St Mary’s College Toowoomba win Gold Coast Titans All Schools touch football tournament

Football and success go hand-in-hand at St Mary’s College Toowoomba and now a new generation of young players have added a prestigious piece of silverware to the school’s cabinet.

St Mary's under-15 touch football team.

TOUCH: Attitude is everything in sport and at St Mary’s having the ‘right attitude’ underpins everything they do.

Talent goes a long way but it was the attitude of their players that got the Toowoomba school over the line at the Gold Coast Titans All Schools touch football tournament according to coaches.

Two years after they won the under-13 title, St Mary’s beat Mardsen SHS 5-4 to win the U15 division with almost the same squad.

“Winning the under-13s and being able to come back and win under-15s is pretty amazing,” Braithen Scott said.

“The great thing about St Mary’s and Toowoomba is we get to play footy a lot together.

“We’re all really good mates, we’re honest with each other on the field and we play well as a team.

“Everyone knows their job and what’s expected of them and we trust each other.

“That helps a lot when you’re trying to win competitions.”

U15 coach and St Mary’s teacher Tim Marsh echoed Scott’s comments.

“We have some very talented players in the side and it helps they’ve played a lot of footy together,” he said.

St Mary's under-13 touch football team.

“The thing that impresses me the most though is their attitude. Their behaviour on and off the field is amazing.

“When things aren’t going well they will look at the problem, speak honestly to each and then quickly move on as they try to solve the problem.

“And they’re always very positive and focused.”

St Mary’s U13 did not enjoy the success of their U15 schoolmates, but coach Terese Dyne was still impressed by their performances.

The young squad produced some commanding performances throughout the tournament but lost 2-1 to Miami in the decider.

“We played superbly as a team,” Dyne said.

“They (the players) were fully committed in every game. From the first whistle to the last, even if we were ahead, they didn’t stop.

“We worked hard, played positive football and supported each other.”

The school’s Open team showed plenty of promise early in the tournament but a few untimely losses cost them their shot at glory.

“We played some quality touch football throughout the carnival,” coach Tammy Banks said.

“The boys had some very convincing wins against Ambrose Treacy College, Nerang SHS, Mueller College and Brisbane Adventist College, unfortunately, losses to Kirwan and Iona meant they missed out on finals.

“We still enjoyed the carnival, and I was really impressed in the support they (the Opens boys team) provided for our younger teams.

“We are working on building a strong touch football culture at the college and the boys were great at displaying this at the tournament.”