By Ethan Benedicto
Two junior basketball teams from Berwick College struck gold in the recent 2023 national Footlocker Australian Schools Championships.
Berwick college’s vocational major leader, Brent Hobba, said their students “displayed exceptional sportsmanship and proudly represented themselves, their families and Berwick College in every competition”.
Held in the Gold Coast, Berwick College Blue were undefeated throughout the under 15’s division one category, averaging a 27.4-point differential between the five teams they competed against.
They defeated Rowville secondary college for the gold medal on Friday 1 December, with Berwick scoring 65 points and Rowville scoring 58.
Berwick College White were also undefeated in the under 15’s division two, where they averaged a 15.6-point differential against their competitors.
Berwick triumphed over Ferntree Gully’s St Joseph’s college for gold on the same day, with scores of 51 and 47 respectively.
A junior under-15’s women’s team also entered the division one competition, where they finished fifth out of seven teams.
The men’s senior team participated as a wildcard in the championship division to qualify for the state champions’ cup, where Berwick finished sixth.
Despite the women’s and senior men’s team’s loss, Mr Hobba said that they gave it their all.
“The junior girls and senior boys played their hearts out in an extremely talented division one and championship division, it serves as a great experience that the groups can now build on for next year,” Mr Hobba said.
The trip was a huge success with two teams bringing in gold medals for the college, and more importantly with new friendships and great memories made along the way.
