Aussie selections for Parkes hockey masters

Parkes was well represented at the Australian Women's Masters Hockey Championships which were held in Perth from September 22 to 30. The NSW contingent arrived in Perth on October 18 and had three days of training before the championships began. Teegan Boehm and Casey Miles (Over 34s), Denise Gersbach and Mandy Westcott (over 50s) and Maureen Massey (Over 70s) all proudly wore the NSW blues colours throughout the championships. Teegan and Casey's Over 34s team narrowly missed the bronze medal finishing in fourth place after being defeated by ACT in the bronze medal match. Teegan and Casey were integral members of the team with Casey playing an attacking midfielder and Teegan playing a striker. Casey and Teegan both scored a goal each during the championship. Denise and Mandy's Over 50s team finished with the silver medal after being defeated by WA in the gold medal match. NSW had gone through the round games undefeated, only conceding one goal but were unable to defeat WA in the final match. Denise played as a striker and attacking midfielder with Mandy playing as a defensive midfielder. Denise scored four goals in the tournament. Maureen's Over 70s team finished with the gold medal after defeating Victoria in the gold medal match. NSW went through the tournament undefeated and maintained their excellent form in the gold medal match. Maureen played as a goalkeeper in the tournament. As a final highlight, our Parkes ladies have been extremely selection with Australian selection: Denise Gersbach has been selected in the Over 50s Australian team, Mandy Westcott has been selected in the Over 55s Australian team, Maureen Massey has been selected in the Over 70s Australian team and both Casey Miles and Teegan Rodgers have been named in the Over 35s Australian A team (Casey has also been named as a shadow player in the Over 35s Australian team). Hockey Australia Masters will be entering Australian and Australian A teams in each age group (except the 70s) at the 2024 World Cup. Denise, Mandy and Maureen will compete in the World Cup in Auckland in 2024 with Teegan and Casey competing in the World Cup in South Africa in 2024. This is an outstanding achievement for our Parkes ladies with all of them very excited to be wearing the green and gold next year. In other hockey news Ian Westcott has been selected in the Australian Over 45s men's team and Dusty Powter has been named as a shadow player for the Australian A Over 55s team.