Sticking together scores results for cricket team
Schools
A north-eastern suburbs junior cricket side has gone from being a team of battlers who rarely won a match five years ago to winning a Statewide carnival and largely undefeated in the local competition.
The St Joseph’s Hectorville team of seven boys and one girl, including two students from St Joseph’s Tranmere, came together five years ago through the Kanga Cricket program and began playing in the North East zone on Saturday mornings.
Coach Ben Tirri said the players had little experience in the sport and were “defeated terribly” in the first few years.
“But they toughed it out and stuck together,” he said.
Now in Year 6, the students recently competed in the South Australian Catholic Primary School Sports Association carnival, a collaboration with the SA Cricket Association.
Held at the Karen Rolton Oval and surrounding grounds across two days, 21 Catholic primary schools participated, fielding 88 teams of boys and girls.
Ben said when his players discovered they had achieved the best results of the carnival, they were “incredibly excited”.
One of the star players in the team is Bianca La Vista, who Ben described as “very skilful”.
“It’s been great to see the boys embrace her as their team mate,” he said.
“All the players have really grown as young people and have come to realise that success comes through hard work.
“They are very vocal and support each other as well as encouraging the other teams…because they know what it’s like to not win.”
While the emphasis of the SACPSSA carnival is on participation and enjoyment, a special certificate was provided to the team for being undefeated in their four matches and achieving the highest total in the boys’ competition.
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