Northsports roller hockey stars have once again found themselves on the podium at a national-level tournament.
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The Australia Day Cup in Melbourne is considered the biggest roller hockey competition in the southern hemisphere with 34 teams facing off over five days.
There was competition from overseas as well with a team from Japan in the under 17s division, as well as players from New Zealand, Columbia, Chile, Spain, Argentina and Italy taking part.
Two of the Glen Innes-based club’s teams managed to medal with the ladies pulling off gold and the under 20 side finishing with silver.
Northsports junior coach Daniel Heagney was rapt with the effort.
“The under 20s was a very strong competition this year so I was very proud of our guys to get the silver medal,” he said.
“That was the only game that any of our teams lost all tournament, we actually had a draw with the team that won on the first day but couldn't get quite there in the finals. Everyone was a bit tired, it was over 40 degrees in the stadium down there.”
Northsports have attended the tournament three times with the 2019 event their most successful.
In addition to the two teams claiming medals, a number of athletes were recognised individually as the most valuable player in their divisions.
“Kyah Heagney picked up the MVP for the ladies' division,” Daniel Heagney said.
“We had Braiden Crawford and Aiden Rogers-Ellis picked up a joint MVP in the under 20s. Paul Magner got best goalkeeper for the under 20s as well.
“We also had five players from the under 20s play on the under 20s Australian development team in the senior division as well.”
The Northsports club will continue rolling through the competition season with hosting the Country Cup in two months.
“We usually get teams from Brisbane and Gympie,” Heagney said.
“We are hoping to get a team form Melbourne as well that will travel up and that runs for the weekend here in Glen.
“We have just got to knuckle down now and keep putting in the work and hopefully we will be able to hit some of our goals this year.”