Sometimes the words shared with Joe-Boys are worth repeating. Director of Co-curricular Mr Simon Pennington reflected on the character of Joe-Boys at the 2026 Summer Sport Rally, noting that the character forged on the sporting fields does not stay there. It flows into academic life, co-curricular activities and the relationships students build both inside and outside of Joeys. His message is one worth repeating.
Published in Joeys 2026
Joe-Boys at the GPS Swimming Carnival
Sport is compulsory at Joeys, not as a matter of tradition, but as a matter of purpose. It is one of the most deliberate choices the College makes in forming young men who are genuinely ready for life, leadership and the common good.
Every Saturday, something bigger than the game is taking place. Boys are being tested. Not simply in skill or fitness, but in the quieter, harder qualities: how they respond to an unfair decision, how they carry themselves when the scoreboard turns against them, how they support a teammate who is struggling. These are the moments that reveal, and build, character.
“Character is not something that can be switched on and off at will,” Mr Simon Pennington noted at this year’s Summer Sport Rally.
It is not the property of winning teams, nor is it captured in any statistic. “A premiership can be won without it. A season can be lost and be full of it. What matters is the consistent striving, in every drill, every match, every season, toward something better. That is, after all, what the College motto calls each boy to do,” stated Mr Pennington.
This is why sport at Joeys is played year-round and why the whole school gathers – the boys all in their blues – on a Saturday night in the Br Emilian Hall to mark the end of each GPS season. No other school in the competition does this. This choice reflects something essential about what a Joeys education stands for.
Sport as a teacher
“Sport is a wonderful teacher of individual skill, a teacher that brings people together and provides memorable moments and experiences to help you to be better young men,” Mr Pennington said. “Better young men in the way you live your lives now, but more importantly, how you live your lives when you graduate from Joeys and beyond.”
The character formed on the oval, track, court or in the pool does not stay there. It surfaces in the classroom when a subject is difficult, in relationships when honesty is uncomfortable and in leadership when the path of least resistance is also the wrong one. The lessons are inseparable. A boy who learns to compete with integrity, lose with grace and lead without a title is not just becoming a better sportsperson, he is becoming the kind of man the world genuinely needs.
This is the vision of the Joeys Graduate: a young man whose achievements are grounded in good character. Sport is one of the most powerful forges the College has for that work. The rallies, the coaches, the parents in the stands and the staff who give so much behind the scenes, all exist in service of that larger goal.
Mr Pennington did not shy away from acknowledging that building character is rarely a smooth or comfortable process, particularly for teenagers navigating who they are and what they stand for.
“Forging good character is sometimes messy. Sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes we have lapses in character. Sometimes we struggle to understand a selection decision. Sometimes we are faced with a referee’s decision that seems unfair,” he said.
But it is precisely in those difficult moments, he argued, that good character is truly revealed. “Your decisions and your actions in the tough moments are the ones that will define who you are and what you stand for.”
The scoreboard will always show a final number. But the young men who walk off after the game, having competed with integrity and grace, carry something that lasts far longer than any result.
Sport is a wonderful teacher of individual skill, a teacher that brings people together and provides memorable moments and experiences to help you to be better young men.
Mr Simon Pennington
