Playing under the new banner of Sydney South Hockey Association the Under 18 boys and girls teams took part in State Championships during the first two weekends in May.
The boys’ Championships were held at Narellan, with the Sydney South team playing in the highly competitive 1st Division. The team suffered a couple of heavy losses early on, but improved with each game, and ended the weekend with a 4-0 win over Lithgow. Coaches John Cowan and Sean Kelly were very pleased with the team effort, and are confident that they will be a much stronger side next year. Team manager Anne-Maree Halyard said the team received many compliments over the weekend about the new Sydney South uniforms and how good they looked on the turf.
An indication of the potential of this young team is the selection of Christian Halyard and Jack Pickering in the 2015 NSW Under 16 All Schools squad, and the 2016 NSW Under 18 squad.
The girls travelled to Newcastle, confident that the new training program introduced by young skilled coaches Lachie and Eythan Rowling would stand them in good stead in Division 3. The confidence proved well-founded, and the No. 1 team were impressive State Championship winners, defeating Grafton 1-0 in the finals.
The girls played strongly all weekend with 5 wins and 1 draw, scoring 21 goals with only 1 against. They scored the most goals in Division 3, and 6 more than the runners-up. The fine display in goals was rewarded by goalie Zoe Newman being selected in the 2016 NSW Under 18 team.
The much younger and inexperienced No. 2 team finished in 7th place, but improved with each game, and show great promise for future years, coach Susan Roberts said.
Our Under 15 boys’ team traveled to Grafton for their State Championships this past weekend so expect some photos and a report about them soon!
