Months of hard work has resulted in silver medals for the Tamworth Taipans under 9s boys side.
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The boys played at the Junior Oztag State Cup in Sydney last week after training for three months with coach Pat Strong and manager Felicity van Aanholt.
The Taipans didn't drop a game en route to the grand final where they went down 3-0 against Nepean.
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Strong was "super proud" of the side and said the hard work showed when the going got tough.
"To show up on those early Sunday mornings and the Thursday afternoons and to put in the work - it really paid off with us making the grand final," Strong said.
"It was in those games that could have went either way. Our boys stuck to the structure of what we trained for and that was able to get us over the line."
Those tight games included a thriller in the semi-finals where the match went to a five-player drop-off.
"We had to pick our strongest five that would step up to the plate. They did that and proved themselves in that game but it also drained the energy from them," Strong said.
Strong said it was a team effort on and off the field with the coach praising team manager van Aanholt.
"I wouldn't have been half as calm if I hadn't had her on the sidelines with me or helping me with training as well," Strong said.
"The manager plays a vital role in team structure and cohesion."
Along with the boys under 9s side, another four Tamworth teams competed on the weekend.
The 10 boys and 11 girls were in the second division, both finishing runners-up, while the 10 girls and 11 boys were in first division.
The 11 boys played hard but missed a spot in the finals while the 10 girls made it to the quarter finals.
It capped off a huge state cup for Tamworth as the sides brought home the association's best ever results.
Played over two weekends, the older teams played earlier in February, five teams claimed silver medals while a further five teams competed in the finals.
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