Parkes Public School’s tennis team travelled to Sydney this week to play Excelsior Public in the PSSA State quarter finals. It was going to be a very tough match on multi-purpose hard courts, and they came away the winners 5 sets to 3. The team worked well together, and put in a great effort with extra training and practise sessions to improve their doubles play and strategies. Their determination to never give up placed them in the top four public school teams in NSW.

Last weekend it was the turn of the masters hockey players to bring back a state title. The Parkes over 35s team won the Division 5 state title at the NSW Masters Northern State Championships in Coffs Harbour. They defeated Newcastle 2-0 in the grand final.

The Parkes over 35s team went through undefeated in Division 5 with wins over Hunter 4-0, Sydney East 4-3, Newcastle 1-0, Far North Coast 2-0 and beating Hunter 3-0 in the semi-final. The goal scorers were Janelle Thompson (4), Somer Tanswell (3), Cherie Simpson (4), Kylie Butler (3) and Tracy Hambridge (2).

Parkes sent two other teams to the championships. Parkes over 40s finished third in the over 40s Division 1 competition, and Parkes over 50s finished fifth. Three Parkes players were presented with masters jumpers at the opening ceremony in recognition of playing hockey in their 50th and 70th years. They are Cheryl Uptin, Ally Eslick and Fran Dixon.

The results for the over 40s team were:
0-0 draw with New England, 0-2 loss to Central Coast, 3-0 win over Newcastle, 2-0 win over Sydney Northern Beaches, 4-1 win over Tamworth and 0-1 loss to Manning Valley. Goals were scored by Denise Gersbach (4), Carla Peden (2), Jane Grosvenor (1), Tracie Sams (1) and Lee Hodge (1). The results for Parkes Over 50s were: 0-3 loss to Northern Sydney Beaches, 1-0 win over Orange, 0-2 loss to Central Coast, 0- 1 loss to Far North Coast and 0-1 loss to Manning Valley. Megan Hornery scored the goal against Orange.

By Denise Gersbach

The Parkes Dragon Boat Club held its inaugural AGM last week and elected Bill Thomas as its first president. Bill’s vision is that it will be a friendly club for all people, on and off the water. “You can paddle for fun and friendship or you can strive to reach representative level,” he said.

Since its launch at the end of May the club has gained 29 paid members and has started regular paddling sessions at Lake Endeavour on Sunday mornings. “We have already become a group of dedicated die hards who will brave the elements to get on the water.”

Bill is encouraged by the number of men joining the club to make it a strong, equal club that will help get rid of the old stigma of dragon boating being a women’s sport. The other committee positions were filled by Debra Tooley – vice president, Beth Thomas – secretary, Debbie Abela – treasurer and regatta coordinator, Jenny Short – grants officer, Harley Tom – director, Louise Moore – public officer/registrar, Bill Thomas – equipment coordinator, Maggi Barnard – publicity officer, , John Pearce – MPIO, Warren Edwards – coach, Rochelle Smith, Beth Thomas and Debra Tooley – assistant coaches and Linda Snyman – social organiser.

Parkes junior hockey is on a winning streak with the U13 Boys team becoming joint Division 1 State champions last weekend in Wagga Wagga.

The Parkes 2 team did themselves proud clinching third place in Division 3 and getting the Play the Whistle Award for outstanding sportsmanship. The Parkes 1 team’s victory comes only three weeks after the U15 Boys team won the Division 2 state title in Parkes last month.

The Parkes 1 team were undefeated in their round games played over the first two days of the carnival, securing wins against Grafton 1 (1-0), North West Sydney 1 (2-0), New England (4-0), Goulburn 1 (2-0) and a draw with Illawarra South Coast 1 (2-2).

On Sunday the boys took on Metro South West 1 in the semi-final winning 3-1 to secure their place in the final against Newcastle 1. Neither team were able to score, despite Parkes having the majority of play towards later stages of the game. Several penalty corners in the dying minutes could not be converted by Parkes, and with the scores locked at 0-0 both teams were declared joint winners! Official records were not available, but it might be the first time in about 30 years that Parkes has won the Division 1 title in the U13 boys age group.

At the conclusion of the carnival, more good news came Parkes’ way with centre midfielder Ryan Dunford named Player of the Tournament, and seven team members were named in the U13 Boys NSW squad! They are Thomas Searl, Ryan Dunford, Toby Collins, Joseph Tanswell, Jack Skinner, Edward Murray and Nathan Marshall.

This brings Parkes’ total of NSW junior squad members for 2018 to 18 – an outstanding achievement.