HOCKEY
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
TAMWORTH Public’s fourth State PSSA Hockey Boys Knockout title capped off one of the most successful sporting weeks, and indeed month, for the school.
Two days before the hockey boys’ triumph, the boys basketball side had finished runners-up.
It was their best result for a while, and followed the tennis sides top two finish in their knockout just a few weeks earlier.
“One of the important things, like all schools, is we are very big on participation,” Tamworth Public sports master Barry Everingham said.
That is very much the emphasis.
“We have a saying : ‘you get in, have fun, do your best and the result will take care of itself’,” he said.
“We’ve got kids that haven’t played much hockey and had some young guys.
“Those young guys have done amazingly well.”
The basketball boys have played together for a little while in the Thursday primary schools competition.
“Again a good thing from our point of view was a number of kids jumped into the squad that haven’t repped with the school before,” Everingham said.
There were a few cross-overs.
Two of the hockey boys – Benji Stacey and Josh Morris were also in the tennis side, while Jack Dadd played for the basketball side and backed up the next day for the hockey boys.
He admitted to being a bit weary and a bit sore after three games of basketball on the Monday, and was arguably sorer and sorrier after two games of hockey on Tuesday, but he didn’t mind.
After all he got to play two of his favourite sports.
The basketball genes run strong through Dadd’s family, and he’s been playing since he was in Kindergarten.
“I’ve always loved it,” he said.
As well as for the school in the local competition, he also plays rep for the Thunderbolts and was part of the North West team. Peter Brown coaches the school side and said they did “sensationally well”. “They came up against some tough sides,” he said.
After beating Terrigal in their quarter-final they then played Wagga Wagga in their semi-final and won in a nail-biter.
“It was up and down,” he said. They then came up against a strong Regentville Public side in the final going down 51-23.
“They had some very strong players and were able to shut down our players,” Brown said.
He said he always knew they were a strong side, although until the finals they hadn’t really been challenged, and is enthusiastic about their prospects for next year.
At this stage they’ll only lose three.
The hockey boys should have about half of the squad backing up next year with a couple of the boys potentially there for another couple of years.
Their campaign got off to a less than auspicious start with Everingham remarking that at the start of the year when she was trying to put a team together, teacher in charge Justine Clarke, was struggling.
“She had to go hunting for players,” Everingham said.
They won through to the final with a comprehensive 8-nil win over Illawong. “At the start we hogged the ball but then we started to pass it around,” skipper Chris Taggart said.
“In the second game we started to pass it around more and got around their good players.”
They led Taree 2-nil at half-time after goals to he and twin brother Ryan.
Taree got back to 2-1 early in the second half and it was a bit nail-biting for a little while, Taggart conceded.
“They were always down in our area,” he said.
“Some really good defence kept them out.”
And they eventually found a third to be crowned state champions for the fourth time.
The last was in 2002 and follows wins in 1993 and 1997.