Junior Falcons

Under 12 Girls Dev Squad
30/01/2014

 Following on from a successful 2013 program, the Under 12 Development Squad led by Tania and Scott Gunther took on the Eltham-Dandenong tournament with great success, getting all the way to the Grand Final, as Scott reports:

The U12 Girls Development Squad played in the Australia Day tournament for the first time, following the success of the 2013 Development Squad at lasT year's Nunawading Spectres tournament. Of the 2013 Development Squad, there are 6 girls who have made 2014 Waverley Falcons U12 Girls Teams, so this has become a great breeding ground for our future Falcon stars!

And this years group didn't disappoint. Getting to the Grand Final and losing by 1 point in Over Time is an amazing effort - especially considering the group played together on the weekend for the first time, and they hadn't trained together before.

The Development Squad was made up of players from 4 different domestic clubs - Malvern Tigers, Solway, Glen Iris Scorpions and Ashy Hoops. They had a mix of experience and age - with 3 bottom age players, 3 double bottom age players and 1 triple bottom age player.

They played teams who comprised of other Development Squads from other Associations (Eltham's was full top age & Camberwell's were a mix of top & bottom age) - so they did lack some size, strength and skills. They also played Hawthorn, Oakleigh and Warrandyte who are all currently playing Friday night VJBL in Easts. 

So to split the results preliminary rounds and make it to the Semi Finals against Hawthorn (who they lost to by 10 in the pool matches) was a big achievement.

Learning a simple 2-2-1 press on a white board 5 minutes before tip off and then being able to successfully execute it, was the key in getting through to the Grand Final.

The Grand Final was another heart stopping nail biting affair - but a few lucky rolls the way of Camberwell in both regulation and OT meant that despite their galant effort the girls came up a single point short.

A memorable experience for all the girls - and one in particular even won the Grand Final MVP....Jasmine Fleming. Reports flooded back that some of the girls slept with their trophies, and all of them admitted that they are all now part of the Waverley Falcons family!

 

Special thanks to the coach Tania Gunther for her effort over the weekend, and to all the players: Jasmine Fleming, Anneliese Byrns, Olivia Keble, Lily Newport, Georgia Sewell, Stephanie Longley and Samantha Gunther.