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Girls' Sport | Girls Sport Victoria (GSV) organises weekly sporting competitions, carnivals, tournaments and skills development programs, recognising the importance of promoting women’s health and fostering positive attitudes towards physical activity and sport in young women.
Girls Sport Victoria began in 2001 as a group of Melbourne Independent Girls Schools that combined to form a new organisation committed to promoting sport for girls in Years 7 to 12.
With 24 member schools and over 16,000 girls across the state being given the opportunity to participate in the program, GSV is one of the largest independent sporting associations in Victoria.
GSV offers a wide range of sports from the well-known favourites — netball, hockey, tennis, basketball, soccer, indoor cricket, football — to less conventional sports such as dance sport, beach volleyball, surf league, and fencing.
GSV works to get girls involved in sport from an early age through their Year 7 Sports Expo. Sports development officers take the girls through 40-minute sessions, teaching them some basic skills in a selection of sports including calisthenics, croquet, lawn bowls, synchronised swimming, table tennis and yoga. The Expo is designed to encourage the girls to become involved in any type of sport or physical activity, whether it’s at a competitive or recreational level.
Parents rate sport highly at Genazzano
Genazzano FCJ College, a Catholic school for girls Prep to Year 12, is a major participant in Girls Sport Victoria. Genazzano students compete against girls from other member schools in major carnivals, including diving/swimming, cross-country and track and field, or through weekly sports programs in which girls are able to get involved in a different sport each term.
According to Genazzano’s director of sport, Matthew Wesson, the GSV carnivals are a big event on the college sports calendar. “The college always enters the maximum number of teams that we can, so that as many of our girls as possible can participate,” he said.
A survey conducted by GSV of more than 1000 parents/guardians of girls who participate in GSV sport found that nearly 80 per cent of respondents believed the sporting program was important when considering a school for their daughter, playing a significant role in their education and development. Many respondents also believed their daughter received a better sporting experience because the program is tailored towards girls only.
GSV programs are an important component of Genazzano’s curriculum; students have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of sports including softball, indoor cricket, tennis, basketball, netball, water polo, badminton, soccer, volleyball, dance sport, beach volleyball, fencing and even surf lifesaving.
GSV cultivates future sporting champions at Lauriston Lauriston Girls’ School student and regular participant in GSV tournaments, Priya Khanna, has developed into one of Victoria’s top junior golfers.
Priya picked up her first golf club six years ago and joined Riversdale Golf Club in Mt Waverly when she was 12 years old. Her best score to date is a two over par 75. Today, her handicap stands at an impressive five.
February 2007 marked an important date in Priya’s golfing career, when she became the first Australian junior player asked to attend a junior golf forum at Moonah Links. The forum was designed to get more young people interested in golf. “It was such a good opportunity,” Priya said. “We really need to get the word out.”
Priya’s pro-active attitude towards the sport has also prompted her to represent Australian junior golf at upcoming forums in Sydney, Perth and Queensland. If time allows, she will get some rounds in on the stunning courses where the forums are being held.
Priya’s favourite golfers are Adam Scott and Karrie Webb. She hopes to go to Stanford University in the US on a golf scholarship and then follow in her heroes’ footsteps in a career as a professional golfer.
GSV at Strathcona — a student’s perspective
By Stephanie Jewitt, Sports Captain at Strathcona GSV swimming and diving have been among the most popular sports at Strathcona, with girls competing in them every year. Students are able to train for these two sports throughout the year under the guidance of swimming coach, Danny Gaffy, and diving coach, Pam Allan, to prepare for the competition days in Term 1. We asked Year 12 student Sarah Dalton, School Swimming Captain, to tell us a bit about GSV swimming and her favourite part of GSV.
“I’ve participated in GSV swimming since Year 7 as well as the training sessions in the morning, and it’s always been exciting to participate in the competition days and see our swimming team do extremely well. The girls are always full of enthusiasm, even in the early morning training sessions, and it’s a great way for the girls from different year levels to interact with each other,” said Sarah. “The best thing about GSV is that it gives girls a chance to participate in lots of different sports and meet girls from the different schools that they compete against.”
Last year, 10 past and present students were involved in a senior basketball tournament organised by Girls Sport Victoria. The tournament ran over two days and Strathcona did exceptionally well. We asked Emily Lorenzini, a current Year 12 student and star basketball player, to give us an overview of the tournament and the results they achieved as a team.
“On day one we played a series of three games against other girls’ schools. All girls played hard and their effort paid off by us winning three out of three games, which took us to the finals. These wins took us to MSAC, where we played another three games against much more competitive schools. All girls played their best and we were very satisfied with the end result, even though we weren’t able to come home with a victory.”
We asked Emily about her thoughts on GSV. “I’ve been involved in at least one GSV sport a year and, although it is very competitive and a lot of hard work is required, it is good to see where Strathy ranks compared to other girls’ schools in Melbourne. To me, the best thing about GSV is the opportunity that girls from all year levels have to participate in a sport that they are not necessarily great at, but enjoy. I know last year I was asked to fill in for the GSV swimming and even though I didn’t win any races, it was a great chance for me to try a sport I hadn’t done at Strathy before. I would urge all girls to give a GSV sport a go at least once during their time at Strathy.”
Surf lifesaving is a relatively new GSV sport that was introduced a few years ago. Since then, there has been a keen interest each year where students from Years 7 to 12 have become involved. For the Year 7 students at Strathcona, this was an entirely new experience and we asked a group of them about their day competing at GSV surf league. According to Evy Gomm, “My favourite thing about the lifesaving was the run/swim/run event where I came second.” Ellen Sudholz: “I really enjoyed the run/wade/run event where I came third overall.” Mietta van der Horst: “My favourite event was the board relay because I got to race with a team.” When asked about their favourite part of GSV, all girls agreed: “We like competing against other girls’ schools because it’s not as hard as racing against boys!” After participating in the surf league day, all three Year 7 students said they would definitely do more GSV sports this year.
There is a fantastic attitude from all girls at Strathcona to GSV sport. With the wide range of sports offered, there is always something for everyone to get involved in. Students from all year levels have approached GSV activities enthusiastically and have walked away with fantastic results that the girls should all be very proud of!
Sion stars win gold!
Our Lady of Sion College’s aerobics team — The Sion Stars — won first place in the National Championships for Secondary Stage One at the last Schoolaerobics Championships. The Aerobics Team travelled to Brisbane to compete in the National Titles against teams from South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory and Victoria.
Schoolaerobics is the largest inter-school aerobics competition for school students in Australia. It provides girls with an exciting opportunity to improve fitness, confidence, health and self-esteem through participation in a healthy and fun competition. Teams are judged on their technical and artistic merit. Students must aim for synchronicity, timing, strength, presentation and showmanship and get scored on each of these elements. Congratulations, girls, on your gold medal performance!
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