As the whistle drew the grand final to a close, Tasmania's under-8s boys' futsal side descended into euphoria as the realisation of their triumph dawned upon them.
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The 40 degree heat inside the Queensland State Netball Centre mattered little as shirts were thrown and bodies rushed onto the court to celebrate the 6-3 victory over Queensland.
It capped an extraordinary tournament for Tasmania, which also claimed the under-10s and under-13s boys' titles and runners-up in youth men's and women's competitions.
The under-8s and under-10s hailed from Northern Tasmania and were vindicated for staying the course, with many opposing managers commending them on their sportsmanship.
The triumphant concluded a meteoric rise for the Tasmania under-8s side which did not win a game in the previous tournament as they were soundly beaten by their mainland opposition.
Coach Duane Preece headed back to the drawing board armed with the lessons of mainland futsal tactics to mastermind a better performance.
"The way that they teach you the structure in Tassie is a lot different to how they play in the mainland so we changed the way we play we rotated a lot more [on the floor]," he said.
"No one player played any particular position apart from the goalkeeper, everyone else rotated, that's what won us everything ... and we pretty much trained since the day we got back."
It was an approach which led them to grand final glory as they notched 132 goals and conceded only 13 in an unbeaten tournament run.
The under-8s side's individual star players included Frank Woodroffe, who earned the golden boot, and Dex Cassidy who earned golden glove honours and was most valuable player in for the grand final after some impressive efforts between the sticks.
"Probably the word that comes to mind is emotional, it was very emotional, winning it was insane," Preece said.
"All the parents and kids from the other states came running in and all the other Tassie teams were supporting us, it was just an unbelievable experience."
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