GOULBURN Hockey Association now has both a men’s and women’s team in the ACT Capital League competition.
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This year is the first for the women’s team and according to co-coach Andy Woolner, it has been a steep learning curve getting used to playing this style of hockey.
“Goulburn has a fairly wide age range amongst its women’s team and a range of experience,” Woolner said.
“They have adapted well but for some of the players it is a hard slog with their other commitments, getting to training and travelling away for half the games.
“We have four players from Crookwell so they have a fairly late night travelling in for mid week training.
“It is different to training for and playing in one-off carnival situations but it has given the opportunity to take their playing skills to the next level.”
Goulburn’s Capital League Women’s team has a considerable depth of representative experience, particularly at junior level and the ACT competition gives the player an opportunity to advance their representative selection and be noticed by selectors for higher level competitions.
Team members with past representative playing experience include:
Bianca Broadhurst (nee Netzler) former Hockeyroo and Olympian ;
Marlie Gulson Australian Masters team, Australian Country team, NSW Country team, NSW Masters team, NSW U21 team;
Chloe Montgomery ACT Australian Hockey League squad 2015, ACT U21 team, NSW U18, U15, U13 teams NSW Combined Catholic Colleges team, NSW All Schools team, NSW PSSA McKillop, South West Sports Academy Squad and NSW City v Country;
Shelly Picker, NSW U16 team NSWCCC 1997- 2000: ACT U18 and U21 teams, NSW PSSA McKillop;
Nadine Ward Regional rep U12 and U14 ACT State against Japan touring team; Ash McDonald, South Coast 2006 and Regional rep team;
Taygan Lang Regional rep team: Lacey Devlin NSWCHS team, NSW squads U13, U15, U18, NSW City v Country, SWSAS, ACT AHL Squad 2015, ACT U18;
Hayley Plumb, South Coast and SWSAS; Emily Evans, Regional Rep;
Holly Evans, South Coast, ACT U15, ACT U18 and SWSAS;
Bianca Wilson, SWSAS and Hockey Fest played for Belgium;
Renee George, South Coast, SWSAS and, NSW PSSA;
Rach Grant, NSW U16, ACT U18, U16 and South Coast;
Jayde Della, NSW U13, South Coast PSSA and SWSAS;
Shania O’Brien ACT U15, ACT U18 shadow, SWSAS and South Coast PSSA;
Mel Devlin, ACT U13, ACT U15 and South Coast PSSA:
Kayleigh Hadlow, South Coast PSSA 2009, NSW Shadow U13 2009 NSW U13 2010, South Coast 2011 - 2015, ACT U18 2014 2015, ACT U15 2012, NSWCHS 2014 and 2015, SWSAS 2011 - 13, NSW City v Country 2010-13;
Hanna Shawyer; NSW U18 team 2015, NSW U18 squad 2014, NSW All Schools shadow 2014, NSW City v Country 2012 -15, NSW AAP 2014 and 2015, NSW touring team NZD 2013 and 2014, NSW Bushranger squad, ACT U14 team, NSWPSSA McKillop, SWSAS 2012 - 14 and NCSCCC 2012- 2015.
Woolner said the aim was for the women to be competitive in the League and hopefully make the semifinals a position they still have a slight chance of achieving with positive results in the four remaining round games. I am quite pleased with the way the competition has gone,” Woolner said.
For the size of the district Goulburn/ Crookwell has a tremendous record for producing representative hockey players.
This according to Woolner, all starts with the juniors, with youngsters as young as preschoolers learning basic skills that will help develop them into skilled hockey players if they choose to follow the sport through to their teens and beyond.
As a coach of the minkey hockey program, Woolner is keen to see youngsters playing hockey rather than spending all their time looking at a computer type screen and to develop active sporting habits.
“One thing we really need is to resurface the western field and bring it up to standard, Woolner said.
“The east field also needs to have the surface re-laid to smooth out the surface.”
“A third field like the east one would also be advantageous in attracting larger carnivals to Goulburn.
“We can’t do this without money which is something the association does not have at the level required for this work.
“What we need is government assistance and other grants or sponsorship to get the work done and bring the complex up to a standard that we can attract carnivals and regular higher level competition games. “The work needed would cost in the several hundred thousand dollars but the ultimate benefit to the city would be well beyond that over time.”
Goulburn is justly proud of its sporting history, but to maintain the pathway for its young players it needs surfaces that meet the standard for national representative competition.
On Saturday Goulburn Men’s ACT Capital League team plays United at 2.30pm on the Goulburn east field and the women play the United women’s side at 4pm.
The National Breast Cancer Research Foundation fundraising auction for the shirts as pictured on the back page is at 12.30pm.