Sports Archives - Parkes Phoenix

Hockey Star Daisy Rice To Represent Australian U15s All Schools Merit Team

August 13, 2026 By Roxane Manley

Parkes girl and Red Bend Catholic College student, Daisy Rice comes from a family of hockey players, who first started playing hockey at just four years of age. It explains her rise to selection in the Australian U15s All Schools Merit Team.

Daisy was first selected in the Combined Catholic Colleges (CCC) Hockey Team and then trialled in Newcastle and made the NSW All Schools team. NSW All Schools provides opportunities for secondary students from the Catholic, Government and Independent sectors to participate in representative sport at the national level.

Daisy Rice recently represented the NSW All Schools team at the School Sports Australia Games 2026 in Melbourne and made it to the final of the U15 All Schools Championship, going down in a shoot out with the QLD team.

Daisy said “My NSW team lost to Queensland in the Grand Final, through the game we fought hard scoring the first goal in the first quarter but Queensland equalised in the end of the third quarter, the game ended 1-1 and we went into shootouts going down 3-1.”

It was while representing NSW under 15s All Schools, where Daisy was one of 15 girls selected to be in the U15s All Australian hockey team. This is Daisy’s first time being selected in an Australian team.

Growing up with two older brothers means Daisy has always been competitive.

She started playing junior hockey in Parkes, playing on Saturday mornings and moving to playing senior hockey in year 7 for Crows Hockey Club. In 2025 Daisy played for the Parkes United Premier League team in the Central West Premier League competition and this year she is playing for Goulburn in the Canberra Capital League.

“I actually love the sport of hockey, it is fun and requires skill, fitness and strategy,” said Daisy.

Vashti Williams Aims To Throw Javelin At Olympic Level

July 30, 2026 By Roxane Manley

Fourteen year old Vashti Williams from Trundle is a rising star in the sport of Javelin. Vashti has been throwing the javelin since before she could even walk through the school gates, spending her afternoons learning and training alongside her three older siblings.

Although athletics and sports has been a part of Vashti’s life from such a young age, it wasn’t until she was thirteen that she actually started to see herself as a good javelin thrower.

“At around thirteen, everything changed; those childhood goals suddenly shifted into reality. By the time I was at an age to compete in javelin, I already had over seven years of training, understanding rules and techniques of the sport.

“Parkes Little Athletics opened up totally new opportunities and competitions that I was able to compete at and work my way from the bottom of my age group when I began, to now being one of the top throwers in my age group at competitions,” said Vashti.

Vashti has recently competed at some major competitions, representing NSW on the national stage in April and then competing at the Oceania Athletics Championships in Darwin, representing Australia where she won a Bronze Medal in the Women’s U16 Javelin.

“I honestly never thought I would see myself throwing a javelin at places like Perth, Brisbane and definitely not Darwin! My debut on the National stage in Perth last year (2025) was the hardest experience out of the three. Being my first National competition, I didn’t know what to expect.”

After throwing over a 2m pb, Vashti was proud to come home with a bronze medal.

When competing at Nationals in Brisbane this year Vashti said, “I did what I could on that day and reflected on what I could have done to change my outcome and then put that into practice preparing for Darwin, where I received a bronze medal.”

“The Oceania Championships were by far my favourite competition to this day. Just the atmosphere and the encouragement from everyone around in all the events was such a great feeling,” said Vashti.

At every competition Vashti sets herself a standard that she tries to meet, it is never to beat someone else, it is only to better herself.

“My long-term goal will always be to represent Australia at the Olympics. My future goal for this year is to consistently be throwing over 40 metres and continue to better myself in all areas of my throwing technique and to keep positive.”

Most weeks Vashti trains after school on four days at a local oval and participates in weekend sports. Coming up in September Vashti hopes to compete in the CHS State competition, followed by All Schools at the end of September. Little Athletics will then begin and most weekends of November she will have an athletics carnival, which will prepare her for the Country Championships, Little Athletics Regionals/State and then shortly after the Nationals.

Good Fun In Short Course Event

July 30, 2026 By Short Putt

On Saturday 25 July, 79 Forbes and visiting golfers had a different perspective on how to play some holes when the inaugural Short Course event was played.

The clubbing changed from their normal approach and the greens were quite slick, leading some interesting results.

The Winner of the Inaugural Short Course Championship was Caleb Hanrahan with 71 Scratch. Runner-up was Cam McMillan with 72 Scratch.

In the Handicap format the Div-1 Winner Alf Davies with 73 nett. He needed to warm up on the front-9 before putting a very good back-9 together. Runner-up was Scott Kirkman who missed out on count back. He had a better scratch score but had fewer handicap shots to play with.

The Div-2 Winner was Glenn Kitson with 71 nett. He played a steady game but did not make best use of the shorter holes.

Runner-up was Mat Duff with 73 nett. He also played steadily and did make good use of the shorter holes.

The ball sweep went to 78 nett on count back. NTPs went to: 9th Peter Dawson, 18th Wayne O’Niell with only Pete converting for 2’s. The Super Pin went to Brad Ashton (180 cm) who also converted for his ‘2’.

The comp on Saturday 1 August is the Monthly Medal sponsored by Bernardis Marketplace. There will be the usual Stableford Medley on Sunday but of better interest is the Trundle Open.

Keen to support other local clubs? Great event for keen mixed golfers at Condobolin Golf Club on the 9 August or to Cowra Golf Club on the 8-9 August. Information on how to enter https://www.facebook.comforbesgolfcourse

By Short Putt

Casey Miles Representing Australia At The World Masters Hockey World Cup

July 23, 2026 By Roxane Manley

Parkes woman Casey Miles is currently overseas competing in the World Masters Hockey World Cup (WMHWC), which is the premier international tournament for Masters hockey, bringing together teams from countries across the globe. This year’s tournament is being held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, from 22 July to 1 August 2026 and Casey will be representing Australia in the Women’s 35+ team.

Casey, who has played hockey for 34 years, was selected for the WMHWC following the Australian Masters Championships which were held in Hobart back in October 2025. Players are selected based on their performances at state and national championships.

This is Casey’ second time representing Australia at World Cup level, and she says, “It’s a huge honour and a dream come true. My first World Cup/International Masters Championship was in Capetown South Africa 2024. It was the result of many years of dedication, training and support from my family, friends, team mates and coaches.”

Casey said “it’s every little girl hockey player’s dream to play in the Netherlands. I’m still pinching myself that I get to play the elite, proudly wearing the green and gold. I hope to play the Dutch on their home soil at some point it would truly be an honour.”

Casey’s team will be competing at the Scheidam complex, she said, “We kick off our campaign on 23 July against the USA. Followed by New Zealand, France then Belgium before crossing over based on results. Ultimately looking for a spot in the Gold medal match on 1 August.”

Parkes has a great representation going to this World Cup, along side Casey, Denise Gersbach will be competing for the over 50s, and Maureen Massey will compete in the over over 70s.

For those keen to watch, games will be live streamed through World Masters Hockey website: https://www.worldmastershockey.tv/en/home

Henry Smashes The Competition And Earns State Selection

July 9, 2026 By Roxane Manley

Parkes Squash star Henry Kross recently competed at the NSWCHS Squash Championships. NSWCHS Squash is open to all public school students in NSW. It involves playing as a team for your region, before you split into either Opens or Under 15’s for an individual championship. The top 5 finishers in each division make the NSW team.

As a team Henry played for Western, where Western claimed a Silver medal. In the individual championship, it was his first year up in Open’s and Henry has taken out the win in that division.

“I have played under 15’s for the last four years (year 7 – 10) and managed to win three out of four in that competition. All four World Juniors were meant to compete, but one pulled out the week prior, so the competition is really strong,” said Henry.

Henry will now compete as part of the State team later in the year. “This will be my first year competing in Opens, after playing Under 15’s for NSW from year 7-10. Last year I competed in Cairns at the NSW CHS and was lucky enough to make the Australian All Schools, which I hope to do again this year in Opens.”

“I’ve been working really hard as I have State Champs in Bega this coming weekend, and fly out to World’s in Canada next week and so far my preparation has been really good. I want to make a career out of Squash, so training to keep getting to the next level motivates me,” said Henry.

Henry thanks Parkes High for their support and sponsors Dunlop and Grip X, Parkes Athletic and Parkes Squash, and everyone who has helped with his fundraising, it all counts and makes it possible.

Jade Page Best Of Medal Winners

July 9, 2026 By Short Putt

On Saturday 4 July, 72 Forbes and visiting golfers found the course conditions difficult.

However, Jade Page did well to produce the lowest score of the Medal winners.

The A-Grade was won by Jade Page with 70 nett built on the back of a flawless par front-9.

Runner-up was Harry Callaghan with 74 nett where his back-9 let him down.

The B-Grade needed a count back to decide the winner, going to Allan Rees with a 72 nett. His was a steady round with no blow-out holes.

Runner-up on count back was Matt Walton (72 nett) who did very well on the front-9 but struggled to find his rhythm on the back-9.

The C-Grade also needed a count back for the voucher prize with Henry Nash and Brett Slack-Smith finishing on 74 nett.

The ball sweep went to 77 nett. NTPs went to: 9th H Callaghan, 18th D Burton, with only Harry converting for a ‘2’. The Super Pin went to Jack Dobell (78 cm) who missed his ‘2’.

The comp on Saturday 11 July is an Individual Stroke sponsored by the B&M Tooth.

Stableford Medley on Sunday.

By Short Putt

No Junior Touch Footy In Parkes

June 25, 2026 By Roxane Manley

Pictured are some of the representative players from Parkes Junior Touch Football. If a junior competition is to go ahead this year, it is essential that the Parkes Touch Association committee is filled.

The Parkes Touch Association is putting a call out for committee members, with many significant roles yet to be filled. If the key positions needed are not filled then there will be no Mini Touch, Junior Touch, Senior Men’s and Women’s Touch or Junior Representative Touch this year, which would be a devastating outcome for junior touch footy in Parkes. At present, the only competition secured is the Seniors Mixed Touch.

Renae Smith of Parkes Touch Association said, “Competition starts in October each year, finishing in early March. Last year, we had increased numbers in participation across all junior age groups, with approximately 650 junior players and 300 senior players.

“Representative touch football tournaments commence in November and run through until Junior State Cup in February.

Last year, we had the Under 10 girls team finish runners up at the Junior State Cup.

“Player numbers are not the issue we are facing – it is the lack of volunteers. The number of volunteers has been slowly declining over recent years, which has meant that other people have had to take on more roles and greater workloads. Unfortunately, this has resulted in Committee members burning out.”

To run the competition to its full potential and reduce the workload on individual committee members, ideally, 12 people are needed.

Anyone can put their hand up to join the committee. The club has fallen low in terms of volunteers and committee members in the past, however this is the lowest number the club has seen thus far.

For more information, or to join the Committee, email parkespumas@gmail.com. or reach out via their Facebook page. The club will be holding their next meeting at 6.00pm on Monday 20 July at the Parkes Services Club Boardroom (upstairs).

PSBC Mixed Pairs Tournament

June 11, 2026 By Roxane Manley

The day was successful, and the club looks forward to hosting more tournaments throughout the year.

Parkes Bowling and Sports Club recently held their Mixed Pairs Tournament thanks to Sponsor PDF.

Little Athletics

June 11, 2026 By Roxane Manley

Great news for local sport in Forbes with Forbes Little Athletics recieving a grant for $3,430.67 for equipment.

This funding will help support participation and provide better opportunities for local young athletes.

Funding from the Active Kids Grant will go towards training equipment for the club to benefit the athletes.

The Challenge Sporting Clubs Face In Attracting Volunteers

June 5, 2026 By Roxane Manley

Under 8’s Coach Cameron Moore who has come straight from his role at Northparkes Mines to coach his side. Many coaches volunteer their time regularly and most coaches would volunteer a minimum of 5 hours a week.

The majority of volunteers who step up each week to help run junior sporting games are mostly parents who work fulltime, have families of their own, and on top of that still dedicate countless hours each week to coaching, team management, ground preparation, administration, fundraising, canteen duties and game-day operations.

When you add those hours up across a season, it’s a considerable commitment. For the Parkes Marist Junior Rugby League Club to have a successful home game, at least 5 volunteers are needed per team, Coach, Leaguesafe, Fao, Table and Ground control. These are compulsory volunteers legally required by NSWRL if these positions are not filled then kids can not take to the field. Over the course of the day across the whole operation it’s easy to add up to over 80 volunteers to get the day off the ground.

Tina Morrison, Treasurer for the Parkes Marist Junior Rugby League Club said “Unfortunately, it can be quite disheartening when calls for assistance go unanswered.

The reality is that junior rugby league, or that of any sporting club doesn’t just happen on its own—it relies entirely on volunteers.

“It’s also important for people to know that volunteering isn’t something they need to be intimidated by. All volunteer roles are fully supported, with clear processes in place and plenty of help available. We have a fantastic committee and group of volunteers who make volunteering enjoyable, rewarding and, at times, a lot of fun.

It’s also a great way to meet other parents and become part of the club community.

“Some parents put their hand up to help, and return week after week, year after year, simply because they enjoy being involved and seeing the enjoyment in the kids’ faces. We simply couldn’t do it without them and can never thank them enough for their dedication and commitment.”

Every sporting club recognises the sacrifices made by those volunteers, sponsors and community members who continue to step up year after year to ensure local kids have the opportunity to play.

“All we ask is for one parent per participant to give an hour of their time at a home game during the season weather it be helping set up, on canteen duty or packing up at the end of the day, if every parent with a player registered fulfilled this obligation then the impact it would have would be a great outcome for the club.”

“Without volunteers junior footy simply would not be possible- it’s not an organisation that cannot rely solely on committee members or Coaches to get the day off the ground we need parents of players to step up and assist at any opportunity they can,” said Tina.

For any one who wants to volunteer but doesn’t know what they can do to help they can chat to any of the committee members or contact the coach of their child’s team who can point them in the direction of where help is needed.

Subscribe