The St Rita’s Cross Country program is about developing fitness and enhancing individual confidence and personal ethics that, when combined, form a strong sense of team spirit encouraging the student to aim for their best within their limits.

This philosophy has led to St Rita’s in recent years making the podium in the CaSSSA Cup for a consecutive six years and championing the competition in 2021.

The Year 5 and Year 6 years age groups compete over 2km, while the older age groups all compete over 3km.

Head Coach

St Rita’s Head of Cross Country is Olympian and World Champion, Mr Michael Hillardt. Some of Mr Hillardt’s achievements include:

• Olympian 1500m 1984/88
• World Indoor Champion 1500m 1985, World Indoors 1987
• World Championships 1983/87
• World Cup 1981/85
• Commonwealth Games 1982/86
• Ten times Australian 800m and 1500m Champion
• Australian 1000m, 1500m and mile record holder
• Level 4 Middle distance coach - Athletics Australia

Assistant Coaches

Our coaching staff are all past distance runners, mostly drawn from past student talent within the College. Several coaches are past Australian representative team members at 800m and 1500m and triathlon.

Pre-season Cross Country and Season Training Times

Cross Country commences in the third week of Term 1. Official training and competitions are run from Term 2 through to late May and concluding with CaSSSA Cup.

Training takes place at the College on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 6:30am-7:45am.

Cross Country Competition Opportunities

Queensland Running events are held on Saturday afternoons at various locations (mostly Brisbane Northside) from mid-March each year.

In the lead up to CaSSSA Cup, interschool competitions are held during Term 2 giving our students the opportunity to compete against other schools. These meets are used as selection for the final St Rita’s College CaSSSA Cup Team.

Met North competitions are available if students are looking to further their aspirations in Cross Country.

Primary Years

Primary Years students train with the Secondary Year students, with their training program balanced to suit their age group. They are also eligible to progress to City District and Met North representation

The Netball program at St Rita’s College offers both primary and secondary students the opportunity to grow and develop skills on and off the netball court, helping them become well rounded athletes and members of the community. The program endeavours to provide students with an empowering, exciting, educational and fulfilling environment, inclusive of beginner players to the elite netballer.

Our Netball program prides itself on the 3 ‘Es’. Empowerment, Excellence and Enjoyment and offers participation in SRC Club Netball within the Downey Park Netball Association.

Vicki Wilson Cup, QC Cup, Primary Schools Cup and practice matches are offered to relevant students throughout the year. SRC Club Netball is run from March to August. Trials for Club Netball are held in January and the trials for the Vicki Wilson Squad are held in Term 1.

SRC Rackley Swimming

The College has partnered with Rackley Swimming to provide first-class swimming instruction and support to SRC swimmers.

Rackley is a renowned club, placing 16th Age Nationals and placing 3rd at Open Nationals in 2022. Our SRC Rackley Swimming coaching team includes:

• Lead Coach – Matt Nguyen– Over 15 years coaching experience in preparing school teams from Andrews Cup, QGSSSA, GPS and CaSSSA. Coach of National Age medallists, Matt has been a coach with Rackley since 2016. In 2019 he completed his Exercise Physiology Degree and brings his knowledge of physiology to help our swimmers improve technique in the water and be effective in dry land work.

Under our Rackley partnership, swimmers who wish to take swimming more seriously have access to Rackley Swimming training sessions at Centenary Pool. These sessions are additional to those offered at St Rita’s pool. The program remains open to St Rita’s and external swimmers.

Visit the Rackley Centenary site

Participation

Swimming is conducted year round in the College’s 25m x 25m heated pool - the Acqua Rosa Centre and is available to both primary and secondary students.

Trials for squad swimming and stroke correction sessions are held on a continuing basis.

Trials for CaSSSA Swimming occur during Term 1, generally on Friday afternoons, in the form of Lead up time trials. These trials, combined with the results of the College Age Swimming championships and Club swimming meets, form the base from which the St Rita’s swimming team is selected.

Competitions

• CaSSSA – Term 1. CaSSSA events selection is based on times from lead up competitions and available positions
• Met-North swimming – leads to Queensland School Sport and Australian Schools/Pacific School Games
• Club-based competitions – Brisbane Swimming, Queensland Swimming, National and International Meets based on qualifying time and selection criteria

Tennis at St Rita’s College enjoys immense success. The program caters for girls of all abilities, whether they are experienced or have never played before.

The Tennis Program commences in Term 1 with the CaSSSA Tennis competition. Trials for the CaSSSA teams are held in Term 4 of the preceding year.

St Rita’s participates in the Knowles Cup Competition. Knowles Cup is a girls secondary schools tennis competition where the best teams from eight schools across Brisbane and Toowoomba come together to battle it out for the honour of being the Knowles Cup Champion. St Rita’s has a very proud history in Knowles Cup, having won 10 out of the 24 times the competition has taken place, and created history in 2021 by winning the tournament and all age categories – a feat never before accomplished.

Every year the College holds the College Championship in Term 3 playing singles and doubles competitions for Junior (Years 7-8), Intermediate (Years 9-10) and Senior (Years 11-12).

Coach

Mr John James is the College’s Head Coach Tennis and holds an exceptional track record as a player and coach. Some of John’s achievements include:

• Director of Lifetime Tennis Bracken Ridge

• #1 Junior and Open Singles and Doubles Player

• Six-time Queensland Open Champion

• Tennis Australia Club Professional Coach

• 20 years coaching experience

• Premiership winning coach at St Rita’s College, St Joseph’s Nudgee College and The Southport School.

• All coaches are members of the Lifetime Tennis Bracken Ridge team. www.lifetimetennis.com.au

Season

• CaSSSA Tennis: Term 1 Years 5-12

• Development Program Years 5-9 (All Year)
• Competitive Program Years 5-12 (All Year)

• Knowles Cup Term 4: Years 7-12

SRC Club Touch Football is played over two seasons throughout the year. Season 1 runs over Terms 1-2 and Season 2 over Terms 3-4. The college competes in the Brisbane Metro Touch Association (BMTA) Competition.

The Open and U15 team will go on to compete in the annual All Queensland Schools Touch competition, played during Term 4. While the primary teams attend Primary All Schools Touch.

Touch Football for the College is also played within the Catholic Secondary Schoolgirls’ Sports Association (CaSSSA), Term-based competition:

• Junior (Years 7-8): Term 2

• Intermediate (Years 9-10): Term 3

• Open/ Senior (Years 8-12): Term 3

Track and Field training occurs throughout Terms 2 and 3, with season meets held in Term 3. The season culminates in August with the CaSSSA Championships in August. Students also have the opportunity to compete in the Met North Regional program. And if the college is accepted the National Schools Challenge in December. The college has a strong history achieving a podium finish for several years, and winning the last 4 years at CaSSSA.

St Rita’s College Head of Track & Field is Mr Peter Kropp.

Mr Kropp’s experience and qualifications include:

T&F Level 4 ATFCA

Level 4 Senior IAAF Coach in Sprints/Hurdles/Relays/Jumps

Training is held at Nudgee College with 2 sessions each week in Term 2 and 4 sessions each week in Term 3.

Volleyball is offered in Term 2 as an optional sporting program for Primary Years students to participate in. This development program assists students to learn the basic skills of Volleyball which supports their transfer to competitive Volleyball in the Secondary Year levels.

Secondary Years

Volleyball is offered within the Catholic Secondary Schoolgirls’ Sports Association (CaSSSA) Term-based competition:

• Senior/Intermediate (Years 9-12): Term 1
• Junior (Years 7-8): Term 2

The College sends teams to the QLD Schools Cup competitions throughout the year.

St Rita’s College Water Polo has seen immense growth and success in the last five years. All students, primary and secondary, are able to participate in Water Polo. The Water Polo program works to support athlete growth and development, and encourages participation across all skill levels.

Our program supports those that want to pursue the sport just for fun and fitness, through to those who aspire to representative levels including Regional, State and National level. In 2021, the College had four students selected in Youth Australian Teams, one student selected in a Senior National League Squad, 18 girls selected in the Queensland Squads, and two girls selected in the Queensland School Merit Team.

Season

Water Polo’s main season is in Summer with the Brisbane competition for Years 5-12 running from Term 4 through to the following year’s Term 1. A Winter competition runs throughout Term 3 for all players. State Titles and Youth National Titles are held during, or at the end of, the Summer Season. 

Trials

Trials for the Summer season are held in August. After selection, teams begin training ready for the start of games in Term 4.

The Winter season doesn’t run trials. Girls are welcome to come along, train and play after registering their interest with the Head Coach.

Competitions

St Rita’s competes in the Brisbane Water Polo competition which runs on Saturdays during Summer and throughout the week during Winter. This competition is a mixture of schools and clubs, with our athletes playing against other Secondary schools and clubs from Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. Selections for these teams are through our School trials.

Teams are also entered into the annual State and National Water Polo competitions. These fixtures act as selections for State and National Talent Squads and Selection is performance-based.

Our Water Polo players also participate in Met North, where girls can trial to represent their school and region. Selection for individuals to attend these trials is based on each players’ performance throughout the season.