Broken Hill Junior Soccer Association (BHJSA) representative sides spent the King’s Birthday long weekend successfully representing the Silver City at the South Australian Junior Soccer Association (SAJSA) State Championships.
The BHJSA sent an under-12s development group along with under-12s, under-13s, under-16s and a under 13s girl’s side.
Results were mixed across the age groups with some succeeding with fantastic victories and others learning from the experience and continuing their development as they aim to achieve more next time around.
Although teams were still returning to their Broken Hill base as of our print deadline, we managed to get some time with under-13 girls manager Brianna Thrift, who could not contain her pride at the performance of her team across the competition.
“They far exceeded my expectations for the weekend. It was wonderful to watch,” Brianna told the Truth.
Many of her 11-girl squad had never competed at a carnival before, which made their performances all the more impressive as the under-13 girls squad scored a couple of goals throughout the tournament.
“Mia [Johnson] was amazing, she scored our first goal. She was amazing, she played everywhere – even goalkeeper for a half of one of the games, she was our MVP. Ava Tumes got our other goal against the Riverland that put us in front. It was her first ever goal, and her face when she scored was just priceless,” coach Thrift told the Truth.
Though results didn’t go their way across the tournament, the girls’ development from the beginning to the end was so noticeable that even opposition coaches were enquiring about them.
“We had a much younger team than a lot of the other sides, and when the opposition coaches asked me about their ages, they indicated they were excited to see how they perform at next year’s State Champs,” Brianna said.
“Next year at the state championships, these girls will be a force to be reckoned with.”
Coach Thrift highlighted the girls’ courage, dedication, and development when we asked her to sum up her thoughts on her charges.
“I am just so, so proud of them. They never gave up, they never stopped running and they kept trying right to the end. With the work they put in to get there, they were so unlucky to not win their last fixture – they just ran out of puff.”
UNDER 13 GIRLS SAJSA STATE CHAMPS RESULTS
vs Adelaide Hills 0-11
vs Port Lincoln 1-8
vs Limestone Coast 0-9
vs Riverland Red 1-6
