Good luck to the GeetroitSuper7, a group of amazing boys from Geelong and region who have been selected to play for Australia at the AAU/Junior Olympics, in Inline Hockey, in Los Angeles, California, in July this year. I caught up with the boys at training at Rollerway Newtown. Ashlie Aparicio from Rollerway taught them all to play hockey and has also represented Australia.
Inline hockey is one of the fastest sports in the world, it keeps kids fit, away from technology and builds new friendships. They learn teamwork and good sportsmanship. Codey tells me ‘it’s hard to describe the feeling of flying at top speed down the rink.’
This OS experience might be a once in a lifetime opportunity for the boys. When asked how they made it through states and then nationals to be chosen they answered ‘teamwork is the key. We’ll need to demonstrate all our skills as we’ll probably be up against the best teams in the world.’
Players from all over the country have been selected to represent Australia. The boys from Geetroit Super 7 are in three different age group teams. Tanner will compete in the FIRS World Championships in Italy.
Sai (Surfcoast Secondary), Codey & Aiden (Belmont High) will compete in 14’s at the Junior Olympics and Jed (Oberon South Primary), Riley (Grovedale College) and Kyle (Belmont High) will compete in 12’s at the Junior Olympics.
They train at least three times a week and also all play ice hockey in Melbourne. That’s dedication for you, but their Mums tell me it’s not a chore at all. They all love the game. The game is so popular its even got the parents and whole families playing. The Mums were encouraged to give it a go and now there is a Motherpuckers league that runs over Summer.
‘Rollerway Skate Centre is so good for the community.’ The families are very appreciative of Rollerway who have hosted three tournaments and other events to help raise funds to get the boys to their OS games. ‘It’s a niche sport so there is limited funding. If you can help out with sponsorship of funding please email pfunston@gmail.com or go to our facebook page’ https://www.facebook.com/geetroitsuper7/
Story: Jacqui Bennett Photo: supplied
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