North Albany Senior High School among fierce Great Southern competition at annual School Country Week

The next generation of athletes from the Great Southern will travel to Perth to compete in the 2023 School Country Week next week. Thirsty for success, North Albany Senior High School students will don their colours against some of WA’s top sporting schools. School and soccer captain Malcolm Van Burgel said while the week was fun, the aim was to bring home the title. “I’m eager to have a fun week and show good sportsmanship but we also want to be a competitive side,” he said. “We’re in A-grade division, so hopefully we compete well in that and walk away winners.” The week also provides great opportunities to unearth young talent across a range of disciplines in regional areas. “I think it shows the great sporting ability that we have in regional towns,” Van Burgel said. “Although we are smaller towns, we can still compete against other schools and display our talents.” This year also marks the school’s inaugural AFL girls’ team led by Amarlie Weinert. “It’s an amazing feeling being able to lead a great bunch of girls to Perth for the week,” she said. AFLW is one of the fastest-growing codes in Australian sport and Weinert urged all girls to have a go. “Just do it,” she said. “Go out there and try it, it’s great fun and you might end up loving it.” North Albany Senior High School will be joined by last year’s runners-up Albany Senior High School, Great Southern Grammar, Mt Barker Community College, Bethel Christian School, Denmark Senior High School, and WA College of Agriculture Denmark.