APRIL 2019, the Central Coast Academy of Sport (CCAS) athletes attending the Your Local Club Academy games successfully competed in AFL (boys), basketball, netball, golf, hockey and Triathlon with events hotly contested by all of the CCAS competitors.
The Your Local Club Academy Games commenced with an exhibition game for boys AFL on Saturday morning at Cameron Park. The CCAS played the more fancied Hunter Academy AFL team. The exhibition sport provides a great opportunity for teams to compete in an environment which is otherwise not possible. The CCAS team made up of twenty-four athletes also enjoyed a skills session following the exhibition game won by the Hunter with Ty Swadling an Australian Trampolinist to introduce the boys on techniques involving falling, landing and twisting in the air for the greater effectiveness on the sport.
The basketball competition saw the CCAS record the best results from the hotly contested competitions across the weekend, with the CCAS boys and CCAS girls taking home the gold medals. Both teams had extensive preparation leading into the Your Local Club Academy Games and a very pleasing result for the CCAS to secure the ‘double’. It’s been a long time since the CCAS has been able to claim both titles and a credit to the coaching staff who have committed many hours into the development of the players. Program Coach Will Granger had both team playing at a high-tempo pace, with most teams struggling to keep up with the teams from the Central Coast. What was most noticeable was the dramatic improvement of the athlete’s game play in the final two to three months of the program, both teams were able to score close to eighty points a game in both semi-finals and grand final matches. For young players to be able to score at this level was un-matched in the basketball competition and set up the team’s for outstanding wins. Grand final scores CCAS v NCAS boys 80-60, CCAS v NCAS girls 93-68.
In golf, the CCAS boys were very successful after playing at Pacific Dunes Golf Club in Port Stephens and Belmont Golf Club in Lake Macquarie on the Sunday. Two very impressive and challenging golf courses. The CCAS team which comprised of Zac Camilleri, Josh Hawkshaw, Jack Toyne and Connor Rigby finished in third place (472 strokes) in the team’s event for the championship, the South West Sydney Academy (460 strokes) won the event by one stroke over runner-up South East Sports Academy (461 strokes) with the CCAS team performing extremely well over the two days of competition..
Netball Head coach Jess Morgan, Assistant Coach Casey Judge and Development Coach Jessie-Ellen Standen were delighted with the development of the teams and the way in which they competed all weekend. Division two were ‘short staffed’ as a number of injuries in the week leading up to the Games saw them fall short with the number of available goal shooters. That’s aside, the team played with great enthusiasm all weekend and the results for both teams on Sunday were outstanding, Division two recording only one loss and a win loss tally of 3-1. This result was very pleasing for the work the coaches have applied to this very young team. Division One, worked extremely hard on Saturday with a number of though losses against some of the powerhouse teams from Western Sydney and the Sydney Netball Academy. A similar story on the Sunday where the team were not beaten recording five wins in a stunning display of netball after a real challenge on the Saturday. Two merit teams were chosen with Charlize Lloyd-Phillips (Division 1) and Keumala Dyer-Darmawaran (Division 2) gaining selection.
The CCAS Hockey team were well represented at the Academy Games this year. The CCAS boys squad of seven was combined with the SWSAS squad of two to make a combined CCAS/SWSAS team. The tournament got underway with a few hard losses on Saturday to some of the big name teams in the competition. Sunday brought out a much more invigorated team with a two big wins which saw the CCAS/SWSAS team finish in 5th place overall. The team had another first with Katelyn Williams playing goal keeper for the boys team. Katelyn was outstanding and took home the MVP for the tournament.
After a two year absence the CCAS were able to enter a team of eight athletes into the Triathlon event. The event was held at Cams Wharf, Lake Macquarie, a course that received outstanding feedback for its suitability and the challenge it presented each athlete. The race format for Saturday saw an individual draft legal race (200 swim, 5km ride, 1500m run) followed by a mixed team relay. Sunday’s format saw an individual draft legal Enduro (400 swim, 10km ride, 3000m run) followed again by the mixed team relay. Overall standings saw CCAS secure 2nd place ITU Junior Male (Logan Pugsley) 3rd place ITU Youth B female (Melissa Blume). The CCAS would like to recognise and acknowledge Matt Porta (Central Coast Tri Club President) for his support, guidance and dedication.
As always, the ClubsNSW Academy Games is a weekend to showcase some the incredible skill and talent of athletes from Regional Academies across NSW. This year was no different, with the CCAS performing brilliantly across all sports contested.
We offer a huge congratulations to all of our athletes that took part over the weekend and are absolutely thrilled with all of the results and achievements that our athletes achieved. CCAS athletes represented their coaches, families and the region superbly over the weekend and it is a credit to all that CCAS finished with outstanding results.
A new initiative was introduced in 2019 with the support of Bishop Collins where every CCAS coach, assistant coach and managers enjoyed a high-class education program. The group was able to come together and share knowledge across all sports with a key note speaker Lawrie McKinna (CEO Newcastle Jets and CCAS Director) providing insights into the world of sport with a focus on coach development, community engagement . This program will be broadened in 2020.
The other success story of the weekend was the dedication, commitment and generous provision of time that the CCAS coaches, assistant coaches and managers gave to each of the CCAS squads. We would like to thank each and every one of them for the volunteer hours that they commit to the CCAS athletes: Mitch Ede (Head Coach AFL), Brent Ede (Assistant Coach AFL), Scott Reed (Assistant Coach AFL), Will Granger (Program Head Coach & Head Coach Girls Basketball), Tim Hudson (Head Coach Boys Basketball), Hammish Loader (Assistant Coach Girls Basketball), Aimee Pope (Assistant Coach Girls Basketball), Taylah Thomas (Assistant Coach Girls Basketball), Nick Hassab (Development Coach Boys Basketball), Wayne Cassidy (Program Manager Basketball), Tek Tea (Manager Boys Basketball), Kellie Hassab (Manager Girls Basketball), Jason Millers (Manager Golf program), Jess Morgan (Head Coach Netball), Casey Judge (Assistant Coach Netball), Jessie-Ellen Standen (Development Coach Netball), Donna Judge (Program Manager Netball), Claire Bird (Squad Manager Netball), Brett Johnson (Head Coach Hockey), Mark McDermott (Assistant Coach Hockey), Robyn Low-Hart (Head Coach Triathlon)
