By Yarin Barrett
BEERWAH state high school students Joe Wilson and Stephanie Robinson have been named Junior Sportsman and Junior Sportswoman of the Year at the schools’ 2025 awards night last month.
Joe, 13, represents the school in volleyball, athletics and OzTag, while he is also a keen AFL player at club level. Stephanie represents BSHS in Netball, athletics and cross country. The school congratulated the pair on their achievements, with their awards a recognition to their dedication, creativity and resilience.
Joe’s mother, Carolyn Wilson, said he loves sport. “He plays AFL like crazy for Caloundra Panthers, but then he’s also mad keen on running, so he’s at Little A’s,” she said. “He’s in the athletics extension program, he was age champion for athletics because he took out so many events. The combination of all of his sporting efforts at school gave him the Junior Sportsman award.”
He also received an award for academic excellence, cultural excellence, and then “Top of Year Seven”, Ms Wilson added. “I don’t know where we’re going to put all of his medals.” Joe’s goal is to become a professional AFL footballer with his dreams further stoked by his club’s grand final win last month.
Stephanie’s mother, Maree Robinson, said she was very proud of her daughter’s achievements. “Stephanie won Junior Sportswoman for the second year in a row, she tied last year,” she said. “She has loved playing netball on the school team on Monday night. She isn’t a keen runner but made it to districts for Cross Country and was 15-year-old girls athletics champion.” Robinson said she loves seeing the improvements Stephanie is making in her athletics. Steph is particularly focused on athletics including shot put, discus and triple jump.
Both students competed at the recent Queensland School Sport Track and Field State Championships in Townsville. Joe is a member of local running group Star Squad. Joe’s head coach, Bruce Smith, said the Townsville trip was a great experience for the budding athlete. Joe won bronze in the boys 13-year-olds 1500m at the championships with a personal best time of 4min 29seconds. Mr Smith said it never failed to impress him how much potential there is among local runners.
“Every year we keep getting more and more brilliant athletes,” he said. Mr Smith said Joe’s performance shows the depth of young athletic talent emerging from the region. “Joe is relatively new to the sport and is already producing amazing times and stepping up on the podium at state level,” he said. A highlight for Joe outside of competing was meeting with star sprinter Gout Gout at the championships.