Article Supplied By: Sydney Catholic Schools

Sport has a remarkable capacity to positively impact the lives of young people. It fosters teamwork and camaraderie, instils discipline and perseverance, and is a powerful vehicle for building self-esteem and confidence.

At Sydney Catholic Schools, we believe that sport is for everyone, regardless of age or ability. Within our system, we offer an inclusive variety of sports for students to enjoy in both competitive and non-competitive settings.

We facilitate more than 30 sports, including non-traditional sports such as mountain biking, surfing and badminton. We’re committed to providing opportunities for students to develop a variety of skills and explore whatever their passions may be.

Our inter-school sport competitions run regularly throughout the year, right across our 147 schools. These competitions are organised throughout four geographical conferences, giving students the chance to test themselves against other schools.

High-achieving students are given the opportunity to trial for representation that may then lead to state and national competitions. Our established representative pathways ensure that students with talent are identified and encouraged to enhance their ability through development camps, further training and competition.

We’re also actively building the opportunities that we’re able to provide to students with a disability. Sydney Catholic Schools is one of the only systems to administer and facilitate unified all ability sport, where schools choose teams and participate against one another in regular afternoon school sport. Our goalball program is a fantastic example of that, giving students with and without a disability the chance to play a Paralympic sport together.

We see unification at our system events too, such as our athletics, cross country and swimming championships. Students of all abilities and ages compete on the same day, alongside one another. It ensures that every student is given a chance to join a sport at a level that challenges them.

We also benefit from the support of a number of industry partners who bring an expert lens to the work that we do. Organisations such as St George Rowing Club, New South Wales Rugby and New South Wales Netball provide us with a wealth of support, both strategically and operationally.

At Sydney Catholic Schools, we’re focused on growing our sporting opportunities and pathways for all students, regardless of their background, gender or physical ability. From school-based participation to elite competition, we will continue to work together with our school communities and the sports industry to champion the role that sports can play in our students’ lives.