Talents get up to speed
A quick game is said to be a good game but the Australian Indoor Hockey Championships next month is set to test all the fast-twitch skills of Cairns athletes (above). Jesse Folpp and Brayden Naess, who have only started playing indoor hockey this year, have made the under-13 Queensland team while rep regular Mitch Ivory is back in the under-21 setup for the nationals in Goulburn, NSW.
A QUICK game is said to be a good game but the Australian Indoor Hockey Championships next month is set to test all the fast-twitch skills of Cairns athletes.
Jesse Folpp and Brayden Naess, who have only started playing indoor hockey this year, have made the under-13 Queensland team while rep regular Mitch Ivory is back in the under-21 set-up for the nationals in Goulburn, NSW.
Cairns’ own Matthew Sperring is coaching the under-21 side and his expert knowledge is set to take the trio to another level, which he said was about honing that natural talent.
“We’re just working on a lot of their basics,” he said.
“Obviously, as they go up the higher levels, they’ve got to be a bit more crisp in their execution and traps and core vision and things like that.
“The speed of the game is just so much quicker.”
Ivory, the only under-21 player from outside southeast Queensland, said he was fortunate Cairns had developed such a high-quality indoor competition in a short time.
“I’m new to Cairns. When I came up to see the standard up here it was a lot more than I expected,” he said. “It has been handy with the preparation coming into nationals.
“It’s a lot faster and stronger hockey. You’ve got to be stronger on the ball and mentally it’s more of a challenge.”
The event runs from January 12 to 15.