On Friday 23 November, the Diocesan Sports Council staged the 22nd Annual CDF Sports Awards to recognise the outstanding achievements of students from primary and secondary schools across the Diocese.

Over 280 students from five of our Illawarra schools have competed against hundreds of other Catholic school students from across NSW and the ACT in the 35th annual NSW Catholic Primary Schools Basketball Challenge (CPSBC).

The tournament - this year hosted by St Christopher’s, Panania - is one of the largest sporting tournaments for primary school students in NSW. The strong presence of the Diocese of Wollongong could not be missed, with St Paul’s, Albion Park; Stella Maris, Shellharbour; Nazareth, Shellharbour City; Ss Peter and Paul, Kiama; and St Brigid’s, Gwynneville taking 40 teams between them to play at venues across Bankstown, Menai, Sutherland and Riverwood.

If the St George Illawarra Dragons are looking for a breeding ground of young talent, they need look no further than St Columbkille’s, Corrimal. The primary school has yet again nurtured their students’ NRL footy skills and teamwork to great success - this year coming away both the boys’ Rod Wishart Shield and girls’ Sam Bremner Shield.

John Therry Rosemeadow student, Malek Malual, may be late bloomer in basketball circles but he has wasted little time making a big impression.

As a baby, Courtney Schonell chose to hold a hockey stick over a dummy. At age four, she picked up that stick to play. Six years later, she made her first national hockey team. Now, at 17 years old, Courtney has won the NSWCCC Vince Villa Award for most outstanding female athlete across all sports and is on track to represent Australia at the 2018 Youth Olympics.

Jordan Doris (Mt Carmel) and Luke Small (Magdalene) won gold in their respective 800m track events at Schools Nationals in December.

Photos of all award recipients can be found here in categories

Congratulations to JORDAN DORIS of Year 12 at Mount Carmel Catholic College, for his exceptional performance in representing his country at the ​recent ​Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas. 

The 20th Annual Blues evening involves the presentation of awards and recognition of the top students in all sports from NSW Catholic Secondary Schools and Colleges.

On Friday 18 November the Diocesan Sports Council staged the 20th Annual CDF Sports Awards to recognise the outstanding achievements of students from primary and secondary schools across the Diocese.

Some wonderful results from CEDOW students at the recent NSWCCC Championships at Homebush.  Congratulations to all students who represented Mackillop, to all place getters and to the following students for their outstanding performances.