There’s a wave of talented nippers on the Sunshine Coast and they’re expected to fare well at major carnivals, including at The Aussies on home sand.
The region has thousands of youngsters involved in surf lifesaving and many of them are preparing in earnest for state and national championships.
Sunshine Coast branch team manager Kane Pilkington lauded the skills of the juniors.
“They’re going really well,” he said.
“The clubs here have got a really good mix of competitors and I expect them to have a really strong showing at North Kirra in March.”
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Under-11s to under-15s will compete at the state titles then, and under-14s and under-15s will also race at the Australian championships at Maroochydore in April.
Pilkington expects them to be in the hunt at both carnivals.
“The under-13s I’d expect medals at states. We’ve got a handful of really good kids.”
“We’ve got really strong 14s and 15s, so we’d expect them to really compete for the top of the podium in beach, iron and surf races. We’ll have a pretty strong contingent.”
Selected for state
Fifteen juniors from the Sunshine Coast were selected in the Queensland Cyclones junior team (U13-U15) following the inter-branch championships in November.
While they couldn’t compete in inter-state championships due to COVID, they enjoyed a training camp a fortnight ago.
Tom Johnston (Maroochydore), Leah Pilkington (Alexandra Headland) and Zara Richters (Met Caloundra) were among the captains of the state team. Other under-15s were Georgia McKinley (Sunshine Beach) and Will Kruger (Alexandra Headland).
The region’s under-14s were Eliza Parish (Alexandra Headland), Tiarna O’Neill (Metropolitan Caloundra) and Dylan Wilson (Sunshine Beach).
Their under-13s included Britt Ackerley (Maroochydore), Jay O’Pray (Maroochydore), Byron Oliphant (Alexandra Headland), Kyton Pickering (Maroochydore), Jed Rowlands (Sunshine Beach) and Jasper Wiseman (Maroochydore).
There are also many talents in the under-11 and under-12 ranks, with the likes of Elle Richardson (Alexandra Headland) and Nicky Carter (Alexandra Headland).
Good sports
Pilkington said Sunshine Coast juniors were determined and cohesive.
“They all seem to train hard and at they always seem to get along at carnivals, no matter what,” he said.
“They know when to race hard and when to have fun and that’s important at carnivals.
“There is good mateship between clubs and they’re really supportive.
“If there’s someone from another club who needs some help, they’re always there.
“They just have each others’ backs and that’s why I think we punch above out weight up here on the Sunshine Coast.”
Pilkington also praised the clubs in the region.
“The coaching here is really good. We’ve got some really good programs at all of our surf clubs.”
The Sunshine Coast branch championships was scheduled for this weekend at Maroochydore but there’s the possibility of significant surf, in which case the event will be tweaked/postponed.
