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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 12 Hansard (18 November) . . Page.. 4273 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

add to that list. But the strength of these national senior teams is in their junior competitions. The competition is conducted every weekend on the ovals of the ACT. The champion sportsmen and women of the future are growing up in our suburbs today. The new team that I talk about is the ACT under-13 girls hockey team, who won the inaugural Australian under-13 invitation carnival in Adelaide in October.

Mr Speaker, I want to bring to the attention of the Assembly the efforts of these young ladies and what they did. This team went to Adelaide in the hope that they could win- they thought they could win-and they did win. They won four games, they drew one and they lost one. They beat Victoria once and drew once, they beat South Australia blue twice, they beat South Australia red once and lost once.

I think it is quite important that people understand that at the end of the competition the opposing players voted ACT team captain, Juanita McDonald, player of the tournament. These votes were cast after each of the games.

The other thing I think that was notable is that not all the girls played in the same position all the time. The team manager and the coach actually rotated the girls through different positions to get the experience that they needed, and I think it was a credit to them that they were able to do this. As they did this, they gained lots of valuable experience for themselves.

Kayla Potter was voted the ACT team's most valuable player over the entire week, but the other daily most valuable players were Jessica Parr, Kelsey Davis, Jessica Reid, Catriona Bailey-Price, Maddison Arton and Grace Hunter.

Some feedback came from the other coaches. The coaches and the girls of the other teams constantly commented on the outstanding sportsmanship and the good spirit on the park and off the park, and the ACT team was commended for their behaviour and indeed their improvement during the tournament.

The full list of the team, Mr Speaker, is: Maddison Arton, Catriona Bailey-Price, Kelsey Davis, Emily Hedditch, Chloe Hosking, Grace Hunter, Juanita McDonald, Jessica Parr, who was the goalie-a very important position-Kayla Potter, Jessica Reid, Jen Rowe, Peta Sutherland, Sam Turner and Hannah Wallet. The coach was Natalie Krikowa, and the manager was Terri Sutherland.

It is also important, Mr Speaker, that we thank the sponsors. This team plays under the auspices of ACT Hockey. The major sponsors were the Canberra Labor Club, Sport and Recreation ACT, the Sportsmans Warehouse, Diabetes Australia and Healthpact. I think it is important that people support the groups that support the community. So thanks to those supporters.

Particular thanks to the parents who helped the girls get to and from the games and to and from training, the schools that foster sport and the teachers involved there, the various clubs that provide the coaches and the infrastructure, Hockey ACT, and, I think most of all, the team themselves. Well done, girls, for such a sterling effort. It is great to be the inaugural winners of such a wonderful competition, and we look forward to you doing it in the under-14s, 15s and 16s and whatever other competitions come up in the coming years. Best of luck in their future in hockey.

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