Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to get up and recognise Goldstein's outstanding young sporting achievers. Gavin Bircher, the captain of the under-18 Victorian state ice hockey team, last week returned from two months of intensive training with an ice hockey team in Switzerland. Dominique Blatherwick, from St Leonard's College, represented Victoria as goalkeeper for the under-13 Victorian hockey team. Blatherwick considers this her first step to realising her goal of representing Australia, just like her idol, the great Rachael Lynch. Alice and Molly Bourke, from Star of the Sea College and Haileybury respectively, have just returned from the UK, representing Australia in the under-19 Australian women's soccer team. St Leonard's student Lachlan Paice and his teammates in the under 13 boys Victorian hockey team walked away with the big win at the national championships last September. Luca Jarvis competed in the School Sport Australia Diving Championships in August. He competed well and came third in his age group for both platform and springboard. Luca and Harry Davies came in second in their age group for synchronised diving. James Currie, Jack Melvin and Brandon Tran represented Victoria last year in the under 15 lacrosse team in South Australia, and I am told they performed exceptionally well despite being a very young team. Matty Goss from Brighton Grammar, who I spoke about yesterday in the House of Representatives, will be representing Australia in the under 13 sailing team in New Caledonia this coming October. Sacred Heart Sandringham alumnus Sam Parker was honoured to represent Victoria at the School Sport Australia Touch Football Championships in October last year. I do not know if you have ever played it, Madam Deputy Speaker Vamvakinou, but touch football is a great game. Aaron and Phillip George, brothers from the Sandringham Yacht Club, sailed as individuals in the International Cadet Australian Championship this past January. While they did not come in first, I am told they are already preparing for next year's big race. Congratulations to you both, Aaron and Phillip George. And finally another St Leonard's student, Greta Jowett Smith—a passionate advocate for women in sports—recently competed in the National Futsal Championships. The team stormed into the finals, but were ultimately knocked out by New South Wales.

When it comes down to it, we are immensely proud of our incredible sporting achievers in the Goldstein community. Each one of them makes an incredible contribution, not just to their community, not just to their own health and fitness and not just to the idea of a competitive spirit in our community, but they also deliver a sense of achievement which everybody can benchmark themselves against. So to all of the people who are our local sporting champions in Goldstein, we all just want to wish you all the best and congratulations on your achievements as well as, more importantly, your achievements yet to come.