NELSON Bay is home to the second best under 14 girls touch football side in NSW after it won silver at the competitive state cup event in Port Macquarie last weekend.
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Nine teams from Nelson Bay Touch Association played in the NSW Junior State Touch Competition, which was held across the February 20-22 weekend.
The junior touch competition is one of the largest in the world.
This year’s competition featured about 20,000 players in 320 teams from under 10s through to under 18s.
A large contingent of referees from Nelson Bay also attended and officiated at the state cup event.
Of the nine Nelson Bay Neptunes teams that went to state cup the under 12, 14 and 16 girls and under 12, 16, and 18 boys played their way into their division’s top 16 teams.
Each age division is broken into pools.
Teams play qualifying rounds in their pools to make the top 16 and then the top eight.
The under 14 and 16 girls progressed to the top eight.
Both of the girls sides were expected to do well after being named Hunter region champions for their age groups at the Peter Wilson Memorial Championship.
The championship event was held in Nelson Bay earlier in February.
At state cup, Nelson Bay’s under 14 girls, coached by Alex Haxton and Nicole Mitchell, defeated all teams in its pool competition.
The defeated Central Coast, Northern Beaches, Blue Mountains, Forster-Tuncurry, Dubbo and Wollongong teams to make the top eight.
In the final rounds, the Neptunes defeated two Sydney teams and a Port Macquarie side to make the grand final.
The girls went down 11-2 to the Manly Sea Eagles to become the second best under 14 girls side in the state.
“It was a really good weekend,” Karen Manton, junior representative coordinator from Nelson Bay Touch Association, said.
“Quite a few teams made it into the the top 16 in the state and one went through to the make the grand final.
“They [players] have done really well. For a small country touch association we have done really well.”
NSW Touch Football stated on its website that the 2016 was something it was “very proud of” and that the event was continually growing.
Next year’s state cup will be held across three full days in Port Macquarie between February 17 and 19.
Following the club’s finals on March 5 Nelson Bay’s junior activities will break until September.
