Ben proudly displaying his jerseys!

NSW PSSA State Carnivals - 2010

During May and June, I had the honour of representing Haberfield Public School, Western Suburbs Zone and Sydney East Region at both the AFL and Rugby League NSW PSSA State Carnivals.

From the 18th to the 20th of May, I was at the Blacktown Olympic Stadium competing in the AFL State Carnival. It was very exciting playing at the new stadium that is the home of the Greater Western Sydney (GWS) team.

The AFL carnival was an open age event. That meant that I was required to play against players that were 12 and 13 years of age. Even though I am only 10 years old, I was able to compete against the bigger boys and make a valuable contribution to the team.

During the carnival, we played 6 games and Sydney East Region finished in third place. All of the players tried very hard and our coach Mr Enright and Manager Mr Marshall were very pleased.

On the second day, Sydney East players had the opportunity to participate in a make-believe media conference. We pretended to be reporters asking Sydney Swans players, including Kieran Jack, questions. It was lots of fun.

From the 1st to the 3rd of June I participated in the Under 11’s Rugby League State Carnival at the rugby league stadium at St Marys. During the carnival, Sydney East only lost one game but due to point differences, didn’t qualify for the semi finals. We then played-off for 5th and 6th position against Mackillop.

We were all keen to finish the carnival with a win and we didn’t disappoint our coach Mr Farah and manager Mr Gear as we beat Mackillop 22 to nil. I was also playing against 3 of my friends from weekend sport so I was also happy with the result.

It was a wonderful experience participating in the carnivals as it gave me the opportunity to play sports that I love against the best players in the State as well as making lots of new friends.

I would like to thank Ms Jacobsen, Mr McMichael and everyone at Haberfield Public School for supporting me.

I would also like to thank the coaches and managers for all their hard work in preparing the teams. Most of all I would like to thank my parents for taking me to all the training sessions and the carnivals.

By Ben S