Sporting Schools – Gymnastics

Campbell Primary School are very grateful to again be a recipient of sporting schools funding for Term 2 2023, thanks to the Australian Governments’ $320 million Sporting Schools Initiative. This offers CPS the opportunity to engage specialist coaches and to try new sports that might otherwise be outside existing skill sets.

We were so excited to welcome back the Canberra City Gymnastics coaches for the fourth year running! Delivering the Gymnastics Australia Launch Pad program our Kindergarten to Year 2 students had the opportunity to jump, stretch, roll, flip and balance their way through a range of rotating activities designed to introduce them to the wonderful sport of gymnastics. All six classes had a wonderful time and it was a highlight of each Friday over the last four weeks.

A huge thank you to Coach Adam (who must really like us – he’s been here ALL four years) and Coach Emily who designed and facilitated the sessions. Both specialists in their field they were fantastic at coaxing us out of our comfort zones to try new things that challenged our strength and flexibility in a fun and safe way. Thanks Canberra City Gymnastics! If you are interested in learning more about their external programs you can visit their website canberracity.gymnastics.org.au. We hope we will see you again next year.

Year 5 and 6 NFL Flag Football

Because the term “football” isn’t already confusing enough with NRL, Union, AFL and soccer, this term Year 5 and 6 add another to their repertoire… NFL! Thanks to a fantastic free outreach opportunity led by NFL Flag Australia, Campbell Primary have received a full NFL flag equipment set, five hours of professional coaching, online resources AND a full day of teacher training to turn Miss Thane and Miss Abbey into NFL Coach Thane and Coach Abbey!

In six years this is the most excited we have seen a crew of students about a new sports program and what’s not to love? It’s an inclusive, non-contact, modified game that suits all skill levels. The sweetener? The opportunity to enter a team of 10 to 12 students in to the “state” championships in Term 3. The winner of the ACT region at this carnival will be sponsored to go on to represent the territory on the Gold Coast in Term 4 in the National titles. Win that? Vegas, baby! That’s right, the Australian representative team will be flown to the World Championships in Las Vegas early in 2024. Needless to say, our very sporty senior crew are already training hard and mentally packing their bags! 

Team selections for the CPS team for the ACT carnival are underway and will be finalised soon. For those that miss out this time we hope to continue the program in 2024 and there will also be other inter school sports carnival opportunities in the coming months – watch this space!

Coach Thane has been really impressed with the energy, effort, enthusiasm and sportsmanship shown so far and we hope that the PBL “touchdown’s” continue!

Grace Maher from Canberra United Visits for Female Football Week

Female Football Week is a nationwide initiative to celebrate the immense growth of women’s football at all levels of the game and acknowledge and promote the important role women play in developing football. In 2023 Female Football Week took place from Friday 19 to Sunday 28 May, 2023. Last week Campbell Primary was fortunate to be selected for a visit by none other than Grace Maher of Canberra United. A celebrated midfielder who was signed at just 15 - at the time the youngest ever signing to the Australian W-League - Grace aspires to make the Matilda’s team in time for the 2026 World Cup in the US.

Years 3 and 4 were treated to a in depth meet and greet with Grace during her visit and had some fantastic questions about her journey as an athlete and her career to date. There was lots of excitement around this years Women’s World Cup here in Australia with many budding Matildas fans very confident of the outcome! After the question session the girls were treated to a soccer drills and skills session with Grace on the oval. It was fantastic to see even the most reluctant athletes having a go and really enjoying the session.

Not to be outdone the boys were treated to a special (and very spirited) series of scooter board relays and culminating with a scooter board hockey game in the hall.

We wanted to extend our heartfelt thanks to Grace and the team at Capital Football for this very special opportunity. To learn more about football in the ACT you can visit their website https://capitalfootball.com.au/ and to get behind our Matildas the fan site is https://www.matildas.com.au/. Happy to report they have a whole heap of new fans!