Tasmanian teams have been feeling the heat at the Australian indoor hockey championship in Wollongong this week.
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With games being played in 38 degrees at the Illawarra Hockey Centre, the boys team even went for a 6.30am swim before competition on Wednesday.
Coached by Jayden Pearson and managed by his father Colin, the team features Northern players Eugene Van Niekerk, Daniel Chong and Jack Foley.
They began their campaign with losses to Queensland (0-3), Victoria (0-8) and ACT (0-7).
Colin Pearson said they were “a bit slow out of the blocks” as Queensland converted three penalty corners, but showed improved ball speed and use against a Victorian side that had fewer penalty corners but scored from all four of them.
“We were much happier with our performance even though the scoreboard did not reflect that,” he said.
The girls’ under-18s are coached by Pearson’s daughter Courtney who is fresh back from representing Australia under-23s country development side in Malaysia.
Featuring Northern players Abby Withington, Lauren Buchanan, Hayley Vimpany, Jenny Retterer, Kaylee Demarco and goalkeeper Lacey Denman, the team lost 5-0 to Queensland, 5-1 to Victoria with Annabelle Tierney scoring their first goal of the tournament and 6-0 to ACT on Wednesday.
Both teams are due to play South Australia on Thursday and NSW on Friday.