Parade was proud to welcome back to the College a group of Old Paradian elite sportsmen to support its Sport Academy Program. They were able to give of their time to participate in interviews, most of them in person, with our students.

Our Sport Academy students are enrolled in the new VCE (Vocational Major) which has a number of core subjects subject to VCAA mandated ‘Learning Outcomes’. The interviews assist with completing the Literacy Skills component of the VCE. Ben Shelton (2000), College Sport Academy teacher, coordinated the activity. We are indebted to the generosity of those involved. The Old Paradians' Association was able to put on a morning tea for students and our guests.

Those that were able to participate this year included:

Peter Bedford (1964) | 1970 Brownlow Medallist, 5-time South Melbourne Best and Fairest Winner and Victorian Sheffield Shield representative and Old Paradian Hall of Fame recipient.

Gary Honey (1976) | Silver Medallist in the long jump at the 1984 Olympics and Gold Medallist at both the 1982 and 1986 Commonwealth Games.

Shane Watson (1991) | 141 game player through 9 seasons at Collingwood and former Assistant AFL Coach at Carlton and Hawthorn.

Massimo Murdocca (2002) | Represented Australia at Under 17, Under 20 and Under 23 Football. He was a highly successful team member with Brisbane Roar and Melbourne City Football Club.

Adam Dale (1986) | participated on Zoom from Queensland. Adam is the only post World War II Test Cricketer and an Australian representative in 30 one-day internationals.

Jade Gresham (2015) | 120 Games and 123 games for St Kilda, drafted at Pick 18 in the 2015 National draft. Jade was able to come to the College the Monday after the event to participate.

Others involved were Northern Knights Coach and former Collingwood Champion Anthony Rocca and current staff member and former NBL player at the Sydney Kings and Townsville Crocodiles and US College Basketball Ben Allan.

Sincere thanks for the contribution and look forward to revisiting this valuable program in 2024.