SIX Southern NSW footballers have created history as members of the first ever NSW Country under 15 girls team to win the 2008 FFA National Youth Championships.
Staged at Coffs Harbour, Southern’s Elise Battin (Culburra Beach), Tenealle Hay (Central Tilba), Lani Honecker (Huskisson), Tiana Phillips (St Georges Basin, Alix Roberts (Falls Creek) and Lisa Stockman (Bomaderry) were all members of the victorious Country team.
The remainder of the side was made up of five girls from Western (Bathurst region) and five girls from the Riverina.
That alone was a great result highlighting the depth of talent playing for the local region.
The girls combined brilliantly to create history as the first ever Country 15s girls team to win an Australian title.
There were 10 teams in two pools of five representing every State and Territory, made up of 160 of the most talented young players in Australia.
On the first day they played South Australia with a 2-nil win.
Then it was a tough match against Victoria resulting in a 1-all draw.
Next they played Tasmania with a 3-2 victory and their final pool game was against the highly fancied NSW Metropolitan team which was their only loss of 2-nil.
As they finished second in their pool, they played against the first placed team from the other pool in the semi-final which was Queensland, this ended in a 1-nil win putting the girls into the grand final against NSW Metropolitan, which they won 2-1 against all odds giving them the Australian Title!
Just to make it into the NSW team is a credit to the local players, they went through a lengthy trial and selection process which began in January with a five-day camp at Valentines Sports Park in Sydney, and ended with a final five day selection camp at Bathurst in April.
Along with 40 other talented players, they were sent letters inviting them to trial for the NSW Country State team after being identified playing for the Southern Branch teams at the State and Country Titles held in Dubbo during October 2007.
In between the camps were five weekend training sessions at Valentines Sports Park and one weekend session at South Nowra.
Southern Zone will be holding trials for the State and Country Titles to be held back at Dubbo from October 6-11.
Trials start for the under 12 Girls this Saturday, July 26 at the South Nowra Football Complex, Mumbulla Road, South Nowra from noon to 3pm, with all grades for the next two consecutive weeks August 2-9.
12 girls 11am–1pm, 14 girls 1pm–3pm and the 16 girls 3pm–5pm.