SHE may have missed out on a Pacific School Games gold medal after a tense shoot-out, but All Saints’ College student Hannah Kable still impressed enough to gain Australian All Schools selection last week.
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The Year 11 student lined up as an attacking midfielder and impressed for the New South Wales 16 years and under schools team which lost just one game – the grand final against Queensland – during their campaign.
While Kable is no stranger to representative hockey and helped Ryde Hunter’s Hill to their maiden Sydney Women’s Hockey Metro 1 premiership this season, she was delighted to earn selection in the national outfit for the second consecutive year.
Earlier this year she took on the likes of Germany and the Netherlands as part of the Australian All Schools side as she donned the green and gold for the first time. In 2018 she hopes to compete with that outfit again when they tour South Africa.
“I am hoping to go, this year I went to Europe after being selected in the side last year. I talked to my teachers regarding it, I didn’t know if I was going to get the time off if I got selected again because of Year 12,” she said.
“I did plan for it, so I’m hoping I will be able to go … I’d really love to go.
“The standard at the Games was quite high overall and there was always a standout player in each team. It was an awesome tournament, I must say it was one of my favourite tournaments and a good way to end my school hockey. I will be too old next year.”
Aside from a 2-all draw with Western Australia and close 1-0 result over eventual gold medallists Queensland, NSW was dominant through the round games. Kable’s side beat Victoria 3-1, South Australia 9-1, trounced ACT 12-0, crushed India 14-0 and outclassed Tasmania in a 7-0 result.
It set up a meeting with Queensland in the decider.
Things were looking good when Kable scored the opener for NSW in the grand final from a penalty corner play. One of her team-mates sent in a drag-flick from the top of the area, which the All Saints’ talent then deflected into the goal.
But Queensland found a leveller and with no further change to the 1-all scoreline, the match went into a shoot-out.
“We had to go to shoot-out because time ran out, they didn’t do extra-time which was really absurd, they went straight into the shoot-out,” Kable said.
“We went through one round of the shoot-out and it was still even, so then we went to goal-on-goal. I was listed as fourth, but the girls before me missed hers and they won.
“It was pretty upsetting knowing we beat them in the round games but then fell to them again in the grand final … we just seem to go into defensive mode against them.”
Meanwhile, fellow All Saints’ student Todd Nelson also excelled at the Pacific School Games as he represented his state in swimming.
Competing in the male 10-12 multi class division, Nelson swam personal best times in each of his events at the South Australian Aquatic and Leisure Centre.
On top of that, Nelson won gold in the 100 metres butterfly, picked silver in the 50m butterfly with a 43.80 seconds effort and helped his New South Wales B team claimed bronze in the medley relay.
