ASHLEY Kara is in New Zealand with the Australian under-17 mixed touch football team, which is part of a six-team contingent from Australia competing against New Zealand’s best U19 and U17 touch players in the trans-Tasman series.
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Last weekend the Goulburn High School teacher was in Brisbane for the team’s final hit-out before the competition. They flew to New Zealand on Wednesday.
“It is a real honour to be chosen to manage an Australian representative team,” Kara said.
“I am really excited and I think we have a really good mix of male and female members in this group.
“A key to winning a mixed touch competition is having a strong group of women who communicate well and can make quick decisions.
“Trust is extremely important and each member of the team has to learn to trust his or her teammates and have their mind fully on the game, including their teammates, field position and their opposition.”
The Australian teams have had two camps in preparation for the three-game competition. The last was at the weekend in Brisbane where they had assistance from Australian Open mixed coach Michael Lovett, concentrating on building the players’ trust.
Kara said her role as team manager was to do everything in her power to ensure they played together as a cohesive unit with the girls leading the communication.
This is the first time Australia has had mixed U17s and U19s on the tour.
The team consists of eight boys and six girls and is captained by Jessica Potts from Newcastle with vice captain Aaron Moore from Brisbane.
They will be playing three games with 20 minutes a half. The first game is Friday, January 20 at 10am New Zealand time. On Saturday, they play at 10am and Sunday at 9am (NZST).
The weekend after Kara returns from national representative management duties, she has to get organised for the annual Yass Knockout Touch Tournament, where Goulburn is a defending champion.
Goulburn has teams entered in the men’s Division 3, women’s Division 2 and mixed Division 3, with $16,000 prize money on offer.
A record 116 teams participated in the 2016 Knockout. This year it has been limited to 106 teams.