Riverside High School and St Patrick's College stamped their tickets to the state finals of Netball Tasmania's school championships.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Held across Thursday and Friday at the Silverdome, the two schools qualified in both boys and girls competition, fending off 11 other schools.
The Riverside Blue girls team and the St Pat's Gold outfit started the tournament strong for their schools.
While Riverside's grand final tussle was a tight one - winning 18-15 against Scottsdale - St Pat's had no such issues, defeating Queechy 50-12.
The St Pat's side were dominate throughout the whole day, conceding only 39 goals while piling on 180.
Their boys' Gold team backed it up with similar efficiency, defeating Coastal side Penguin 15-6 to qualify for the October 13 state finals at the Silverdome.
Riverside defeated Queechy 27-20 to book their place.
After the tournament was put on hold last year due to COVID-19, participation has grown from 24 teams in 2019 to 60 in 2021.
This growth has seen a North-West regional round included and is due to the inclusion of the boys competition, which was run at its maximum capacity.
Tournament director Kate Marr said Netball Tasmania was "shocked and overwhelmed" at the event's support.
"We've got a bit of a plan that we would like to expand boys netball," she said.
"There's not a lot in the state at the moment and I guess it's been at the back of our mind to expand it and the easiest way for us to get into a boys comp is through schools.
"The support it's got is amazing, so hopefully a few will enjoy it today and jump on the netball bandwagon but we have got a men's state team, so there is a bit of a pathway there."
While it was many of the players' first times taking part in netball, a lot of the boys are high achievers in other sports, with several State League football and basketball players involved.
"We've seen some great layups, we haven't seen any footy kicks but we've certainly seen some tall guys that sort of look like they might be doing some rucking as well as some great mullets.
"There's a definitely a lot of talented sportsmen but they are all really great athletes, so you can see how they can adapt to any sport they're put into."
SCHOOLS
- St Patrick's College
- Port Dalrymple
- St Helens District
- Queechy
- St Mary's District
- Riverside
- Scottsdale
- Kings Meadows
- Deloraine
- Brooks
- Penguin
- Prospect
- Leighland