North West Plains Polocrosse young guns travel to Western Australia for a two-week tour

Six local teenagers embarked on a trip of a lifetime earlier this month when they travelled to Western Australia to represent North West Plains Polocrosse on a two-week tour.

The side included Cubbaroo Polocrosse Club’s Edwina Keft and Narrabri Polocrosse Club teammates Piper Schwager, Hallie Thomson, Cooper Kong, Kaitlin Schwager and Skye Manning.

After flying into Perth and meeting their billet families, the players rode their loan horses for the first time before lining up for two exhibition matches at the Perth Royal Show.

The North West Plains team were runners-up at that event, and Kaitlin Schwager was named the most valuable player award winner for the travelling team.

They then competed in the prestigious Future Goal Competition in Swan Valley with players from all over Australia, and took part in a two-day coaching clinic with polocrosse legends such as Bruce MacLarty, Suzette Thomas, Jane Marriott and Scotty Gurney.

The tour then finished with three tough games at the Serpentine Foothills Zone Competition.

Narrabri Polocrosse Club’s Jason Manning was the coach of the North West Plains Polocrosse team for the two weeks. He described the tour as unforgettable and said the six players represented their clubs and zone with pride, talent and great sportsmanship.

“They all played their hearts out and they really did represent North West Plains Polocrosse with the utmost professionalism,” Manning told The Courier.

“The tour is very beneficial for the kids to go on.

“As a coach, it was a life-changing opportunity. It was just brilliant.

“The program has been running for the last 15 years, I believe. Western Australia send a team over here too, and they compete at our Narrabri Junior Challenge in July.

“We have them for two weeks, the same as they have us. We horse them and give them all the gear they need, the same as they do for us when we go over there.

“There are still people from here who have friendships with people from Western Australia from 15 years ago.”

Manning gave a special thank you to Linda Drynan, who helped organise the tour and also sponsored the playing shirts, as well as Rees Farms, who sponsored the players’ jackets.