Four of Gloucester Hockey Club junior players have competed in the NSW PSSA (Primary Schools Sports Association) State Boys Hockey Championships.
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After being selected through both zone and regional trials, Dean Germon and Justin Battams of Barrington Public School and Kyden De Angelis and Jackson Moore of Gloucester Public School competed in a three day competition at the Macarthur Regional Hockey Complex in Narellan from June 5 to 7.
They competed against 13 other teams from all over the State from as far south as Albury and north to Murwillumbah.
The boys formed part of the Hunter team and on day one they had three games.
The first, against North-West, ended in a 2-2 draw with Justin Battams scoring a goal for the team.
Their second game for the day was against Sydney East, Hunter winning this one with Justin scoring another goal for the team.
The games were often not helped by the weather with the boys playing in pouring rain.
Their third match in atrocious conditions saw their first loss of the tournament, going down to Sydney South-West 6-1.
On day two of the competition, Hunter played Polding to finish with a 1-1 draw, this time with young Dean Germon scoring for the team, and a second game later in the day against North Coast, again in a tightly contested match resulting in a draw.
The competition understandably was fierce with players displaying some tremendous ball skills. Kyden and Jackson, who typically play in defence, kept the opposition out on multiple occasions, not allowing much through their defences.
Attempts at goal often went lacking with the Hunter’s strong defensive line-up.
However with so many draws including a final 0-0 draw again against Western on day three, the Hunter team did not build up as many points on the leaderboard.
To their credit though, the team finished fourth in their pool for the three day tournament with a lot of valuable lessons learned.
Only one of the players from the team, goalie, Ashley Dimmock of Charlestown made it through the selection process to go on to play in the national championships later in the year.
A big congratulations to Gloucester’s four talented young players, a tremendous achievement.
Kyden, Jackson, Justin and Dean play as part of the Gloucester junior Panther hockey team representing Gloucester in the Manning Valley competition played in Taree on Saturdays. They also take part in the junior competition in Gloucester played in Cook Park on Wednesdays.
