The Gippsland Sports Academy develops the sports skills, and personal skills, of talented young athletes through its sports programs.
Our pages provide information about these young athletes and their sports. We also acknowledge the individuals and sponsoring organisations whose support has enabled their high achievements.
29 September 2008 - Nail-biting golf final for Reanna
Reanna Matthews finished second in a thrilling final of the girls U16 Victorian Championships last Friday.
After two consistent opening rounds of strokeplay Reanna qualified third out of four for the matchplay finals. A win in the semi-final then put Reanna into the final against Jacinta Brideson, a graded pennant player.
Reanna played the match to a nail-biting 18th hole conclusion before her rival took a one stroke lead and clinched the title.
Reanna has been in excellent form after recently winning a Gippsland open women's title and she has made remarkable progress during the last 2 seasons. Her dedicated training is showing great returns and we look forward to more news of this promising young golfer.
26 September 2008 - Gippsland takes on badminton best
A Gippsland team will compete with badminton players from regions across Australia in next week's Val Nesbitt Carnival for U15 players.
The core of the Gippsland side will be the Academy's badminton squad players Grace Hanratty, Mihar Nandha and Jayden Barlow. They will be joined by two former squad members, Lauren Peter and Chris Ch'ng, along with Amy Dowd. An Academy coach, Ken Peter, will support the team.
Grace, Mihar and Lauren are all experienced and ranked doubles players and can also be expected to play well in their singles events.
The teams competition will be held at Altona this year, running from next Tuesday to Thursday. Individual Australian championships will follow for two further days.
26 September 2008 - Golfers prominent in Ogilvy Trophy
Academy golfers made a great start in the opening rounds of the Boys' Championship of Victoria, the Geoff Ogilvy Trophy.
Geoffrey Drakeford's 77 and 74 put him in the lead of the U18s and second overall. In the matchplay finals, Geoffrey won at Kingston Heath but was narrowly defeated in the semi-final round at the Kingswood course.
Harrison Savage, Nathan Doyle and James Blair, all U18s, also played extraordinarily well and finished with off-the-stick aggregates of 161, 162 and 163 respectively. They all showed great control under the Championship pressure.
All four finished in the top 16 in the U18s strokeplay, a remarkable achievement, and the best ever result for the squad.
In the U16s Mark Ferguson was further afield, but achieved an excellent result in his own right. Despite his tournament inexperience and the big event pressure, Mark's consistent rounds of 92 and 90 and show his potential for continuing improvement.
24 September 2008 - Swimmers respond to pressure
At this week's Australian Open Short Course titles our Academy swimmers have achieved excellent results.
Even though some of the Olympic team did not attend, the Championships attracted high quality fields. Our swimmers, stepping up to open age competition, responded magnificently
Kirsten Lieshout, Jeremy Meyer, Ben Geard, Brayden Waltham and Stephanie Morgan all swam personal bests.
Kirsten Lieshout (16 years) and Jeremy Saunders (18) both qualified for semi-finals.
Jeremy Meyer was the Academy's best performer when he made the breaststroke finals in both the 100m and 200m events. Jeremy, aged just 17, finished an outstanding 5th and 4th respectively in these races.
Well done to all our swimmers.
22 September 2008 - Reanna is Gippsland golf open championship
Last Friday Reanna Matthews won the Ladies All Gippsland Singles 27 holes Championship at Traralgon.
Reanna, just 15 years of age, built up a huge lead over the open field in the first 18 holes. At that point she had scored a 6 over par 77.
Reanna said that she lost some of her momentum over the final 9 holes, scoring 42, but she remained in control and finished 9 strokes ahead of the second place-getter.
This week Reanna is playing in the Victorian Girls' Championships in Melbourne.
18 September 2008 - Athletes qualify for Pacific Schools Games
In last weekend's Pacific Schools Games trials four Athletics Squad members secured selection.
Daniel Jackson dominated the boys' U15 2000 metres steeplechase, qualifying and winning easily.
Also winning comfortably in a qualifying performance, Ryan Buttner cleared 1.81 metres in the boys' U15 high jump.
Zachariah Nelson met the selection standard when won the U18 pole vault (3.50 metres). Wet and windy conditions seriously affected everyone's high jump and long jump performances but Zachariah, who finished second in both events, has previous qualifying performances.
Abbie Freestone finished second in the pole vault and she, also, has been selected by virtue of a prior qualifying performance (3.15 metres)
All four are now expected to compete at the Pacific Schools Games in Canberra during the first week of December.
16 September 2008 - Solid results in badminton
The long trip to Bendigo last weekend diminished numbers with only four at the State Selection Trial.
Stephanie Treloar achieved top honours with semi-finals finishes in both her doubles events, the U17 girls and mixed doubles. She also finished second in the singles consolation plate.
Grace Hanratty, also U17, had her best result in the girls' doubles where she made the quarter finals.
Luke Stuckey and Adam Moore both had competitive performances in their U13 preliminary round robin matches, although neither was able to qualify for the final playoffs.
News Summaries - link to all stories
September Gippstar winners
This month's winners have just been announced.
Junior winner was Mia Ross (athletics), and the senior winner was Keith Ferguson (skeet shooting).
Mia recently won an Australian Cross Country Championship, while Keith won a major national event..
Results for Gippslanders at Beijing Olympics & Paralympics
Congratulations to all athletes on their outstanding performances.
Daniel Connell (Bruthen, Olympics) - mountain bike, finished 39th
Ashley Delaney (formerly Sale, ex-Academy, Olympics) - swimming. Ashley finished 4th in the 100 metres backstroke and was a member of the second-placed 4 x 100 medley relay team.
Amanda Drennan (formerly Cowes, ex-Academy, Paralympics) - swimming. 8th in final of 400m freestyle.
Drew Ginn (formerly Leongatha, Olympics) - rowing, member of the winning men's pairs team, achieved his third Olympic win.
Aaron Hill (Metung, Paralympics) - sailing. 12th in 2.4m one person keelboat.
Belinda Snell (formerly Mirboo North, Olympics) - basketball. The Opals finished second, and Belinda was Australia's second highest scorer.
