The Illawarra's brightest young talents have been rewarded for their efforts at the NSW Under 13 Indoor Hockey Championships.
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Robert Frew, Darcey Kast and Taz Nyrhinen gained selection in the two NSW boys teams, while Elizabeth Davies, Alexandra Jones, Lilly Twigg and Lucinda Nash were picked in the girls teams.
Jason Kast, coach of the Illawarra under 13 boys side, said the boys earned their selections with impressive state tournaments.
“They all deserve their spots, they were up there with our better players for the weekend,” Kast said. “They’re all Albion Park juniors too, with is a credit to the club and shows the strength in juniors coming from that club.
“They’re all good team players, none of them take it upon themselves, they play as a team.”
The boys' selection came as the team finished the competition in third, having lost to eventual champions Newcastle 4-2 in the semi-final. The girls also had a successful competition, progressing to the final, where they fell to Goulburn 3-0.
Despite the result, Kast was proud of the way his side played hard throughout the entire championships.
“Overall it was a good competition, the boys played really well. They came up against a good Newcastle side and gave them a good run for their money in the semi.
“I think we shocked them a little, they beat us the week before in a warm-up carnival pretty easily 5-0. But in the semi we were beating them 1-0 and 2-1, we shocked them a little bit and Newcastle had to work for it.”
Having excelled at the state titles, Kast is confident the boys will also thrive when they turn out for NSW at the Australian Indoor Championships in Goulburn in January.
“I think they’ll go well. They’ll have to step up and play better but they’ve all got the ability and they’re all going to be trying to win, that’s for sure.
“It is a different level, with kids coming from around Australia to play against them, but it should be a good tournament in January.”