ABBY Watts will make her State indoor hockey debut next year when she lines up in the NSW under 13 girls’ team to play in the Australian championships in Goulburn.
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The 12-year-old was selected following trials held in Orange.
Abby is the Manning River Times-Iguana Sporstar of the Week, earning a $50 open order at Iguana.
Abby’s a young veteran at representing NSW in field hockey.
Last year she was a member of the NSW 12 and under side that played in the Pacific School Games in Adelaide and the NSW 13s team that went to Perth for the Australian championships. However, this will be her first run for NSW in the indoor version of the game.
Selection, Abby admits, came as a bit of a surprise. She wasn’t happy with her form at the State trials where she played for Manning.
The championship was a struggle for the inexperienced Manning side and they finished seventh from 10.
“I could have gone better,’’ she said.
However, obviously Abby did enough to impress selectors. The NSW side will train in Wollongong in a fortnight. This will be their only run before they head to Goulburn on January 3, where NSW is expected to be a front runner for higher honours.
The championship will run from January 4 to 7. Abby hopes to play in the centre midfield position for NSW.
She enjoyed another successful year in field hockey. Abby was a member of the premiership winning Town division two in the Manning women’s competition while she also played in the division three side that made the grand final.
Abby was also one of the youngest players in Taree High School’s champion NSW Combined High Schools team. Taree defeated Orange 3-1 in the final after trailing 1-0 earlier in the match.
Abby and her elder sister Lara, a regular field and indoor State representative, were both in the Taree High side.
While she nominates hockey as her favourite, Abby shows ability in a host of other sports. In 2017 when attending Moorland Public School, Abby represented the Hunter Region in a record five sports.
She was named the Hunter Sportsgirl of the Year for her efforts. Abby played for Hunter in hockey, touch football, cricket, athletics and cross country.
Earlier this year Abby represented Taree Touch in the State Junior Cup at Port Macquarie. She plays for Old Bar in the Manning Junior Cricket under 12 competition.
However, her cross country ambitions were thwarted because of a clash of sports this year. She had a touch footy commitment with Taree High and that forced her to miss the cross country qualifiers.
