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High Notes, Vol 17 No 16, June 03 2016

From the Principal

High Talent
Congratulations to our DaVinci decathlon winners –Ryan Borges, Peter Boylan, Marcus Borscz, Liam Heng, Eric Holstrom, Ryan Jepson, Adrian Panas and Thomas Schanzer. They were first in code breaking and second in English, philosophy, mathematics and chess. Well done indeed, boys! Thank you also to their mentor Ms Eggleton. John Tian (11E) won bronze at the SEA Pacific Championship in Manilla in the Men’s Team Epée. James Siu (10M) won a second gold medal in the Men’s Sabre Team Event. Great job, boys! At the NSW School Championships, Senior Boys Sabre, gold went to Garry Huang (12F) with Kinzey Rahardja (10E) winning bronze. In the Senior Boys Epée William Zeng (10T) won a silver medal with Roy Zheng (10E) winning bronze.

Student Personal Accident Insurance
Students of Sydney Boys High are covered for activities associated with the school, including: sport, approved work experience or community activity programs. This cover is 24/7. The terms, conditions and benefits that can be claimed under the policy are explained on our school website. Please refer to   and click on ‘insurance policy’ to find out more.

Reports
Boys in Years 9-12 should have brought home their reports to discuss with you. If you haven’t seen your son’s report, don’t accept an explanation. Please insist that he does what he has to do for his Clearance Form and that he books in for an appointment. Alternatively, he can come before or after school to see me and if I am free I will discuss his report with him.

Winter Sports Assembly
Special guest Michael Diamond (SHS 1952) spoke about the great benefits that his co-curricular involvement while at High had on his life after he left. His career in fencing stemmed from his part in a musical production. At university James Wolfensohn remembered him as a pirate in the play and introduced him to fencing. At two job interviews later in life, his extracurricular activities at school and university had more to do with him getting the jobs than did his academic credentials. His lesson to the boys was to grasp all the opportunities that they could while at school. My speech to the assembly is reprinted below:

"Special Guest Mr Michael Diamond (SHS 1952), coaches, parents, staff and GPS representatives, welcome to our winter sports assembly for 2016. Boys selected for GPS teams in Rugby, Football, Volleyball, Cross Country and Fencing are being honoured today.  I would like to thank the dedicated sports staff, headed up by HT Sport Mark Pavone, who create the environment in which our boys train three times a week and compete on Saturdays. I want to thank our great team of teachers, parents and our Old Boy contributors, paid and volunteer - our co-curricular program just wouldn’t function without you. I thank you on behalf of the boys.

"Our Fencing MIC, Dat Huynh (SHS 2004), has expanded the fencing program and included an inaugural celebratory dinner at the end of the season. High boys compete in foil, epée and sabre. Our teams have recently been successful at National School Team Championships in various disciplines. John Tian and James Siu are very talented competitors representing Australia in international competitions and winning at that level. Our new Head Coach, Feng Yeng (SHS 2000), won a NSW title in 2009 and earned a gold medal in Senior Men’s Team Open Foil at the 2010 Commonwealth Fencing Championships. Dat has been Coordinating the Coaching as well as assisting in the coaching of foil. Thank you to Mr Dean Nguyen for his assistance in creating a dedicated fencing website and developing a Fencing Committee. Thank you to our coaches for raising the standard of our fencing and to the parent supporters of the sport.

"Cross country running is now a very successful sport at High, with the U16s winning the Intermediate GPS point-score championship last season. Thank you to Rebecca Dam again for her efficient and enthusiastic organisation and management of the sport and to her staff Clay Kesting (now retired) and John Prorellis.

"Thank you again to Head Coach, Dani Andres, for his coordination of the coaching program and to his coaches Kenneth Liu (SHS 2014) and Jason Garrett (SHS 2014) for their assistance, particularly with statistics. Thank you to Glen Schofield for his advice and support with record keeping and performance statistics at GPS / CHS events. Of great help at the holiday camp were parents Mrs Nancy Zhang, Mrs Pei Hong, and Jennifer McGrane.

"Football is growing even bigger in the school this year with 40 teams. Thank you to MIC Geoff Tesoriero for his great dedication and passion for developing the sport. Thank you to Tony Dunn who has returned to coordinate our program again as Head Coach. Thank you to the coaching staff: Jason Hayhurst (first grade), Finch Twarlow (second grade) and Stephen Birch (third grade). Thank you to the parents of the 1st and 2nd XI who supply such great catering for the boys. Thank you again to the teaching staff who contribute so much to the Saturday competition program: Julie Eggleton, Kety Manolias, Ingrid Pepe, Mina Genias, Madeleine Rigby, Rosy Tracey and Natalie Luu. Thanks again to Tony Nimac for his continued input into the administration and development of the football program at High.

"Volleyball is again a highly competitive sport, thriving under the guidance of veteran strategist, Michael Kay. The boys took out both first and second grade GPS Championships last year and the 16s were successful at national level in Melbourne. Despite the growing competition from GPS schools and the occasional knockout performance by one or two state schools, High has been dominant in this sport for a decade. Thank you to our Old Boy coaches and staff for making the sport the powerhouse that it is.

"Matt Cotton has worked conscientiously as MIC of rugby and has brought enthusiasm and a changed style to our rugby administration. Andrew Walters (SHS 2003) is taking first and second grade, with Sam Gribble (SHS 2006) and David Knox’s support as backs and skills coach. Thank you to George and Con Barris who are managing the 16s. Our Junior progam is managed very well by Mick Aldous, Paul Scrivener and Geoff Stein. Thank you to all the supportive parents in the Rugby Committee: particularly, Tracey Whittaker, Eddie Dorahy and Julie Fox, for giving their catering, administration and organisational support to High Rugby.

"Often in sport, we experience moments of exhilaration when we are successful and despair when we are not.  In either case we must be wary of what Alan Jones called taking a snapshot of the moment and crowding around to look at it while the game carries on in the background.  We need to immediately refocus on the next play or moment in the contest.  Often just after such moments of emotion we are at our most vulnerable. We tend to make additional errors. We are accessing our emotions instead of focussing on the task. We have all seen that turning point moment in sport when success or failure determines the outcome of a campaign.

"Noted biographer, Peter FitzSimons, praised the strong focus that John Eales brought to the victorious World Cup rugby team of 1999.  In that competition there were several high-stress moments that could have gone either way.  In the semi-final against South Africa the scores were tied at full time after a last minute penalty goal kicked by Jannie de Beer.  The sides were still locked together after 17 minutes of extra time.  The Wallabies stuck to their game plan but couldn’t break through until Stephen Larkham kicked a 48m dropped goal to seal the win – his first success at drop goal in his representative career.  What a moment to choose to attempt it! In the final, despite suffering eye gouging and very robust defence, the Wallabies held firm with their discipline to beat the French 35-12. Australia won the World cup because each man knew his job, did it well and served the team in the way the coach planned for him to do it.

"The next year in Wellington, the Wallabies played the All Blacks and were down 21-23 with little time left to play when they were awarded a penalty.  The team kicker, Stirling Mortlock, was on the sideline, injured.  John Eales had to take the kick from 30 metres out and 15 metres in from touch.  He carefully rehearsed his kicking routine – three steps back and 2½ across.  He visualised his approach and strike of the ball – ‘head down, slow, follow through to the posts’.  He followed the teaching of the great All Black kicker Grant Fox.  Eales kicked the goal and retained the Bledisloe Cup for Australia. Focus, visualisation, rehearsal, execution.

"You perform the way you train.  Attend and take training seriously.  You need to make the right decisions at the right time while distracted by stress.  Great self-regulation, strong visualisation and sustained focus will ensure you and your team perform to your abilities.  Standards – ethos – tradition.  Play for yourselves, play for each other, play for High! I congratulate all the boys who have been selected for GPS competition. You are deriving the benefit from participation in team sports that will be enduring in terms of skills learnt, dispositions acquired and memories retained. Good luck in the contests ahead."
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal