WAIS Duo Selected in Burras Squad
WAIS hockey athletes Matthew Bird and Frazer Gerrard have been included in an Australian U21 squad set to compete at the Sultan Johor Cup in Malaysia in October.
The pair will be joined on tour, by WAIS program coach Chris O’Reilly, who has earned selection as Australia’s Assistant Coach and Manager.
Hockey Australia announced the Burras squad today, which will mark its first tournament opportunity in the build-up towards the Junior World Cup qualifying tournament which starts in early 2016.
The Burras will face Argentina, Great Britain, India, Pakistan and Malaysia in the six team round-robin competition in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, between 11-18 October. After departing on 4 October, Australia will play a series of warm-up matches in Singapore prior to arriving in Malaysia on 9 October.
The Burras will be led by National Junior Coach Ben Bishop, who will be at the helm for the Burras throughout their Junior World Cup campaign.
Bishop was Assistant Coach at the 2009 Junior World Cup, which was held in Singapore and Johor Bahru, and has previously led Australia ‘A’ tours. Bishop is also the Head Coach for men’s and women’s hockey at the ACT Academy of Sport.
“Following the U18 and U21 Australian Championships and our national junior camp in Canberra, we were able to obtain a range of quality information on our athletes around the country,” said Bishop.
“The team to compete in Johor was selected with one eye on current performances and the other on starting our journey towards the 2016 Junior World Cup in India. We are lucky to have a large pool of athletes to be able to select quality teams from and the players that missed out will almost certainly get an opportunity to play for the Burras over the next 12 months.”
Discussing the development opportunities that this tournament provides younger Australian athletes, Bishop said, “The Sultan of Johor Cup has become one of the most important international competitions in the world for our junior athletes. It provides an international touring opportunity while also giving them the opportunity to play against international level opposition.
“This year we will be benefiting from playing against Asian, European and South American teams, giving the athletes a fantastic development opportunity.
“We are very grateful for the support of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association whose assistance allows such a great development opportunity for our athletes.”
The squad’s participation in the tournament has been made possible thanks to the support of one of Hockey Australia’s key partners, the Australian Commonwealth Games Association, through its NextGEN AUSComGames program.
-HockeyAus
