Tamworth under-14s girls coach Abby Griffiths is looking forward to seeing what the side can produce at the upcoming state championships after finishing third at the Country Club Championships played in Wagga Wagga on the weekend.
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Following on from the open women's historic triumph, the girls defeated Southern Highlands 6-3 in their play-off to bring home the bronze.
"It was a great effort, so amazing," Griffiths said.
She hadn't gone down there with expectations of a medal. The championships were really more of a warm-up for state, giving them the chance to do some fine-turning and also scope out some of the competition.
Griffiths spoke of how proud she was of the way they played and the sportsmanship they showed.
"Most of the girls have been training together for two years," she said.
"An achievement like this is a long time coming and good reward for their hard work."
She said in the play-off they went out "a bit like a bull at a gate" in the first quarter. But after a few words at half-time about calming things down they were a lot more composed and accurate in their play in the second half.
"When they calmed it down and concentrated on what they needed to do in the last quarter they really pulled it out," she said.
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So much so that with a minute to go she knew they had it won.
They will now turn their attention towards the state champs in Sydney in late in April, and will do so with a of confidence thanks to the weekend's result.
"It will be great to see how they'll go," Griffiths said.
She is really happy with their progression, the country championships following on from the national championships back in January.
That was really their first hit-out and from the start of the tournament to the end they showed a "massive improvement".
The weekend was a continuation of that, the girls putting into practice the skills Griffiths and Sean Hofman, who has been looking after the side while she has been away at uni, have been working on with them.
It was an overall encouraging result for the association ahead of the state champs with the under-14 and under-16 boys also playing off for third and fourth but just missing the medals.
The 16s were pipped by Gosford 5-4 in their play-off while the 14s finished fourth, of 12, after going down to Nordek 5-3.
With Tamworth not fielding an under-16s girls team (they went to the nationals instead) Bianca Mulligan was drafted into the Wyong side, who went on to win the division.
