Woodbrook College

          An Edmund Rice School

Life in Woodbrook College
2019
Life in Woodbrook College
A glimpse into the life of a Woodbrook College Student
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Fun Run 2019
Report
Fun Run 2019
In spite of the wet weather, the 2019 Fun Run took place on Friday October 25th. For the first time in its existence the venue was changed from Shanganagh Park to the school campus due to the poor wet weather. The students involved in the organisation were excellent when asked to adapt to the contingency of staging the run on the schools grounds at short notice. Well done to all involved on reacting so well to the change of venue. Even though the weather was poor, student enthusiasm and participation was high. This was reflected by the €1250 fundraised from the €5 entry fee to take part. The funds raised were donated to the four different charity partners; Irish Aid, Vision Sports Ireland, Irish Wheelchair Association and Christmas Hamper appeal. Well done to all those bravely participated in spite of the poor weather and their generous donations. For the students that were keen to compete, there three races within the Fun Run; senior boys’, girls’ and junior boys’. Congratulations to Conor Murphy on winning the senior boys’ race, Eve O’Brien on winning the girls’ race and Nathan O’Shea on winning the junior boys’ race. The whole school community look forward to the 2020 edition of the Fun Run and wish for improved weather conditions so it can return to the Shanganagh Park venue.
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Woodbrook Wellfest
2019
Woodbrook Wellfest
Since September a number of classes have been exploring the UN Sustainable Development Goal of Good Health and Wellbeing. In their Global Citizenship Module TY came up with some action projects on areas of Wellbeing that interested them. In Geography 3 Carson explored the impact of Climate Justice on people’s wellbeing. In Personal Development 2 Hackett organised a whole week of activities to improve their mental health and 2 McAleese are currently working on a no homework week to see if there is a link between homework and sleep. The point of these activities is to encourage the students to be active citizens. To understand that their actions on global issues help by raising awareness and starting discussions on possible changes to their own behaviours.
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Basketball

Senior Basketball (U19 Boys)

For the majority of the senior panel, this was their final year representing their school Woodbrook College. Unfortunately, the season did not pan out for them as most of us would have wished. The boys finished third in their East regional pool and got a chance at a play-off for the shield, but missed out due to a sound defeat to a very strong Le Chéile team. Many of these boys never managed to lift any silverware throughout their time playing here in Woodbrook College, but the culture of basketball and the improvement we are seeing in the younger years in this school is down to the influence of these young men. They have helped at first year training, they have engaged in mixed games with the younger years at both lunch and break time and they have provided much needed support at any game they could make it to. For this, we are indebted to these gents and we wish them the best of luck in their future endeavours.   

First Year Boys

For such a small number of players, the first year boys managed to accomplish some feats this year as they represented our school. For the majority of the season, the boys remained undefeated before eventually losing to St. Michaels. We managed to finish second in our Pool and Qualified for the All-Ireland Playoffs. After a ton of vigorously fought games, the boys managed to make it to the All-Irelands with the added bonus of getting to host one of the blitzes here in the school for the very first time. Teams came here from both Cork and Kerry to face our lads. Unfortunately, it was not our day as Tralee emerged the victors. The first year team and Mr. Messitt would like to thank Mr. Taylor, Harry, Carol and Liz for their helping with organizing such a well-run Blitz.

Second Year Boys

Managing both school work and extra-curricular can be quite a challenge, especially when you are training for a total of seven hours a week, competing in games on weekly basis and trying to stay on top of your classwork. Therefore, a lot of credit is due to the second year boys basketball team for managing to balance all of this throughout the year. The team trained and played to the best of their ability all year and represented the school superbly when travelling to and from games. The boys went undefeated all the way through the regular season, only to lose in the East Regional Finals by a narrow margin to Lucan CC. The final was a tight-knit game, which would probably have a different outcome if played again. As a result of coming second in the eastern region, the boys travelled to an All-Ireland Blitz in Newry, which the boys easily sailed through. The second years reached the All-Ireland Quarter-Final, where they lost by two points to a strong Bellmullet team. The final play of the game came down to our captain and MVP of the year, Patrick Bongala, to shoot a three-pointer (which we all felt confident he’d make), but unfortunately it was not meant to be as the ball bounced around the rim and dropped off to the side, thus ending our season for another year. The second year boys and Mr Messitt would like to thank our first year players Liam Mullins and Adithya Santhoshkumar for training with us and helping us out in crucial games.

Girls Basketball

The girls teams had a really enjoyable season as they trained four hours a week to build and develop skills which should see them compete strongly in next years divisions and cups. There were great performances throughout the year from emerging talents such as Abhirahmi Santoshkumar, Ruby Roche and Eve O’Brien at 1st Year level and Ella Maree at U16 level.

The girls are looking forward to a successful campaign where they are sure to dominate in the Wicklow Leagues.