WRAS Hockey and Lone Star squad member Tamika Bostock has taken out the 2010 Lithgow Junior Sports Star of the Year Award. Tamika shared the award with Jenna Heath.

In hockey, Tamika was a member of the NSW Hockey under 15 City team for the annual City versus Country clash.

She captained the Lithgow district girls under 15 hockey team (undefeated in all tournaments) and was a member of the Lithgow Panthers Premier League hockey team and the Western Region open girl’s hockey team that contested the state championships. She is also currently a member of the ACT U18 State team which will compete at the Nationals.

She is equally talented in athletics excelling in high jump, long jump and triple jump.

Tamika set a new personal best high jump of 1.7 metres, allowing entry into the under 18 and under 20 age divisions at the National championships in 2011 (close to a world junior qualifying height), re-qualified for NSW Athletics Team for 2011 National Championships, invited to trial for the ACT under 18 women’s hockey team, was first in the triple jump (new personal best by 0.5 metres), and second in the high jump at the Zone athletics championships and is ranked 16th in Australia for the under 18 high jump.

Over 100 Western Region Academy of Sport athletes and squad staff from across the region will converge on Wallerawang this weekend for a three day live in training camp commencing on Friday 4 February.  Participants from the basketball, golf, hockey, lawn bowls and netball will participate in a variety of development and education sessions in Portland, Wallerawang and Lithgow.  

The Combined WRAS Camp which is sponsored by Delta Electricity has become an annual event rotating each year between Wallerawang and Dubbo. It is anticipated that over 100 parents and family members will also be in attendance.  The basketball and netball squads will make use of the excellent facilities at the Wallerawang Indoor Sports Centre, while the Hockey squad will be hosted by the Lithgow Hockey Association. The lawn bowlers will have a big weekend with practice sessions scheduled at the Lithgow City Bowling Club whilst the golf squad will practice at both the Portland and Lithgow Golf Clubs.

Education sessions have been planned for Saturday morning with a pool recovery at the Lithgow Pool on Saturday afternoon.  A number of highly regarded coaches, specialists and sports scientists will be travelling to Wallerawang for the weekend.  They include Ron Clarke from the Sports Drug Education Unit, Marion van Munster on behalf of Netball NSW, Commonwealth Games Lawn Bowling silver medallist Sharyn Renshaw and massage therapist/speed coach Paul Unsworth from Bathurst.

The WRAS will also conduct a “Fitness Challenge” which will be sponsored by Delta Electricity on Saturday 5 February from 10am-12noon at the Lithgow Valley Plaza.  School children (primary and high school) will be able to receive free testing assessments from the WRAS sports science staff as well as compare themselves to other Lithgow school children with prizes being given out to participants.

Local coaches and athletes are also invited to observe the training sessions. Details of times for the squads are available by phoning the Academy on 6338 4821.

WRAS Hockey squad members Jack Elliott and Nick Hill have taken out the Parkes and Orange Junior Sportsperson of the Year awards at the 2011 Australia Day Sports Awards.

Jack represented Australian Schoolboys in China last year, and will tour with the team to South Africa in 2011. He also achieved numerous other honours, in a number of sports.

In 2010, Nick was selected in the NSW under 16 indoor hockey team and the NSW under 18 hockey squad. He also competed in the NSW All Schools Championships as part of the NSW Combined Independent Schools team, where he went on the win selection in the NSW under 16 All Schools side to compete in the School Sports Australia National Championships in Bunbury, Western Australia.

Jack and Nick were not the only WRAS athletes who was nominated for Awards on Australia Day .  Those nominated for the Junior Sportsperson of the Year award in Bathurst included Laurence Mifsud and Haylee Lepaio (High Perfomance – basketball), Jane Perfect (Golf) and Harrison Jones (Lonestar – Cycling). Hall of Fame athlete and cyclist Mark Renshaw was also nominated for Sportsperson of the Year.

Harrison Jones also picked up an award as a member of the Bathurst Cycle Club Team Time Trial team which won the Junior Team of the Year.

New South Wales Institute of Sport Regional hockey coach Judith Laing is currently in the Western Region conducting training sessions in Parkes, Orange and Bathurst with members of the WRAS Hockey squad.

Judith tested the WRAS athletes through a number of drills, including one-touch and two-touch drills, as well as putting the squad through simulated game scenarios.

“It is always great to have Judith visit our region to work with our athletes and put them through their paces” commented Sports Development Manager, Brett Coxsedge.

Judith will be on field at the Bathurst Hockey Complex this afternoon from 4-6pm and tomorrow morning (Friday 21^st) from 7-8:30am.

The WRAS Athlete of the Month for December, sponsored by CSU, is Zoe Basham from Dubbo. Zoe is a member of the WRAS netball squad.

Zoe was awarded the “Principals Award” at her school for all round excellence. This award is given to the student who has achieved outstanding academic results, has contributed to the school community, and has demonstrated excellent sporting ability and leadership qualities.

Zoe also received a straight ‘A’ school report with excellent comments from all of her teachers.

Zoe has been completing her strength and conditioning training and speaks regularly with her S&C coach requesting information on how to improve her performance. She also has 19 posts on her S&C blog.

Congratulations Zoe!

The Bay of Plenty have finished their combined camp with the Western Region Academy of Sport on a high note, beating their Australian rivals in a friendly test series at the CSU Gymnasium yesterday.

After four days of training together, the New Zealand-based side and their WRAS hosts took to the courts and unfortunately for the hosts, the trend of past results continued.

The teams have held the traditional Test at the end of each week-long exchange between the teams, which has been going on for seven years, and until last year’s draw, the Bay of Plenty had won every game.

This year saw a change to the format with three games played – two between the WRAS and Bay of Plenty teams and a third between the younger WRAS group and their New Zealand counterpart, as well as a match between the WRAS sides.

The visitors proved too strong again yesterday, just scraping home 16-15 in the first game before winning the second more easily 22-10. The Bay of Plenty also won the game against the younger WRAS team 27-8, while the seniors won the local derby 17-6.

The test match wrapped up a very successful week long camp, with the NZ girls travelling to Sydney today to fly back home.

The annual Western Region Academy of Sport (WRAS)/Bay of Plenty (BOP) netball camp has kicked off in fine fashion after a day of site seeing in Sydney by the BOP girls, which included a visit to Manly beach.  The girls from NZ have settled into life in Bathurst for the next 4 days where they will live, eat and train with the WRAS netball squad.

Monday, saw both squads participate in three training sessions under the careful direction of NSWIS coach Lisa Beehag and BOP head coach Rangi Ward. This was followed by a recovery session at the local Bathurst pool under the direction of WRAS interns Kelsea Burden, Angelina Church, Stephanie Ford and Kate Madden. The day ended with a “Quidditch” tournament on the CSU playing fields.

A friendly International test match will be held between the two squads on Thursday 13 January starting at 11am at the Charles Sturt University Gymnasium.

The camp will conclude on Friday when the BOP squad travels back to Sydney to fly out for home.