Chukka Chat July 2023

Greenough 1 on 1 Competition

The 1 on 1 Competition was well received by both players and spectators at Greenough Carnival in July.

With 12 entrants playing for a chance at the title of 1 Vs 1 champion and $500 cash. Entrants were seeded and the draw complete in a tennis style knock out competition.

Players were given just 2 minutes to be the first to score 2 goals but with the added element of a 40 second shot clock once gaining possession. The competition was fast paced and exciting to watch with the crowd getting behind their favourite players and cheering them on.

The final game saw Luke Reid and Tom Keightley going head to head with Luke coming out the champion. An additional award of Fastest Goal was also awarded to Tristan Cooper.

Whilst each game was fought hard it was good to see the players sharing laughs and with smiling faces- it was certainly played in good spirit.

We definitely hope to hold further competitions in the future.

Thankyou to all the entrants:

Bryce Scott

Chris Sillitoe

Scott Allen

Liz Reid

Luke Reid

Tom Keightley

Amy Gould

Kacie Crabb

Zach Vines

Alix Kennedy

Ryan Kennedy

Tristan Cooper

WA v Victoria South Midlands

Congratulations to the below players on their selection to compete against Victoria in August at South Midlands. We thank south Midlands for the support of this initiative.

We also congratulate Intermediate Development Officer Hannah Adams for all of her hard work with this age group - this event is the first on the calendar for the Intermediate age group with the Young Guns Competition to follow later in the year at Kojonup.

The Intermediates have already had a Victorian Tour earlier in the year and are looking to even the score with the Victorians when they meet in August!

Team Announcements

Narrabri, Quambone, Northwest Plains Tour

Manager Rebecca Hadley

Well what a trip we had!

Our squad was put together just in time to make our way over east, amid Sydney airport chaos and storms! I jumped on board as manager, and only met some of the girls on the day we travelled. The final squad consisted of Jess Harry, Hayley Pate, Georgia Knapp, Daragh Galvin, Patrick Galvin and Madison Lonnie.

On arrival, we were all billeted by wonderful families around the Wee Waa/ Narrabri area, and made our way to Quambone tournament. This is where we met up with the Galvin crew, including our fabulous coach Salli Galvin.

Friday afternoon was the first time that any of the team rode their prospective ponies, and they were put through a training session by Salli.

Saturday morning our team went to golden goal against the Narrabri juniors, only just missing out on the win. The afternoon game saw our team start to hit their straps with a good win over the Dream Team.

This put us into a final against a very strong Quirindi side Sunday morning, which obviously had us all very excited, despite the bone chilling wind and no coffee van situation. A three course meal at the clubhouse was just the ticket for an early night.

The final went down to the wire, and one Western Australian manager was going crazy on the sideline. Huge high five to Mr Barry Sibley, who joined me in barracking! Salli was, as ever, cool headed under the pressure as she guided the team through. Quirindi won in a nailbiting golden goal final.

Back home to our billets, and then the team all camped together at the Narrabri grounds from Tuesday. We were so well looked after, with borrowed gear, huge campfire, cooked dinners, and obviously horses!

Narrabri tournament hosted 69 teams, 19 of which were in the Junior challenge. There was also a separate sub-junior grade, as well as a Junior international series between Australia and New Zealand, and an under21 trans-tasman series. Needless to say, it was a huge stage for our kids to perform on and witness.

We were so very lucky to have a WA rep in the Australian junior side to cheer on, with Colm Galvin on Fanta playing the house down. It was wonderful that we could be his sideline cheerleaders! Fanta won champion horse of the series, and it was well deserved.

Daragh and Patrick are still in sub juniors, so they played in this competition and won both games on Saturday. From those games, Daragh was selected to play in the subbies feature game on Saturday night. It was thrilling stuff, he was an absolute star. Sunday morning, the boys played in a tough subbies final and unfortunately just missed out on the win, but Daragh was awarded best number 3 of the competition overall, great work!

The junior side picked up Charlie Stuart and Emily Wright to round out our team for the junior challenge. Once again, the team looked strong as we rolled out on Saturday morning with a nice win. Things didn’t go our way in the afternoon however, going down to the Gold Diggers, who went on to win the division. We played a lovely social on Sunday morning against Tassie, which again went to golden goal, our third for the trip!

Georgia Knapp played in a second team, who were runners up in a tough final, and she was awarded best number 2 for that division, fantastic stuff!

I highly recommend this tour to any parents of juniors, we were so well looked after and it was an amazing opportunity to play polocrosse on a big stage. I can honestly say that I think all round the kids developed their confidence, maturity, and independence from this experience, plus made friends from all over Australia.

Congratulations to Polocrosse WA and NWP polocrosse on this fabulous collaboration.

My New Gallery

Narrabri Tour - Player POV

Hayley Pate - Player POV

Well that’s a wrap for the 2023 Junior Narrabri Tour.

My very first time representing Western Australia, which was very daunting, but I was with such a great group of people

After spending 2 weeks in NSW, playing two carnivals, I’ve definitely had a blast. Our first carnival was Quambone and we managed to get into the final, but went down by a golden goal. We definitely had a hard fight against Quirindi. I was fortunate enough to be lent Tinkabell from my billet family, the Hunts. One cool pony

The next carnival was Narrabri and we went into a junior competition and we had two different players to come fill in for us, Charlie Stuart and Emily Wright. They fit in so well with the rest of the team and we had an absolute ball. Unfortunately, we lost our second game on the Saturday and didn’t make it to a final, but we did win our Social on Sunday. This carnival I was lucky to be lent Gia from the Stevenson family, she was one cracker of a mare and I loved the way she found her way to goals for me

Thankyou to Barry Sibley for driving all the way to Quambone just to come watch and support us whilst we played, it was good to have a familiar face around

My first thanks goes to our manager Rebecca Hadley and our coach Salli Galvin, without you guys this trip wouldn’t have been possible. Thank you for your continued support and dedication to our team it was really appreciated

Thank you to the Hunt family, Christie Hunt , Ella Hunt and Keith Hunt ,for looking after me throughout the whole entire trip, your hospitality was immaculate. Thank you for lending me your precious Stink (Tinkabell) she was such a ripper and I had a lot of fun. (Special thanks to you Archer, she’s your pony x) Thankyou to Ella for bringing me along pig chasing, that was a big highlight of my trip. Thank you to Jake and Ava for making the long drive to Quambone amusing, with your attempts to scare the cattle off the side of the road

Thank you to the Stevenson family, Zoe Stevenson, Kaye Stevenson and Gary, for lending me ”the grey beast”, Gia, she was such a cool pony to ride and she definitely taught me lots and I definitely think improved on her as the weekend went by .

I cannot be more appreciative to both family’s for lending me such wonderful horses, I am extremely thankful

Last but not least, big thanks to Mum, Dad and Matilda for sending me over for this trip. It has been an incredible learning curve for me, and yeah… maybe I did miss you guys a little bit

Australian Representation

Coach Salli Galvin

Well that’s a wrap …

Winners of the NZ v Australia test junior series .

Best Horse of the Series won by the ever tough ever trying his best home bred Kooribinjal Fanta .

6 goal chukka by Colm and his team in the final game

Daragh was selected by the NSW junior selectors to play in the under lights exhibition match and won himself best number 3 for the under 12 series .

Patrick was nothing short of a little champion riding different horses and always doing his best at the age of 9 .

The west aussie junior team went better than anyone expected coming runners up at Quambone ( as said previously )

And Georgia Knapp winning best number 2 in the A junior division in Narribri .

MWZ Coaching Clinic

MWZ Coach Hailey Moir

The Midwest Zone run a successful two day coaching clinic. We had a massive turnout of 56 members attend with 35 being from the Midwest zone and 21 from Central and Southern zone. 33 Juniors in total, with a massive group of 10 being our Junior E level players. Players from all levels attended the clinic, however their was only one Intermediate level player that attended. I believe this is an area in which maybe needs further targeting as there was flagged areas from previous tours.

We had a shower of rain on the Thursday which didn’t upset the clinic or any sessions thankfully. We covered all aspects of the game with horsemanship, set plays, line ups, drills, controlled chukkas, preparation, nutrition, racquet skills and umpiring achieved within the two days. A massive shout out to Nikki, Anna and Jane from the Midwest zone for helping running a successful clinic with bringing their coaching and knowledge of polocrosse to their sessions. Ashley Cooper whom has just done her Level 1 coaching accreditation was able to attend and take a session. Thank you Ashley.

The stars of the coaching clinic were our two interstate coaches  Lauren and Chris Sillitoe. The Midwest Zone was pleased to have them visit, as their knowledge and easy going attitude made them so approachable and accessible to all groups. Fantastic reports from all the members regarding these two coaches was outstanding. Safe to say Chris and Lauren had all the groups well under control, from the Junior E group galloping around having a laugh (never seen so many young kids as excited as they were with their horsemanship lesson), too the allocation of push ups for punishment (once again with smiles on faces.) The final leader ball challenge was a great finisher of the coaching clinic with team Chris with the win.

Running the coaching clinic the two days prior to a carnival was fantastic for the attendees as I believe all the players greatly consolidating some of the skills learnt from the clinic into there games over the weekend. The improvement was well noted over the polocrosse weekend.   

MWZ Coaching

Perth Royal Show

Nominations are now open to all juniors for the Perth Royal Show Exhibition game!!
https://polocrossewa.schoolzineplus.com/form/16
Nominations close 18th August 2023 5pm Perth Royal Show

Coaching

Horsemanship Level 1 Coaching International Coach

*Want to get your Level 1 Coaching accreditation- then contact the SEO or Director of Coaching Mandy Marriott for more information - get your online component completed first ! https://www.ausport.gov.au/.../community-coaching...

**Dont miss out on the next Gerald School! Limited places left, Contact Mandy Marriott for more information Gerald O'Brien Breaking, Training & Performance Horses

***Coaches we want you for the U21 WA v Victoria Competition for two Under 21 Teams playing at South Midlands!
Please register your interest via the below link:
https://polocrossewa.schoolzineplus.com/form/45
Any questions please contact Mandy Marriott or Hannah Adams

****Elite Coaching Clinic with well renowned South African coach Bruce McClarty on the 3rd & 4th Oct, $350pp. Contact Kylie Dowling for more information and to secure your spot. kyliedowling@icloud.com

Upcoming Carnivals

Check the calendar on Facebook or the website for upcoming carnivals. Next on the list is Irwin followed by Mullewa. the year has started with a bang some great initiatives being run and some new shirts hitting the fields!

The calendar has seen the touring teams return the Autumn canrivals conlude and now we are in to the main season. Next up are Irwin and Mullewa and after that at least another 11 carnivals to play if you havent affiliated yet find all the information you need on our website!

2023 PAWA Calendar