Three WAIS Athletes Named in Men’s Junior World Cup Squad

The national junior men’s hockey team for the upcoming 2009 Junior World Cup in Singapore and Malaysia has been announced with three WAIS scholarship holders named in the squad of 18. Chris Bausor and Mathew Boyce were included in the squad with Travis Taylor listed as a reserve.

The eighteen players have been selected to compete at the 2009 Junior World Cup in Singapore and Malaysia on the 7th of June until the 21st of June. The team was selected following an intense training camp held in Darwin recently, where an initial squad of twenty-seven were put through a variety of challenging training programs.

The humid conditions of the Darwin training camp was designed to appropriately acclimatize the squad members in preparation for the difficult weather conditions expected in Malaysia and Singapore at the World Cup tournament.

The selected eighteen team members, along with the two reserves will travel to Perth this month for three weeks of further preparation before departing for Singapore on the 1st of June.

Men’s junior coach Jason Duff says the gruelling Darwin training camp played a significant role in deciding the final squad make up.

“We have obviously kept an eye on this squad of players for some time, but to have them all in the one place at the one time allowed us to gain an ever further insight into each player. With many players having competed at the Junior World Cup Qualifier late last year and the Australian Olympic Youth Festival in January, we have exposed the players to a high quality of opposition which has formed a good preparation base for the team,” said Duff.

The extensive preparation put in place for the talented junior team members should prompt success at the approaching Junior World Cup tournament.