well done to all players. Please make sure you check the coming weekend’s fixtures.

 

Mr Tom Kindred
Head of Secondary School Sport
sports@redlands.nsw.edu.au

All Sports contacts can be found on Redlands Pulse.