The Queensland Junior Team WINS The 2008 Tri State Series At Albury, NSW
Queensland Albury Tri State Team
Michael Castles – Toowoomba (Captain)
John Franklin - Gold Coast
Matt Taylor - Bauhinia
Ashley Wheeler - Charleville
Christie Edwards- Toowoomba
Erin Dempsey -Tara
Jessica Lawrence - Warwick
Hayley Martel - Lockyer Valley
Coach – Jodie Hall
Manager – Pierce Edwards
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE PLAYERS, COACH & MANAGER
The Albury Tri-State Series was held on the 25th, 26th & 27th April 2008.
The Queensland Junior Team for 2008 consisted of Michael Castles, John Franklin, Mathew Taylor, Ashley Wheeler, Christie Edwards, Haylee Martell, Jessica Lawrence and Erin Dempsey. Together they were the “Champion Team”.
On Friday at 11am we played the Western Australian Team. We had heard that they were one of the favorites for the competition. We had seen some of them earlier in the week during the coaching clinic and were surprised at the size of their boys section which consisted of 3 boys who were 6’1”, 6’2”, and 6’4” and had a reach according to their height. We went out with a team plan and soon discovered that the important thing is that it is not the size of the dog in the fight, but size of the fight in the dog and our little bull terriers came out fighting their way to victory! Our chukka scores were 5-0, 2-4, 3-2, 4-1, 3-1, 5-1 with the final score being Queensland 22 -v- WA 9.
Our next game was at 2pm on Friday against South Australia. Our plan in this game was to spell some of our horses and players as much as possible whilst maintaining a lead. Thankfully everything went to plan and we finished the game with a comfortable lead of 19-8 with fresh horses. Our chukka scores were 5-1, 2-2, 4-0, 3-1, 3-1, 2-3.
Saturday morning at 8.45 we had to play NSW2. We knew we had to go harder in this game as NSW2 had some good girls playing. We came off after the first chukka 0-3 down. The Queensland boys worked hard in the second chukka beating NSW2 7-1. The next chukka the Qld. girls beat NSW2 4-3, the fourth chukka the boys won 5-0, the fifth chukka was even 3-3 and the final chukka the Qld. boys won 5-0. The final game score was 24-10 to Queensland. This game also went to plan with Queensland still being able to keep the horses fresh and have another comfortable win. This game taught us that by chipping away bit by bit we could still come home strong even if we did go down at first.
Our semi-final was on Saturday afternoon against Tasmania. We saw Tasmania give Queensland a fright last year in the semi-final, so we were prepared to go at them hard from the fist whistle. The chukka scores were 3-3, 5-2, 3-2, 4-1, 5-1, 6-0 with the final game score being 26-9. Once again we were able to keep our horses fresh.
Sunday at 1pm was the big one. We had set our sights on winning. We felt we were in with a big chance. We knew each and every player’s strengths and weaknesses. The one thing we had over all the teams was that we knew how to pull together and play as a team. We did not expose our weaknesses and we played to our strengths. We had 8 good players, 8 good horses, but most of all we had 8 “Great Attitudes”. We were prepared to back each other up and help each other out. There was no-one in the team that wanted to be an individual star, they were all playing for the team. Our chukka scores were 1-2, 5-0, 1-4, 4-2, 2-1, 4-0 with the final score being Queensland 17 – NSW 9.
The presentations saw Queensland players receive the following awards.
Best Male No.1 - Michael Castles
Best Male No.2 - John Franklin
Best Male No.3 - Mathew Taylor
Best Overall Male Junior - Michael Castles
Best Male Junior’s Australian Stock Horse - John Franklin’s horse.
Winning these awards was a great effort both to the individuals as well as to the whole team. It just goes to show if you go out to play for your team the individual awards will come your way.
A big thank you must go to all parents who took the team to Albury and worked tirelessly to help the team to victory. Every parent and every supporter played a part in our team and we would never have gained success without their efforts. The parents all had roles as time-keepers, goal wavers, video recorders, statisticians, and strappers.
Thanks also must go to our Manager Pierce Edwards for ensuring that everything ran smoothly. Judy Nobbs the overall Junior Manager for Queensland also played a huge part in organizing the team prior to us leaving Queensland. Our sponsor was Tri-Sports who provided our playing shirts and caps. Thanks to all.
It was a pleasure to be a part of such a great team and I hope the Queensland Junior Team for 2009 has a much fun and success in Albury next year as we did. Good Luck defending our Title.
Jodie Hall, Coach 2008.
