MOORLAND Public School’s Abby Watts created Hunter PSSA sporting history this year when she represented the region in five sports.
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Her achievement was acknowledged when she won the Peter Moore Trophy for the Hunter Sportsgirl of the Year at the presentation held in Newcastle.
Abby’s mum and dad, Janine and Mark, were in the audience to see her receive the award.
It’s understood making five teams is a first for Hunter, the region taking in the Newcastle, Hunter and Manning area schools.
In 2017 Abby represented the Hunter in hockey, touch football, cricket, athletics and cross country.
After some deliberation the 12-year-old nominated hockey as her preferred sport when interviewed by the Times for the sportstar of the week award earlier in the year.
Abby represented NSW in the 12 and under division at the Pacific School Games earlier this month while she was also a member of the NSW under 13 team that played in the Australian championship in Perth, although this was unrelated to primary school sports.
She was also named in the NSW touch team to play at the Pacific School Games. However, because the various sports overlapped, Abby was unable to play both, so she nominated hockey.
NSW finished second to Queensland at Adelaide, despite going through the tournament undefeated.
The competition was decided on a first-past-the-post system.
NSW and Queensland drew the first game and a further draw against Western Australia cost NSW the opportunity to bring home gold. Abby was NSW’s leading goal scorer.
She was also the leading run scorer for Hunter at the State PSSA cricket championships.
Abby plays for Old Bar in the Manning juniors, in the same side as her younger brother, Sam.
Abby won the 800 metres at the Hunter championships and was looking forward to testing herself against the State’s best at the NSW titles.
However, she underwent surgery following complications with a tooth on the day she was scheduled to run.
Abby was in the top three finishers in the Hunter cross country, although she missed a podium place at State.
Touch footy and cricket will keep her busy during summer.
She’ll play for Taree in the State Junior Cup touch football tournament in Port Macquarie in February while she’s also in the Northern Eagles squad.
Abby heads to Taree High in 2018 and there’s a chance she’ll link with her older sister, Lara, as the school looks to defend the State Combined High Schools hockey championship won this year.
