The Middle School Winter Sports carnival took place on 16 September 2022. Students could play to their strengths by choosing to participate in either Triathlon, Ultimate Vortex or Theatre Sports. The day provided a wonderful opportunity for a brain break after a busy CAT schedule and was action packed. Treacy House proved too strong and took out the overall gold medal for the day.

Triathlon
The 2022 Aquinas Middle School Triathlon occurred in Week 9. This event consisted of a 100 metre swim, a 2000 metre bike ride and a 1000 metre run. In each year group, there were individual participants from each tutor group who courageously completed the whole course by themselves. Additionally there were also team triathlon groups from each tutor group which consisted of a swimmer, biker and runner. This gave all boys an opportunity to participate and specialise in an area where they could show off their skills to the rest of the Middle School. With Mr Dempsey on the microphone commentating, the atmosphere at this event was great, with all boys who had/were yet to complete their race, cheering on their peers to try and steal some extra points for their house. There was great camaraderie and house spirit shown throughout the day as boys rallied behind their peers and supported them in an amazing show of sportsmanship and respect for one another. There were some amazing efforts by boys such as Christopher Chan who won the individual year 7 triathlon and Daniel Delic who’s incredible running ability saw him overtake the lead and win the year 8 individual triathlon. The triathlon was only one event of the Winter Sports Carnival as there was also ultimate vortex and theatre sports. Once the last competition was completed, it was the mighty Treacy House that walked away with the win. (Year 9 individual winner – Xavier Bianchini)

Theatre Sports
Theatre is a medium for expression for many boys at the College. It cannot be understated how Aquinas excels in its drama department, with various productions and dramatical opportunities cementing the school’s place as a college for the arts. The recent introduction of theatre sports to the Winter Sports Carnival not only solidifies the position of arts at Aquinas, but opens the door to many opportunities in the future. Theatre sports is a relatively simple concept; teams (generally of 3 to 5 participants) compete in improvisation-based drama games, being assessed based on their narrative, technique, and entertainment. Technique is a focal point for assessment; teams must demonstrate that they understand the rules of the game. For example, in the game 'Alphabet', teams create a story based on the given prompt by the adjudicator. The catch, however, is that each new sentence begins with the next letter of the alphabet. The three points of assessment can create engaging, entertaining and technical scenes.

The day ran like this; we began by compiling into our house teams and choosing our team names. Teams consisted of 8 to 10 members. Following this, we had a briefing from Mrs Vaswani about how to play theatre sports correctly, with the rules for each game being expounded. Finally, we got into action; through the help of Mrs Vaswani and Ms Cocks, along with the assistance of year 10 students Charles Mavrick, Cooper Allen and Noah Linaker, the competition ran smoothly. The three judges; Mr Bowyer, Ms Wilson and Mr McAndrew; for entertainment, narrative and technique respectively; produced a fair competition. In the end, Bryan house came first, creating a fantastic end to Aquinas’ first annual theatre sports competition. (Samuel Johnston - Year 9 student)