What a big week we have had at Central Coast Sports College. It seems like every single day present huge obstacles that we seem to overcome and I feel that I could write a couple of pages for each day rather than a whole week in review.
It has been really nice to read through each of our staffs blogs for the past week and gain an insight into their experiences at IFS as time moves along.
1. Mastermind
In my open day speech I mentioned the book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill where he talked about creating a mastermind group. A group of people you surround yourself with who are wiser, more experienced and more skilled than yourself, that you can go to for help and support, to ensure you continue working towards your goals. My staff at IFS are my mastermind group. Each and every one of them brings their passion, skill and expertise to their jobs and in turn to our students and I am blessed to have them on board with me and I thank them all for their tireless work.
2. Tow Trucks and Buses
Some of you may know about the sagas we have been experiencing with our buses. We purchased a bus in WA back in early January which I drove across from Perth. That in itself is a very long story, however, it has been here and seemed like it will be a great bus for us. This bus will end up being the one that travels from Newcastle each day picking up students along the way.
Well last week Andre had organised for a mate of his, who is a mechanic to have a look at it one evening as we needed a few things fixed up. I received a phone call from Andre in the evening saying that he was having problems and had broken down on the freeway near Ourimbah. Luckily I was close by and came and sure enough there was a long line of traffic. Andre was stranded on the Ourimbah exit in our rather large coach. The bus would not go into gear (we had just had the clutch replaced in Perth only 2-3 weeks prior). I made some phone calls and within 45 mins we had a tow truck on site ready to tow us.
We had the bus towed to a mechanic in Fountaindale and left it there for the night. Ken the tow truck driver from O’Neill’s towing, who was a very nice man, gave me an indication of the cost of the towing and said we would sort it out tomorrow.
The next day Ken showed up to college with a big smile on his face. He said he had spoken to the bosses and they were going to look after us in regards to the towing. The generosity of Ken and O’Neill’s towing made my day (or should I say week) and I can not thank them enough. If you are every after a towing company I can recommend them highly.
3. Our Official Opening.
Well I promised myself after the week before and our welcome to our parents that I would hold myself together and get through my speech without losing it. I didn’t keep my promise! What an emotional morning. So many supportive families, a wonderful crew from Canberra (thank you Heather, Nick, Jitka and friends for travelling so far), our local mayor Lawrie McKinna, Ann from Football United and my own family were in the room to support us in our official opening.
Shane’s partner had made a great IFS cake and the morning was very enjoyable. It was so nice to see so much joy, laughter and a feeling of excitement as we all meet together to celebrate our college opening. Our coaching staff (and special guests, thank you Damian Brown and others) enjoyed a game of football tennis and then they had a quick game which seemed like NSW versus Canberra.
Everyone then was able to enjoy our cafe as Matt and some very generous parents, had prepared a great sampling menu. Parents were able to enjoy some of the food that we serve our students every day for lunch and it was very yummy!
4. Photos
We are waiting on some of our official photos for the day to come through, however, in the interim I have a small selection of photos that I have included with this blog.
5. Dare to Dream
In my speech on Monday I also made reference to a song that has a very special meaning to me. It helps explain what makes IFS different.
IFS has the audacity to “Dare to Dream”.
In the lyrics to the song Dare to Dream, John Farnham and Olivia Netown John walked through the centre of the Olympic Stadium at the 2000 Olypmic Games. The words of that song still ring true in my heart and soul and I wish to instil just a small part of the sentiment of these words on the children at IFS:
I am my own believer
In my heart the reason
I will follow the light from within
I’m not afraid of weakness
I’m gonna taste the sweetness
Of the power not to give in
I will see it through
I believe this is my moment of truth
I really do believe that if we Dare to Dream anything is possible and how dare we get in our students way!!
If you came along to our opening day we thank you. If you have a student at our college we thank you. If you have a child that is interested in coming to our college I would encourage you to get in contact with us and arrange a tour or complete an application to attend this year. I believe the students at this college are gaining such a special experience at IFS and although the honeymoon is not quite over, it is such a special place to be.
Paul,
With such words and beliefs that you share & believe in I know my daughter is in good hands at IFS.
She even wanted to attend college on the weekend….. Never thought I would see that day.
For the passion you have and are willing to share I thank you.
And from our family to yours we hope to have a very long affiliation with IFS
Thank you to yourself & and the awesome staff at IFS
Thanks for sharing the wonderful pictures. Now that my son isn’t at my college anymore, I would love to see more photos of what he, and the other students, are doing at college and training as I’m missing not seeing how he’s doing 🙂