2007 - Hugh Lord, AIS Canberra

Young Hugh Lord, of our Under 18s, recently went to the AIS ain Canberra. 

He reports as follows
  "I boarded the plane to go to the AIS in Canberra on 16 January not knowing what the next three days would be like. Unfortunately Gareth Bautz was not able to attend the Brumbies training camp, due to a broken arm. Luckily I was not alone as three other blokes from SA were going as well. 

When we arrived we were shown our accommodation, which was about a 30 minute walk from the AIS. There were 64 people that attended the camp. We did two days of skills based training, mostly ball handling skills, the last day we did position specific skills, which was very interesting.
At the end of the last day the group was split into 4 and we played 2 games against each other.
Unfortunately I was hit in the head about three times and suffered concussion for the next two weeks.
We ate all our meals at the AIS, they were excellent. The facilities there are amazing as well. It was a very good three days and in which I learnt huge amounts of information. I enjoyed myself greatly and would like to thank the sponsors of the Howard Clay scholarship for giving me the opportunity to go to the camp. I would also like to make a special thank you to Anne Bradley for putting so much time and effort into organizing the trip."

 

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2000 - New South Wales

Jem Shimmield & David Cooke
1999 - New South Wales

The 1999 Joyce Spry Award - New South Wales

Dear Joyce,

I would like to thank you for giving me a scholarship to New South Wales rugby camp.   I had a great time learning and knowing that South Australia isn't so far behind in it's rugby.  On the way travelling up to New South Wales I had a great time exploring Sydney.  I was looked after by the other boys from Old Coll's.  I noticed that the Sydney Opera House isn't as good as I thought.

On the Camp there were all different celebrities, such as Matt Burke and Nathan Grey.   Matt Burke happened to take my ball and didn't return it but I got it back eventually.  I also gave him one of my special tackles.  As the week went though and I was getting tested on my ability, the older boys were more interested in the netballers than their rugby.  We had a disco on the last night with the netballers and most of the boys sat out but when it came down to dancing I was in there!

Well, that's about it what happened on the camp.  Once again thank you.

Ryan van Doorn

 

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1998 - "Churchies"

Extract from Dougy's letter about the trip to "Churchies".

The next day we got the chance to prove our stuff.

We were put in fairly high grades for the game against Ipswich Grammar, Jeremy played in the 13c's while I played in the 15c's.  I didn't get to see Jeremy play, but it sounded like he played pretty good under the circumstances. When I finished for the 15c's, the 16b's asked me to play for them, which I was a bit reluctant to do at first, seeing the size of the opposition, but finally I plucked up enough courage to play!

The down side to the week was having to go to school. Just when we thought we were in rugby heaven, Monday rocked up and kicked us in the back. We also picked a bad week to go. Test week.

But, Saturday came around again, for one of the biggest days in our rugby lives.

Churchie vs Nudgee is like nothing in Adelaide, maybe apart from Rostrevor vs. Sacred Heart in footy, but even that is nothing compared to this. They were expecting 10,000 for the 1st XV game, but the bad weather set in and only 3,500 people turned up to brave the wet and cold conditions, weird for that time of year. All the Queenslanders were freezing, but it wasn't that cold to the South Aussie boys! 

When we got there, my jaw dropped.
Nudgee is HUGE! Churchie is almost the same size, but when the school has its own 18 hole golf course it's got to be big! Anyway, Jeremy got promoted to the 13b's, while I was on the bench for the 15a's.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a run, but the team romped in anyway. However, I did get a run in the 15c's again and we drew 10 all.

Yet again, I didn't get to see Jeremy play, but it sounded like he had yet another very solid performance and in a higher grade this time too! To me, the highlight of the trip was the big one, the 1st XV game.
Churchie had not beaten Nudgee at their home ground in 50 odd years, and had not beaten Nudgee anywhere in 10 years, so the odds were highly in favour of Churchie for a win.
And it was Churchies turn to win! Winning 15-nil, a big margin in the bad conditions.

It was a great day and the celebrations continued into the night!

The next day was Sunday and we were leaving one of the best weeks of our lives and rugby heaven behind us for home sweet home. It was a great week and I would like to thank the club for all the support, Mike Cosgrave for setting up the week, Jesse for believing in me, and Joyce Spry for giving Jeremy and I the opportunity of a life time in one of the Mecca's of rugby in the world.

Richard "Dougy" DeGioia

Richard de Gioia & Jeremy Mangos went to Churchies in Brisbane courtesy the Howard Clay Award and Joyce Spry Award.

 

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