Nevertheless, the courageous girls did not go home empty handed ” they were named winners of the Team North category at last Tuesday night’s awards presentation at Community Newspaper Group’s headquarters in Perth.
Their team overcame problems fielding a side due to lack of numbers, which at one point threatened to completely derail their season. The team’s first game was postponed because they did not have enough players.
Captain Courtney Graham said that two of the team’s players were convinced to return to the fold and that after a major recruitment drive to get family members and friends involved, things started to look up. From a squad of four, the team ended up with 13 players, including some who were a couple of years younger, who quickly gelled and got stronger and more confident as the season progressed.
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READ NOWThe girls from Bassendean went on to win the Football West 17s Division 1 Cup and League titles in 2012, a massive achievement from where they started the season.
‘There was a possibility of not having a team at all so we really gave it our best effort, and we were rewarded for this in our game results. It really showed our love for the sport and our commitment to each other when we continuously played our hearts out, and won from week to week,’ Courtney said.
‘It definitely wasn’t easy, but we would not give up ” rain, hail or shine we were out there giving it our all.
‘There was no better feeling than holding the big cup in the air, singing We Are The Champions at the top of our lungs. It was a very proud moment, and being selected as the winner of the Community Newspaper Group HBF Junior Sports Hero Award is just the cherry on top of the cake,’ she said.
‘In many ways, this is what we and HBF set out to acknowledge when we conceived the HBF Junior Sports Heroes awards last year,’ Community Newspaper Group editor-in-chief Greg Thomson said.
‘The aim of the awards was to recognise and reward young people who inspire others through their achievement or participation in their chosen sport or endeavour, to shine the spotlight on children whose endeavours might otherwise go unnoticed.’
There were more than 240 nominations for amazing children aged eight to 18. The four award categories were inspirational boys, inspirational girls, inspirational team and inspirational volunteer with separate north and south divisions for each.