"Icco" The Great Icosahedron
The great Ico was known not just because of his size
he was well publicised as being one of the best
known athletes in Forest Creek, the town where he
lived.
Ico was also known for his strange ideas, unheard of
at the time. The great Ico's daily routine was to take the
children out every morning to the sports ground next to
the school for ten laps of the oval and chasing games.
Ico's belief was a healthy mind equals a healthy brain
ready for the school day.

Being of Cornish background Ico was also known as
"The Great Ico" because he was a regular at the local
wrestling contests each week.

The most famous wrestling* challenge took place at
Forest Creek on the 26th of December 1854 at
Captain Trewartha's Amphitheatre which was situated
in a large tent on the opposite side of the main road to
his Golden Hope Hotel.

Ico was so well known that people kept a spot just for
him to sit at these events.  Always greeted with a warm
smile and a welcome handshake, it was obvious to
any new person that Ico was someone you could both
like and trust. On his way to the wrestling one Friday
night Ico noticed a billboard notice.
CASTLEMAINE STATE SCHOOL WISHING
TO CHALLENGE FOREST CREEK
STATE SCHOOL TO A SOCCER MATCH.
*The Mt. Alexander Mail reported on this most famous event
Among the pastimes by which the genial season of Christmas
has just been celebrated on our goldfields, none were shared
more extensively than the Wrestling Match which came off
on the 26th of December and the three following days, in
Captain Trewartha's Amphitheatre, Forest Creek. The play
was altogether in the good old Cornish and Devon styles, and
the players comprised many whose skill and strength would
fully entitle them to enter the lists with Jacob himself, could  
the patriarchal wrestler himself "try a fall" at the present day.
On the first day between 800 and 1000 people attended the
sports, the interests of which was well kept up throughout.
The company consisted of men of all nations and creeds,
but all differences seemed buried in oblivion, and the
hilarious good temper and enjoyment of the proceedings
suffered no untoward interuptions - a fact equally incredible
to the tact and judgement of the umpires, to the good sense
of the competitors, and to the judiciousness of the
arrangements under which the sports were conducted. A
band of music was in attendance during the whole time.
Ico had one month to get a team together to prepare
for the challenge game. Ico would have realised that
the children in his school already did laps of the
sports ground, played chasing games so would have
been sort of prepared already in a way.
Some of the names that would have sprung to Ico's
mind that he would have wanted on his team were.
Gentle Annie, Rocky, Mona and Long. But more team
members were needed. There would have been
heaps of children at the school so I guess Ico must
have come to only one suitable conclusion.
Try them all and see who was the most enthusiastic.
After all sport was about having a go and a fun time
not about who was best.
Colour in Ico in what you imagine could be the teams
colours on the next page and try to draw up a large
scale picture of Ico starting on page 3. Don't forget to
check out the biographies of Gentle Annie, Rocky,
Mona, and Long in the PolyLibrary
story by Thalia and helpers