DYNAMIC DUO The Cairns siblings taking on the world
MATTHEW MCINERNEY HOCKEY
www.cairnspost.com.au
THEY are the Cairns Hockey siblings taking the world by storm one representative tour at a time.
Jayden and Shaylee Atkinson are among the Far North’s best junior hockey prospects.
With multiple state and at least two national campaigns under his belt, 17-year-old Jayden is a star of the future.
Atkinson toured South Africa with the under-16 national schoolboys team last year, and will play for Queensland’s under-18s this year.
He is a member of Australia’s Futures Squad, a group of players earmarked as potential Kookaburras and Hockeyroos in the next five years.
It’s a journey that started in the backyard of the family home, where Jayden spent every spare minute with a hockey stick and ball.
“I don’t remember the first time I picked up a hockey stick but I know every time I woke up, when I got home from school, on weekends – I would be outside all day,” Jayden said.
Both play for Brothers, continuing the long line of Atkinsons who have starred for the club in the past few decades, and will be in action today when Cairns Hockey launches its new pre-season format.
Male players will contest a fourteam round robin, with teams comprised of players from Cairns, surrounding areas, the Tablelands, and the next generation of senior stars, the under-18s.
Cairns Hockey’s Singapore tour squad will take on Tablelands in a trial, a key game as the side prepares to face Singapore’s junior national team and compete in an international sixes competition.
Shaylee, 15, will be part of the Singapore tour, which will depart Cairns on February 25, but her ultimate goal is to force herself into Queensland’s under-18s team for the national championships.
“We’ve been training together so we can get to know how each other play and get to know the other girls,” Shaylee said.
“I’ll try to make the under-16s schoolgirls and work towards that state team.”
Jayden’s under-18s face Cairns in the first game at 6pm, before Tablelands take on All Stars at 7.20pm.
Both games are on the Rainforest Turf.
The Singapore squad will face Tablelands at the Lake St venue’s Reef Turf at 7.20pm.