SOLUTIONS & ANSWERS
TRIVIA TEST ANSWERS #588
1 riding gear, 2 The Temptations,
3 someone who fishes from rocks,
4 spiders, 5 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, 6 Parramatta, 7 trough,
8 bananas, 9 Burnum Burnum,
10 Ian Thorpe.
Build-a-word solution 297
Snapper, toadfish, lemon sole, pikeperch, halibut, grayling, pilchard, barramundi.
...inspiring locals!
CARMEN Armour has had a love affair Australian Rules Football all her life. Now she is expressing that passion by coaching Central West girls in the Country Championships.
She has been involved with the Dubbo Junior AFL Club since its inception in 2012 and it is not hard to see why.
“I grew up in Broken Hill so AFL is in my blood!”
She says when the club started nearly 10 years ago there were only a few players.
“We bounced off with just four little teams to play against each other because we didn’t have enough numbers but we have grown the player base and I’ve just stepped up from being an assistant to coaching the Under 14s this year.”
Carmen’s skills have been rewarded and recently she was appointed coach of the Girls representative team.
“I am really delighted to be working with these talented kids. We’ve had rep sides that we’ve taken away before with great managers and great kids. It hasn’t always been a great arena for us so we’re spending more time together in the build-up this year and we’re aiming to improve our performances.”
Trials were held in Molong to cater for teams from Dubbo, Orange and the two Bathurst clubs and squads for Under 13s, 15s, 17s, Youth Girls League and Women’s were announced during the week.
Girls have traditionally played netball, hockey, soccer and basketball but in recent years Touch, league tag, rugby union and league have become increasingly popular. Carmen sees each of these as having transferable skills so AFL is offering a fairly easy transition for those wanting to try something different.
“We’ve got a lot of young girls coming through that have been allowed to play mixed gender sports up until about 13 and then they go to single gender sports. There’s a lot that go to League Tag and soccer but then we tend to lose them but we’re finding that AFL is a great bridge for some of those who are still really physical, want to play a great game and this is providing that platform for them to stay in sport.
“There are so many skills that come from netball, basketball, league tag, soccer and the rugby codes and there are a lot of girls who have come over to try AFL. Dale and Rachel Bates who coach the Youth Girls in Dubbo have just had their first win ever and the enthusiasm is high.
“All our teams are gaining in confidence and to see their skills developing is just marvellous,” Carmen gushed. Pathways?
“We’re really lucky in the Central West that we have access to some fantastic coaches and we have players in the junior and Youth Girls who have the potential and the pathway to elite footy if they take it.”
Carmen says AFL NSW Development Officer Casey White has been a real driver in recent years.
“Casey has been a tremendous asset for the development of our game in the Central West. He’s always out promoting our game, teaching skills and for anyone who wants to get involved he is always on the end of the line. He’s supported by a mammoth amount of volunteers across the four teams in our competition.
“Some have been involved for the past ten years and more and more are coming through. We could not have community sports without the self-giving of those parents, grandparents and interested volunteers who get us up every weekend to play a game we love.”
What about for those mums who have not grown up with AFL?
“There’s an awful lot of us who have grown up with the sport in Victoria, South Australia, Tassie, Western Australia and even Sydney and Brisbane. We’ve lived and breathed AFL. It’s our number one sport and what really excites me is we run a program for parents with this experience to partner up with newcomers so they know how to have a conversation with their kids about how well they did and encourage them to work on whatever it is they feel they need.”
Carmen believes this expanding knowledge base is creating many previously unknown opportunities for young athletes in the central west of the state.
Let’s give a shout out to Carmen and her training colleagues at Dubbo Juniors – Ben Fairman (12s), Carmen Armour, Dale Bates (Youth Girls) and Michael Armstrong (18s).
Dubbo and the Central West AFL are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year so what an opportune time to get involved as the journey continues.
I think it depends on where you grew up. Women have been involved in the sport for a long time but the passion around Women and Girls AFL is increasing all the time. The AFLW has been a huge platform and a huge drawcard for some of our kids to see they have a future in a sport they love...
OTTERS, Frogs, Sharks, Marlins, Ducks, Mermaids, Splashers and Diggers transformed into judges, ladies, coppers, soldiers and leg-roped convicts for a fabulous finale to the annual Queen’s Legacy Veterans Swimming Carnival on Sunday.
After an exciting morning in the pool, friends from all over the state gathered to raise funds and celebrate ‘life after Covid’ in the RSL Club auditorium.
Val Reid from Gladesville Diggers took the 25m Freestyle just.02 ahead of a Frog (Hornsby) and two Sharks (Cronulla RSL).
Cronulla claimed the Crocodile Cup, touching out the Ducks and Gladesville Diggers.
One of the Ducks newest members, Rob Dickerson (pictured) became a local hero after touching out Anne Wood (Cronulla) and Chris Reid (Gladesville) to have his name etched on the prestigious 50m Freestyle Handicap.
Young Jack Allen made it a weekend to remember, backing up his try for CYMS on Saturday with an impressive win in the 25m Sprint while Nicole Johnstone finished third behind Lisa Hedge and Stacey Thomas in the Ladies event.
The local boys team claimed the 4x25m medley relay and Austinmer took out the Legacy Relay.
A MEMORIAL day planned for former Dubbo Kangaroos Ollie Hall (Wallabies) and Mick Frew became a tribute to three when former president Charlie Holland passed away recently. In what “Dan Frogan” described as the greatest day in his long rugby career, over 80 former players gathered in the club house to reflect on the contributions each had made.
Retired ABC Sports commentator Gerry
Collins returned to his rugby roots to charm supporters with his reflections. Greg Lesberg, Rawson Leach, and Peter Frew paid emotional tributes to Ollie and Mick and there were plenty of kind words for the administrative genius of Charlie.
The battle against old rivals Orange Emus resulted in a narrow loss 12-7. “Character building” was the consensus of the gathered who spent many hours rebuilding friendship forged in “battle”.