Ready to play: From left, Miranda Newby, Laura Coleman and Nikita Binge will be in action at the X-Blades National Youth Championships today.
Check out day 1 action photos, by clicking here
THESE three girls have played touch football together for years, but this week one will become enemy of the other two for the X-Blades National Youth Championships kicking off today.
Westport High School students Miranda Newby and Nakita Binge will play for NSW Touch Association’s development team, while Laura Coleman, from MacKillop Senior College, will take to the field for the NSW Combined Catholic Schools team.The development team’s campaign kicks off at 9.50am, when the team takes on one of three Queensland outfits.
The girls know each other’s games so well already, but Newby was still predicting a tough time playing against Coleman’s team.
“It’s going to be great, but it will probably be really hard,” she said.The girls will join teams from across Australia and four from New Zealand over four days, from today until Saturday.
The championships are held in conjunction with the 2012 touch football state of origin series, which kicks off on Friday.
And as if playing in the championships won’t be enough, Newby and Coleman also have Year 11 exams to think about.Binge graduates from Year 12 today.
Newby is also involved with the Port Macquarie Eisteddfod. She will be splitting her time between school exams, the touch field and the Glasshouse.
“It’s a pretty stressful time for them,” Coleman’s mother Annette said.“But I think it’s a good thing [the touch championships].
“It gets rid of that nervous energy.”She couldn’t wait to watch the girls face off against each other.“It should be a lot of fun,” she said. “It will be strange seeing them play against each other.
”She paid tribute to the coaches: Steph Halpin for NSWCCC and assistant Mark Heiss, and NSWTA coach Edith Nathan.
Glenn Flanagan was her assistant.