The Under 12 Girls, Under 12 Boys, and Under 16 Girls headed to Ballarat for the annual Long-Weekend Junior Tournament.

All teams having successful campaigns, winning their respective Grand Finals on Monday:

12 Girls - Bellarine 44 d Sunbury 21 - MVP: Madeline Hinkley (Bellarine)

12 Boys - Bellarine 58 d Ararat 42  - MVP: Tom Williamson (Ararat)

16 Girls - Bellarine 35 d Altona 31 - MVP: Somer Peters (Bellarine)

Team Reports:

Under 12 Girls

The Under 12 Girls were convincing winners in the B-Grade Division, with some very solid wins throughout the weekend.

Game 1: Defeated Ballarat  46 - 12

Game 2: Defeated Dandenong3  29 - 16

Game 3: Defeated Collingwood  27 - 20

Game 4: Defeated Werribee  32 - 10

Game 5: Defeated Sunbury2  30 - 19

Semi Final (knock out): Defeated Horsham  29 - 17

Grand Final: Defeated Sunbury2  44 – 21 (Grand Final MVP: Madeline Hinkley)

Under 12 Boys

For the second consecutive year the U12 Storm boys travelled to Ballarat over the long weekend to compete in the Ballarat Tournament. 

Saturday's first game saw the boys matched against Ballarat Saints. From the jump the boys were switched on and never looked threatened.  The second game in the afternoon saw them matched against Whittlesea, a team they compete against in the metro league. After another great start, the boys were never threatened and came out easy winners. Both games on the Saturday building the boy’s confidence going into Sunday’s games.

Sunday’s first game against Warrnambool was a great struggle with both teams running the ball hard up and down the court. Some strong rebounding and great defensive work in the second half gave the boys a small buffer, which they hung onto until the final siren, winning by 3pts.  A great, but nervous game by both sides.

The second game for the day was against Ballarat. With there confidence growing game by game, the boys started well from the jump and ran out good winnings. The win subsequently placed the boys at the top of their pool. Fantastic work by the team.

The final game on the Sunday was a cross over game from the other U12 pool, against Diamond Valley. A win here would ensure the boys would go through to the semi finals on the Monday.  From the starting siren, the boys quickly jumped to a good lead, which they continued to build on throughout the game, running out easy winners and ensuring a spot in the semi finals against Warrnambool

As with the first game against Warrnambool, both teams were working very hard defensively and offensively with point for point being scored. The game in the early stages lived up to the boys and parents expectations that it wouldn't be an easy.  However, with some strong rebounding, intercepts and points on the board, the boys worked well to shut Warrnambool down and ran out easy winners. It was a great team effort with all ten boys playing their part in the win. The win ensured a place in the final against Ararat three hours later.

After another caffeine fix for the parents and hot chocolate for some of the boys, we all went to support the Storm U16 girls, who were playing Werribee. Again, another great win by a Bellarine Storm side.

Having watched the girls to soothe the nerves, the boys and parents returned to St Patricks for the 12.20pm final.  After a good warm up and inspiring address from Glyn (head-coach) the boys were pumped and full of confidence.  From the jump they game out running hard, pressuring Ararat’s defense, causing the turnovers and putting the points on the board. With their confidence growing, the boys built up a handy lead, which was never headed throughout the game. It was another great team effort, which saw the boys record a very good win against quality opposition. With their fantastic win in the final, the boys remained undefeated all weekend.  Well done to all involved.

Congratulations also to the girls teams for taking out their finals too!

Under 16 Girls