Meet the Victorian Interschool Captain

Despite fielding a smaller team than past years, Darcy Wade warns that Victoria will be “bringing the goods” to the Marcus Oldham Australian Interschool Championships in Toowoomba this month.

The keen showjumping rider says there’s a great team spirit brewing among the Vics.

How exciting is it to be named as a team captain?

“It’s pretty exciting and an honour to be named State team captain. It’s not something I expected so I couldn’t believe it at first.”

Have you ever captained an Australian Interschools Championships team before and what is your past competition experience and success at this event?

“I haven’t captained an interschools team before, this is only my third time qualifying for the National event. My recent past experience competing was last year in Sydney in the 1.10m Showjumping and placing 3^rd overall individually and a member of the winning Victorian Secondary Showjumping Team.”

Tell us about your team and its members and some of their strengths?

“Our Victorian team this year is a smaller team but don’t be fooled we will come bringing the goods. We have a number of riders in all disciplines having their first National Interschool experience, all riders are extremely dedicated and are prepared to put in 100% to compete at their best. One of the strengths of our team is the great team spirit and the members supporting each other.”

Explain a bit about the preparation for this event?

“The preparation for this event is huge, it requires lots of people to work together to ensure that everyone has a great experience and can compete to the best of their ability. All riders have been busy out competing and training and assisting as much as possible.”

Interschools has become a huge event now hasn’t it?

“The Interschools has become a huge event now, it is the top level of competition for school riders and it has become a very popular goal for most riders to try and qualify to represent your State. At a local level, more and more Interschool competitions are being run with large numbers of entries and it’s increasingly popular.”

What does it mean to be involved?

“It’s great to be more involved in an official capacity, to help out the other riders – the first timers and those that have been before, offer support to the team managers and parents, answer questions and lighten the load for some of the others. It’s also great to be a good role model for the younger riders who will one day be the senior riders.”