CCWHA

My first thought was that somebody had stolen my car overnight however on closer inspection from the safety of my warm motel room I noticed that it was just a layer of ice turning my car from orange to white.  I carefully closed the door and went and put another 3 layers of clothes on.

30 minutes later when I ventured out to greet the world I noticed I was nearly the last to do so.  There were the 15’s all dressed and ready to play standing in a circle in the middle of the motel car park.  I’m sure all of these girls brought jumpers & trakkies with them but obviously it wasn’t cold enough for some to need to wear them…………………..VANESSA!!! PUT A JUMPER ON!!!

Right……… the fields are located at the Armidale UNE (University of New England) just a short 10 minute drive down the road.

Well most of us found the fields okay but we all eventually came together as a team ready to take the field for game 1 against North Shore on the sand turf at 8.30.

The girls fought a valiant battle but came away with a defeat of 8-0.  

Lessons learnt from game 1:-

1.       There are NO easy games at State Championships

2.       Don’t worry about the selectors watching because it puts you off your game

3.       Jacqui Dennett can fold people like Origami paper models – I didn’t know you could bend somebody backwards like that!!

So, having had a lot to think about the girls met for game 2 against Lithgow.  Sending them on to the field again with reminders of “Play Wide, Go Together, Work in Pairs, Get Off Your Back Stick, First To The Ball, etc etc” I think, fell largely on deaf ears. 

We lost 10-0 but we went down fighting a good fight.

How do you put a winning attitude into a team that’s fighting as hard as they can but can’t get past the opposition defence?  How do you explain where they’re going wrong without shattering fragile ego’s?  How do you boost morale that looked like it had hit an all time low? How do explain that the HNSW thought it was the “fairest way for everybody” to have 4 pools in Div 1, No Div 2 at all, and Div 3 on grass – I couldn’t understand it myself let alone try to explain it to 14 girls and their parents.

My worries seem to be unfounded.  After hot showers all around it was a general cry of “What’s For Tea???”.................sigh. 

VANESSA!!!  JUMPER!!!

Day 2 and game 3 – 9.45am vs Grafton.  Right girls, this is another country team so expect another tough game.  Remember the drills we’ve done at training.  Remember that you’re only on the field for 60 minutes total so let’s play hard for 60 minutes. Remember to “Play Wide, Go Together, Work in Pairs, Get…………”

May be I’m on to something here.  Half time came and the score was still 0-0.  Graftons coach however was able to motivate his girls better than I.  They scored 2 quick goals to take out the game 2-0.  This game however had apparently been their hardest yet.  Well done Campbelltown.  You may have lost but you certainly shook them up. 

Next game was a relegation/promotion match against 4^th in Pool 2 – which happened to be Sydney.  They also hadn’t won a game and were shocked, surprised & chagrined to have that happen to them seeing as they had state players on their side.  Obviously no fragile ego’s at Sydney.

5 minutes in to the game saw captain Hanna Williams cop a stick to the eye.  That was fine until she saw the blood.  Good set of lungs on that kid.  Timely advice received from mum – “Don’t mention the H word unless you want to see her go hysterical”. 

My thanks at this point go to Sydney for loaning their first aid kit and to the lovely lady on Tech Bench duty at that time who patched Hannas eye up.

The girls again found they were playing against a more structured team and struggled through as best they could.

Due to Hannas injury the final score was recorded as 0-0

As Coach of the Campbelltown u/15 Representative team and current Executive Member I would like to take this opportunity to let the girls know how proud I am personally of each and every member of the team and how proud the Association is as a whole.  To take out the “Play The Whistle” award says a lot about the integrity and respect that we instill in all of our players towards Opponents, Coaches, Umpires and assorted Officials.  You should all be proud of how you played against such tough odds.  Stand tall, keep your heads up and don’t lose those smiles. 

Thank you to our 2 U/13 fill-ins.  If it hadn’t been for Sheree Lamond & Celeste Dao coming with us to Armidale to help us out we would’ve gone away with the bare 11 and if we’d had early injuries we’d’ve been playing games short. 

I’d also like to thank all of the players parents.  Going to Armidale was not a cheap exercise and I as well as your daughters appreciate how costly the trip was, how you had to take time off work and to have to drive all that way.  I hope you are all as proud of your girls as I am.  I look forward to seeing you all again next year.

GLENN LANGLEY