Sport
12 October, 2022
Unbeatable Saint Columbans College claim TAS basketball title for the fifth year running
ST COLUMBAN’S College has been crowned The Associated Schools (TAS) Premier basketball school for the fourth time in five years, with the year 8 and year 12 teams undefeated all season.
St Columban’s College Basketball Coordinator David Cremasco-Schmidt said if it wasn’t for COVID disruptions in 2020, it would have been five from five.
“Our ‘firsts’ team has only lost one game in the last five years,” he said.
Mr Cremasco-Schmidt said that their participation levels have skyrocketed in recent years and allowed them to nominate additional teams in the TAS supplementary competitions.
“This allows more students to play basketball and have fun,” he said.
Since 2015, the school has been working towards creating a “Buy In” culture, which means all the boys play together from juniors to seniors.
Mr Cremasco-Schmidt said he believes it is this culture that has led to their basketball success.
Year 12 students and “Firsts” team captains Darcy Robinson and Bailey Wilson have played together for five years and said their favourite part about the TAS basketball program is being a part of a like-minded community and culture.
Bailey said that his main role as team captain is to keep everyone positive.
He said the team’s success stems from their commitment to training and maintenance of a good work ethic.
Darcy said they play against many other schools including St Paul’s School, West Moreton Anglican College, St John’s College, and John Paul College.
Darcy and Bailey have been playing since year 7 while their team has only ever lost one game.
“We lost that one game in year 7 against St John’s,” Darcy said.
Year 8 student Mozes Arjun is also yet to lose a game, with his team dominating the TAS competition this year.
Whilst year 9 student Kaden Gray said his season has been a bit more challenging, he said the team is still living in the glory of its 94-4 win against John Paul College at the start of the season.
Darcy, Bailey, Mozes, and Kaden also play representative basketball outside of school with the Moreton Bay Suns, with Darcy and Bailey in the u21s, Kaden in u18s and Mozes in u16s.
St Columban’s College also recently participated in the Champion Basketball School of Queensland (CBSQ) Junior Secondary Competition from September 15 to 18, with the junior girls’ team achieving gold and the Sophomore boys’ team winning silver.
Mr Cremasco-Schmidt said the school has been involved in the state-wide competition since 2015 and the teams have been in division 2 for the past six years.
He said that the school aims to keep developing players at the TAS level, improve their CBSQ results and create new opportunities for students to get involved in basketball outside of school.
“We’re all about community here, we also try to bring back our past students to assist as coaches,” he said.
Past student and now teacher at St Columban’s College, Mr Riley Martin, was the Firsts coach for 2022.
“Darcy’s sister has also come back to help coach the girls teams,” he said.
Mr Cremasco-Schmidt said all the teams have put in a tremendous amount of effort this year and deserve every success.
“As a collective, it is about creating a legacy for continued success and enjoying the experience of representing St Columban’s College,” he said.
“We have established a program which provides high quality opportunities for all players to be involved and learn the skills to be successful; as an individual and within a team.”
