Though neither of the Tamworth teams which attended the Water Polo NSW Under 12s Carnival last weekend made the finals of their respective divisions, coach Laura Hall couldn't have been happier with their performances.
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The Tamworth Polo Club's Under 12 Boys (also called the Waraba) and Under 12 Mixed (Guya) teams traveled to Orange over the weekend to take part in one of the last major events for the summer season.
The Waraba had finished in the top three of two tournaments leading in to last weekend's carnival, but some stiff competition from metropolitan sides restricted the side to a sixth-place finish.
"They lost one of their round games by a couple of goals, which was really good," coach Laura Hill said.
"It shows that they could play against the metro teams ... and they had a narrow loss to Hunter as well."
Despite their defeats, the Waraba (which means 'turtle' in the local Gamilaraay language) are "a good little bunch of boys", Hill said.
"They'll be a good team as they go through the higher levels in state."
Meanwhile, the Mixed team (called the Guya, which translates to 'fish' in the Gamilaraay language) surprised Hall with the strength of their performance.
Prior to the carnival, the young side - which featured a number of players several years below the age of 12 - carried little in the way of expectations due to their age and relative newness to the sport.
However, they managed to win several games and stayed off the bottom of their group ladder.
"They've all gotten so much better," Hill said.
"We went to one tournament [earlier this season] and they didn't win a game, but they were quite competitive on the weekend and won a few of their games.
"They've still got a few more years to build their skills up, but they've gotten so much better in the last few tournaments."
Though a finals berth would have been nice, Hill knows the most important takeaway from any representative tournament is experience.
In this regard, she feels, the players have all come away more assured from their time in Orange.
"For the boys and the mixed team, I think it's a massive confidence booster for them," Hill said.
"Knowing that they can go up against these kids who have played together, are metro, and are in all the programs they've got down in Sydney and metro, but us country kids can stick it to them and they're not going to swim all over us."
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