Centrals U15s Challenge against Wellington
Following on from the training/selection day held in Wanganui in September the Central junior development team played against Wellington on Saturday. This event was played at Squashgym Palmerston North and was for the younger juniors from both districts. It was a one day event and each player played against the 2 players from Wellington from the corresponding grade band, with one match in the morning and one after lunch. There are 6 bands with 4 players in each band.
The morning matches were close, it was neck-and-neck the whole way with Central eventually taking out the morning; 13 matches to 11. However amongst those matches were some very close 5-setters and so it could have gone either way.
At 1pm we took a half hour break for lunch, then it was straight back into it.
The afternoon games started with a bang, Wellington taking out the first 5 matches. We thought we were in trouble but after the next 6 matches it was 6/5 to us. The rest of the afternoon was filled with tension as games were neck and neck. At the end of the afternoon it was 12all. This meant the mornings efforts gave Central the win by the narrowest margin. This event is a real team effort, so all players (whether they won or lost) can be proud of their efforts playing, supporting, coaching and marking/reffing.
To play for your district is a great honour and all the players did us proud. Wellington want the trophy back and we are already discussing a rematch - so watch this space !!!!!
Thanks to the Wellington crew - Christine Barnett, Nick Mita and Lucho Espinosa who bought the kids to Palmy. And to Di Tasker for managing the Central team and the parents/supporters for helping with food and court control.
The Central team was (names in bold won both their games): Luke Jones(SPN/Tararua), Liam English(R/C), Cameron Foster(SPN), Blake Koolen(SPN), Corbin Faint(SPN), Alex Wells(SPN), James van Kerkhoff(Wgi), Matt Laurenson(Ohakune), Johnny Double(Ohakune), Liam Simpson(Wgi), Tyson Mant(Rang) & Jordan Bell (SPN)
Emily Nash(SPN), Kaitlyn Watts(SPN), Chelsea Walls(R/C), Ashlee Douglas(Ohakune), Dominique Watts(SPN), Tarsh Hancock(Rang), Sarah Power(SPN), Ansley Koolen(SPN), Gina Bailey(SPN), Tori Claridge(SPN), Annaleise Faint(SPN) & Ella Wells(SPN).
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