We recently held our 2012 Victorian State Titles at the Handbury Centre (Geelong Grammar School, Corio Campus) with a great turn out from city and country teams. This was a new pool to everyone so there was no home ground advantage.
The day started out with Graham Henderson running a short referees course for quite a few of our members to help everyone brush up before the games later that day.
Once the pool was open the games were going, with the first game being one of the most intense games of the day (Wonthaggi the carry-over state champs against the Xavier Wizards, from whom the title was stolen) ending in a nil all draw and setting the pace for the rest of the day.
The competition was fierce and the tension stayed high for the entire day. Some close matches between Richmond and Wonthaggi and also between Wonthaggi and Warrigul.
With a huge number of breakaway goals the lead scorer of the day (with more goals then all the teams’ lead scorers combined!!!) Craig Thomas with a great effort of 12 goals scored for Warrigul. Geelong had a great turn out with some brand new players who all got amongst the games and had their first taste of club competition hockey. The ‘club formally known as Richmond’ also had a great turn out playing some really competitive hockey.
We also had 2 junior teams, including some brilliant young talents who had their first taste of club hockey competition. They all played hard in the deep water. The juniors had the assistance of our Victorian under 19 team coach Callum Wishart with huge improvements showing throughout the day.
Overall the day went really well with the Xavier Wizards coming away with the title but Wonthaggi and Warrigul looking good to challenge that next year.
A special thanks to everyone who helped organise the day and to Graham Henderson for organising and running the referees course which helped a lot of our members get a better understanding of the rules and reffing. A very special thanks to Sharon Davies for helping organise the day and to True Blue Underwater Hockey supplies for supplying our winners with some of their awesome pucks!
Thanks to anyone I have forgotten and train hard for next years titles!
Steven Taylor
President VUHC