State 16’s

WASPs have produced again - supplying the State u16’s and Australian u16’s with players this year.

Lachlan Arnold and Zed Kearnan (Captain) were selected in the 2022 School Sport WA State 16's team for the championships held in Tasmania 30 July – 6 August, with Bede Weatherall selected as a shadow.

The start to the tournament didn’t go to plan with losses to Victoria and Queensland in the first two games.  However, the boys secured a win in the third game vs Tasmania with Lachlan, Zed and the team being tested through to the last minute. Thankfully they held their nerve and completed the win 4-3.  Rolling into game four on a high, they came up against SA.  At 3-0 up at half time, the boys were in high spirits and playing well - not knowing that SA had a different idea on the end result. With SA getting it back to 3-2 at the end of the 3^rd quarter, the boys needed to stay focused. They managed to score a fourth mid-way through the 4^th quarter and things were looking rosy. However, SA again came back strong, scoring two in the last five minutes to end the game 4-4.

Come game 5, things were getting harder, and up against NSW the boys were outclassed by a quality side losing 4-2. They then moved on to ACT and the outcome was far better and play weighted WA’s way – resulting in a 4-2 win to the good guys.

Through good management and a touch of good luck the boys ended up in the bronze medal match (you’ve got to love tournament hockey).  Both WASPies and the team played their hearts out for a 1-1 draw in possibly their best game of the tournament. Unfortunately, due to some quality decisions by the schools program, a draw saw the win awarded to the team placed higher on the ladder - a very disappointing outcome that sees a non-result for teams that work so hard and travel so far to compete. Got some work to do there!

The boys played extremely well over the course of the tournament and can look forward to a promising future for Western Australian and WASPS hockey.

A special congratulations to Zed Kearnan (below) for making the top 26 players in the age bracket, achieving selection as a shadow for the Australian 16’s in conjunction with Melville-based team mate Jacob Woods.