This is a great opportunity for young players to take part in a competition that not only teaches them great skills, but sees them compete against teams from all over Australia as well other countries.

Our girls, the Palerang Pinks under 16s, competed in the Plate competition, keeping up with the best of the teams that were higher ranked than our girls.

The team stood up to them well, only going down by one or two points at times. The girls did walk away with one 2-1 win, against Goulburn.

Our girls played two games per day, which saw them all pushed to their limits.

The weather was not nice at all for any of the days the girls competed. If it wasn’t icy winds, it was ice-like rain that was cruel for the girls to play in.

The girls played against Belconnen United going down 1-0, then played Balmain Sydney, going down to them 1-0. The next day they played Townsville Warriors going down to them 2-1, then Belsouth also going down 3-1. The next and final day the girls played STFA of Goulburn, winning that game 2-1.

This was very exciting for the girls, and gave them that extra bit of encouragement that they needed at the end of the day.

Their last game was against Mansfield State HS of Queensland, the team that took out the competition plate.

The Pinks went down 4-1 in that game, but did tremendously well, considering the skills and division against which they were competing.

Our girls soldiered on without too many complaints. They were very happy with the outcome of the competition and got to see other teams show what great skills they also had.

We had a few injuries through the competition, with our goalie being taken to hospital with a bad sprain (from practising with a five-year-old sibling) to one of the other players during the lunch break, rather than in competition. 

I’m sure Lyndsey would have preferred to have suffered the injury while saving one of the many goals she saved through the competition.

You did great, Lyndsey, and so did every other single girl in the team.

You all did Braidwood very proud, Palerang Pinks. You are great role models for future Kanga Cup competitors from Braidwood.