Country Week teams grab shields

It has been more than a month since a team of sporting enthusiasts from Hedland Senior High School bussed off to the big city to attend the annual milestone on the country school sporting calendar.

HSHS took a 63-strong team of students and eight staff to Perth in the first week of July to attend Country Week.

The event was attended by 3500 participants from 49 senior high schools in WA, including Newman, Karratha and Tom Price.

Students from Hedland represented the school in boy’s basketball, boy’s AFL, girl’s volleyball, mixed touch, dance and netball.

HSHS’ mixed touch and dance teams took out the A-Division shield which, according to HSHS head of health and physical education Av Swami, was a fantastic achievement.

“All coaches and participants trained extremely hard in the lead up to the event and represented HSHS proudly in Perth,” he said.

“It is always great to take away an A-Division shield from Country Week.”

Swami said the week consisted of sporting fixtures and other cultural experiences around Perth.

“With such a significant increase in costs Country Week would not be possible without the support of local industry,” he said. “Our major sponsors Atlas Iron, Goldman Constructions, RSL Port Hedland and McDonald’s South Hedland helped our students enjoy the 2013 Country Week experience – their support was invaluable.”

Touch rugby A-Division team captain Saane Finau said a large portion of the team were inexperienced and had never played touch rugby before.

The touch team had trained together since April in the lead up to Country Week; and focussed on fitness with cardio drills.

“We struggled at first to get people to play because we also had an AFL team but then some boys offered to play who had a fair idea of the game but no experience,” Finau said.

“There were three of us in the team who had grown up playing (touch rugby) so we all worked together to help the unexperienced people, give them a good understanding of the game and push them to the best of their abilities.

“Honestly I thought we were just going to play for fun, because I thought we would get slaughtered, but once we got there it opened our eyes and we thought ‘we’re here, we have to work as a team if we want it’, and that’s what we did.”

The mixed touch team played a hotly-contested final against Bunbury Senior High School, which had taken home the trophy for the past two years.

“We won by one, the score was 7-6,” Finau said.

“I think it was a shock to all of us but we brought it home and that’s all that really matters.

“We had a lot of other country week teams cheering us on because they didn’t want Bunbury to win.

“It wouldn’t have been possible without all the teacher support and without our coach Sinead Leavy.”

Atlas Iron managing director Ken Brinsden said he was delighted Hedland SHS could participate and succeed at Country Week.

“By helping the students make the trip to participate in Country Week, we’re encouraging an interest in participation in sport, which is great for the kids in so many ways – it’s a healthy lifestyle choice, it encourages team work and it adds to their education,” he said.