Alvin Caoyonan (coach)
Our local U/14 boys Beez representative team travelled to Terrigal last weekend to compete in the NSW Country Championships and made it to the semifinals.
Despite making the trip with only seven players, they took the challenge head on.
In their opening match, they shocked Maitland Mustangs into submission with a convincing win and then followed that up by running over the Illawarra 2 team.
Day two saw them drop a heartbreaking match to Queanbeyan by one point (being down as much as 19 at one stage), losing on free throws at the buzzer.
And a back-to-back loss to powerhouse Newcastle had them at two wins and two losses.
Their final game of the second day had them square off against Canberra, where they had to dig deep for a tough win against a team that wouldn’t roll over.
Three wins left them second in their pool and qualifying for the Premier Division semifinal! A huge step forward for our representative program.
The semifinal next day was against Illawarra 1 team, which hadn’t lost a match all year. But despite trailing most of the match by only five points, the boys just ran out of steam in their sixth match in three days, eventually losing by 18.
The parents and I could not be happier or prouder of what they accomplished. It was always going to be a big ask competing with CPL (Country Premier League) teams, but we showed that we belong at that level and that the goal of winning it all is definitely on the radar.
Results U/16 Beez
The Byron Beez U/16 boys finished in third place overall.
They beat Bathurst 98–52 and were beaten by Maitland 66–62 on day one.
On the Sunday they beat Moss Vale 56–48, Port Macquarie 72–60 and Newcastle 86–53.
On the final day of the tournament in the semifinal they lost to Port Macquarie 83–69.
But Byron Beez were the only team to defeat Moss Vale, the overall winners all weekend.
