SAINT Josephs Regional College will field a gun girls side for the national finals of the school touch football competition in September.
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The squad of year 9 and 10 students, with half new runners for the team, ranked in the top eight teams in New South Wales at the state finals in Penrith this month.
And coach Damien Kelly has faith this squad of talented multi-sports achievers will give the competition a run for its money and rank highly among the best teams in the country in the final round at Caloundra.
“They take the top eight teams in NSW to the nationals and we ranked fifth in Penrith,” Kelly said.
“We had the girls squad make it through last year but because we’ve had year 10 students move on at least half of this year’s team is brand new. It’s a real achievement for the girls to be able to make it to the finals for two consecutive years.”
The girls bring a raft of talent to the field with a core group excelling across sporting codes.
“I don’t think I have ever seen such a group of talented girls like this before,” Kelly said.
“The girls in this team have also won at state netball, they have been successful in basketball and are talents at soccer. The hardest thing for me as their coach is competing for their time.”
The squad trains two hours every week and will be under the new leadership of captain Sarah Stewart.
“Sarah is the shortest but the oldest member of our team. She is a level two ref and has been playing for six or seven years,” Kelly said.
The finals will be played over three days and include 24 elite teams from across Australia battling it out for the top title.
Kelly believes his girls will rank in the top 10 in Australia at this years competition.
"Our team’s strength is our attack which is very good compared to other teams,” he said.
“In last month we’ve been working on defense and they’ve picked that up well.”
Last year Brisbane State High strong and Tomaree High were form teams of the state carnival.
“For a regional area we are midway between any metro area and are not exposed to high level adult competitions.
“For this team to come from a regional area and make it to the national finals is just awesome.”
Kelly said they weren’t just content to have qualified for the national titles and while satisfied to be there, they also wanted to give it a shake.
“I don’t think I’d put the effort in if I didn’t think we’d go well,” he said.
“It’s awesome for so many kids from the one school to experience this level of touch.
