First Perth trips for two school teams

Broome Senior High School is gearing up to send its first ever soccer and netball teams to Perth for country week, with the teenagers setting off to the State capital this Sunday.

With increased interest in both sports, BSHS is now in a position to send representative sides to the tournament to compete against other schools across WA.

The boys’ soccer team comprises 14 players from Year 10 and 11 and a single student from Year 9.

The squad have been training over the past number of months, and has joined in with Broome Soccer Association senior sessions.

“A lot of the boys are new to the sport, but they have all come on leaps and bounds since we started,” soccer coach Azhar Hamid said.

“The BSA has been very supportive in the lead-up to the tournament, and we go there as prepared as we can be.”

The soccer team will take on teams from Esperance, Northam, Eaton Community College, North Albany and Cape Naturaliste. The netball squad is made up of nine girls and the Broome contingent will face other schools from Karratha, Ocean Forest LC, Katanning, Collie, WACOA Harvey, Tom Price and Dalyellup.

Netball coach Melissa Denkinger said her team was looking forward to the tournament.

“We have been training since the middle of Term 1, and the improvement over the last number of months has been noticeable,” she said.

“We are looking forward to showing the quality of netball players in the North West.”

Andy Chapman has overseen the teams’ preparations, and made the arrangements for inclusion in the tournament.

With this being the first year of competition, Chapman said it was a momentous occasion.

“We are all very excited to represent Broome Senior High School, and the community support that we have received has been fantastic,” he said.

“We hope that competitions like this can raise the standard of the local players, and that this will be the first year of many that we can send teams to country week.”