Congratulations to Michael Ruhs (Year 10) who was appointed a position in the All Schools U/16’s Boys Football Competition held in Shepparton, Victoria last week. The opening ceremony occurred on Sunday with NSW’s first game at 10.30am against Western Australia. The boys started off to a great start considering the pitch was quite slippery which impacted the game initially for both teams. Western Australia came out strong and were putting on the pressure on the defending champions for the first 20 minutes until Michael claimed the first goal for NSW and also for the competition. A second goal then followed 10 mins later and by half time NSW was up 3-0. This gave the boys momentum for the second half in which another 2 goals were scored. At this stage Western Australia could not get back into the game with NSW claiming a 5-0 victory.
Day 2 consisted of play against the ACT in which the boys had a very unsettled start to the game. In saying that a goal was scored in the 4th minute in which Michael had assisted in putting NSW in the lead. The boys still struggled to play the ball and put passes together and then just before half time NSW had scored their 2nd goal with once again Michael assisting in this goal. For most of the second half, they were put under pressure by the ACT and were lucky to not have conceded any goals with NSW claiming a second victory defeating Western Australia 2-0.
Day 3 consisted of play against one of the biggest rivals of the competition being the Queensland team who came out in full force ready to knock NSW off their winning streak. It was quite a physical start to the game with the whistle being blown consistently against both teams. The boys then settled and started to play their game and had great control over the ball as well as great teamwork with one another which lead to NSW scoring their first goal in the first 15 minutes of the game. By half time they had scored 4 goals with one of those goals being scored by Michael. Coming into second half, Queensland found it very hard to get focused and due to their lack of concentration it resulted in another 3 goals scored by NSW claiming their 3rd consecutive victory beating Queensland 7-0. The last game was against the host state VIC and the boys won 6-1.
With this victory the NSW team won the overall competition with Michael scoring 4 goals and assisting 6 across the week.
Michael was named player of the tournament and selected in the Australian team to compete overseas.
This is an EXCEPTIONAL performance and we congratulate Michael and wish him all the best with his bright future in football.
Miss Lisa Close
Secondary Sports Coordinator