Pictured are the Hazelwood College Transition Year students who recieved certificates for completing the Lucca Leadership programme with west Limerick Volunteer Support Service.
Pictured with them are School Principal, Mr Brendan Burke and Mr Paul Moriarty of The West Limerick Volunteer Support Service.
Hazelwood College beat Castletroy, the powerhouse of Limerick Schoolgirls’ basketball, to claim their first county senior basketball title in front of a packed house at the UL Arena. The Hazelwood girls have come off second best to Castletroy for the past two years and the signs were again ominous after a lacklustre campaign this year. However a good showing against St. John the Baptist School, Hospital, four days prior to the final rekindled the spark that had been missing since the defeat in the All-Ireland final of the previous year.
Castletroy took an early lead in the first quarter as Hazelwood struggled to cope with the excellent inside play of Castletroy’s tall post players. Celia Cremin kept Hazelwood in touch with two good baskets before Victoria Harnett and team captain Ciara Meaney leveled the score with a basket each.
Hazelwood took to the floor for the second quarter, confidence boosted, and attacked the Castletroy defence. Never before have I witnessed these girls attack a quality defence with such skill and vigour. A combination of lightning fast breaks by Maire Flanagan and Vickie Harnett, aggressive drives by Celia Cremin and gritty defence by everyone saw Hazelwood outscore Castletroy by eleven points to two before Ciara Meaney nailed a three pointer with two seconds on the clock in the second quarter.
The dreaded nerves appeared at the beginning of the third quarter. Loose shots from outside gave the ball back to Castletroy too easily. Solid defence from Emma Purcell and Miriam Noonan in the centre of the key and Aoife Leahy in the corner made it difficult for Castletroy to capitalise on Hazelwood’s limping offence. A quick timeout settled the team and the girls went back on court and took control. Baskets from Cremin, Meaney and Flanagan gave Hazelwood a commanding 29 – 14 lead with one quarter to play.
The final quarter was played at a frenetic pace. Castletroy applied an aggressive full court press in an attempt to force quick turnover ball. Hazelwood, playing just one post and four perimeter players, easily broke the press and repeatedly scored from the fast break. Castletroy were reluctant to give up their title and dug deep to outscore Hazelwood by 18 points to 16 in the last quarter. The final action of the game saw Deborah Daly seal victory with a classy layup from a fast break by Suzanne Sheehy and Anita Lucey.
It was a special day for all concerned but especially so for four Leaving Cert students who were playing their last game for the school after many years fighting in the trenches with no reward. Best wishes for the future to Aoife, Ciara, Miriam and Vickie.
Photo
Back Row L-R : Desmond Lambe, Miriam Noonan, Suzanne Sheehy, Emma Purcell, Deborah Daly, Celia Cremin
Front Row L-R : Anita Lucey, Aoife Leahy, Ciara Meaney (Captain), Vickie Harnett, Maire Flanagan
Following a successful Log On Learn programme at Hazelwood College participants received their certificates of completion. Photo includes Principal Mr Brendan Burke, TY tutors and newly qualified LOL TY graduates.
Log On, Learn is a nationwide programme run in conjunction with Transition Year. Its aim is to guide senior members of the community through an introduction to computers by using a ‘buddy’ system whereby a transition year student sits with each participant so that they get individual and personalised tuition. This is the first time the course has been run at Hazelwood College and it has been a great success. Each week a different topic was covered so that over the course of 6 weeks participants gained computer knowledge and became more confident. Transition year students themselves became the teachers and it was a great way of bringing the school and the wider community together. Following its great success it is hoped to run the programme again in the autumn.
