The Alstonville Water pPolo Club juniors had a big finish to 2022 with the U/14 girls winning the Queensland Country Championships and the U/14s boys coming away with third place.
The U/14 girls have been playing together for a few years and have become ‘quite a successful team,’ according to coach Liz Vanem.
After a strong competition across the early rounds of the Country Championships they met a very competitive Gold Coast side in the final.
At the start of the final quarter, they were down a point but scored halfway through to go even, and then sealed it with 40 seconds to play, to take the win 6–5.
Harmonie Banza was awarded the MVP award.
‘They are a great bunch of girls,’ said Liz.
The Alstonville Club is having a good season and has seen a big jump in membership.
‘A couple of years ago the committee decide to take teams into regional competitions and the approach is now paying dividends,’ she said.
All up, five teams went to the Gold Coast with the U/14 boys collecting a bronze medal, the U/12 girls coming fifth, the U/12 boys coming sixth, both U/18 boys and girls coming fourth.
The team was coached by John Hair.
Last year’s success set a great platform for the NSW Junior Country Titles that the Alstonville Club will be hosting across February 10–12.
‘We are expecting to see around 40 teams from all over the State come to the event,’ she said.
