Mount Gambier High School came out swinging at the Annual Berri Exchange. narrowly missing out on the win.
The exchange commenced in 1947 and is the longest running public schools exchange in Australia, with 2024 being the 79th year.
The schools gather to compete for the honours of the Symonds Debating Shield and Carthew Sporting Cup.
The exchange began with the much anticipated virtual debate on Tuesday, July 2.
The topic of this year’s debate was ‘The influence of technology on human relationships is detrimental’ with Mount Gambier High School arguing as the negative team.
The debate provoked a lot of interesting arguments and rebuttals with the Mount Gambier High School trio comprising of Callum McIntyre-Gregory, Caitlin Hitchon and Annapurna Anbu unfortunately coming
in a close second to the Berri Regional Secondary College team at the final bell.
The following day, both schools’ sporting teams met on mutual grounds in Bordertown to compete for the coveted Carthew Sporting Cup.
The schools played off in a variety of sports over seven matches including Boys and Girls Soccer, Boys and Girls Basketball, Division A and B Netball, and Boys Football.
All matches were played in great spirit, and there were a lot of tight contests despite the score line reflecting different, including the Boys Soccer match that went to a penalty shootout!
The Division A Netball was a tight tussle right to the end, with the Berri girls taking the win in the final seconds, 26 to 25.
At the end of the day Berri Regional Secondary College were too strong this year and were presented with the Carthew Sporting Cup.
Mount Gambier High School Special Sports Coordinator Abbey Duncan said many of the younger students will learn from the experience and still har plenty of years ahead to compete again and return the Carthew Sporting Cup back to Mount Gambier High School.
“The staff and students involved all have a common purpose, to play in their respective sports in the hopes of being successful and ultimately to come home with the cup, however we hold high value in the opportunity this exchange gives for both school communities to also continue developing strong social connections,” she said.
“We are extremely grateful for the Bordertown community, in particular the Basketball and Hockey Associations, and the Football and Netball clubs for allowing us to use their facilities, as well as contribute towards the organisation of the day.
This event would not be able to take place if we did not have their help and support.”
“We had students who helped officiate, umpire and even stepped up to play a sport they had never played before.
“Our student’s ability to help out when needed and their willingness to push themselves out of their comfort zone demonstrated great character and the values we want students at Mount Gambier High School to display.”
“Despite some games not going the way of Mount Gambier High School it was fantastic to see the student’s comradery and sportsmanship, particularly when there would have been many moments where they would have felt things were not going their way, but to their credit everyone persevered and gave their absolute best.”
