The girls were thrown in a difficult competition against 10 other good teams. This meant they had nine preliminary games over the three days in Brisbane with only the top four teams reaching the final stage.

The first game for the girls on Friday was against Mansfield SHS, a local school from Brisbane with 2200 students. This proved to be a tight game finishing with a fair result of 2-2. The second game was against Keilor Downs College from Melbourne with 1500 students. This time the Bellingen girls dominated but failed to finish many of their opportunities, often due to the great goalkeeping by the opposition. The result again was a draw, this time 3-3.

Game 3 on Day 1 was against Taree High School (950 students) and the girls got their first win, 3-2. Game 4 against Murrumba Secondary College from Brisbane with 1000 students and it was the girls second win, 2-1. It was such a big day as their first game started at 9am and last game finished at 6.10pm. After their last game the team finally got to leave the stadium and head back to the accommodation at Eight Miles Plains.

Saturday morning came and they had to rise early as their first game was at 8am. This game was the local derby against Bishop Druitt College and the girls hit form winning easily, 8-2.

The second game against St Columba from Port Macquarie was much closer with the girls coming away with a 1-0 victory. Game 3 against Doncaster College from Melbourne started to show that the legs were tiring. This was not their best game, however the girls finally brought it home 6-0.

Game 4 seemed impossible, as all the girls were exhausted. They had to play Mt Alvernia College who had only won two games. Despite their best efforts they had their first loss 2-5 and were happy the day was over.

Sunday morning was pack up and onto the bus to head to the stadium for the final round games. The girls had to play the undefeated Kelvin Grove Senior College (a football excellence school) in what was a very even game with a 2-2 result. This put them into third place, which matched the girls against Mansfield State High School for a place in the final. This was always going to be a close game and all the girls rose to the occasion displaying great form winning 2-1. The girls were so happy!

Top 2 in the competition and about to fight it out in the final.

Predictably Kelvin Grove made the final so again we knew it would be close. A soft goal following a mistake saw Kelvin Grove take the lead and then a second put them 2-0 in front. So the girls had to dig deep and that’s just what they did when Brynne Couper converted a great goal, and moments before half-time Willow Neal placed another one in the net. The Bellingen keeper, Jorja-May Hearps, who had been struggling with a wrist injury, finally had to leave the court at halftime.

She had done a great job all tournament, however she could not bear the pain any longer. This meant Shellby Osland stepped up into keeper for the second half and you can imagine how nervous she was. However, no complaints, Shellby went on and did a great job. The second half started with the score 2-2 and then Emily Ruming put us in front 3-2 half way through the second half.

Unfortunately, Kelvin Grove replied with another goal just a couple of minutes later, making the score 3-3. With a minute and a half to go, Ashley Sticker slotted one in and it looked like the winning goal.

However, with less than 30 seconds on the clock one snuck past Shelby and the game was all tied at 4-4. This meant the game had to go into sudden death extra-time. About three minutes into extra time Shelby was given a little push from behind as she picked up the ball forcing her outside her area. Incredibly the free kick was given for the handball outside the area. The free kick was saved by Shellby but unfortunately the ball bounced back to one of their players who finished the job. So near and yet so far!

This was a great effort by a young team many of whom were playing their first year of futsal.

The boy’s team found the going tough. Many of the boys in the team played their first year of Futsal and although a number of games were close, the boys came away without a win. They enjoyed the competition and will learn a lot from their experience.

Overall the girls’ teams achieved an amazing top three at Australasian Championships in all age groups with 19 years – 2nd, 16 years – 3rd and the 14 years – 2nd. Two boys teams, the 19 years and 13 years also qualified for these championships.

What an amazing result for a small country high school!