BATHURST'S Fletcher Norris and Charlize Fitzpatrick narrowly missed out on the top prize from the recent Hockey Australia Under 15s Outdoor Championships but didn't come home empty handed.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Against the best players for their age that Australia has to offer Norris and NSW State were silver medal winners while Fitzpatrick's NSW State side won bronze.
NSW State topped their pool in the boys competition and ended up facing runners-up Western Australia Gold in the gold medal game.
The two teams had met earlier in the event and couldn't be split in a 1-all draw.
The Western Australia boys accounted for Norris and NSW in the rematch with a 2-1 win, scoring the winning goal with just three minutes left.
Western Australia Gold also proved the bogey side for the NSW State girls, losing by the same scoreline in the semi-final meeting.
Fitzpatrick and NSW had a better time in the bronze medal game where they were 2-0 winners over Queensland Maroon.
Bathurst's Kent Bestwick was the assistant coach for NSW State girls side and was happy to see the team hit back after a loss against Queensland earlier in the tournament.
"Our team was 50 per cent bottom year 15s and that Queensland side was just a little too physical for them. That wasn't too much of a problem since we were still sitting on top of the table," he said.
"We had a good rest day and on the Friday they bounced back from the loss and gave WA a touch up with a 4-1 win.
"We were sitting good [against WA Gold]. We had a thousand shots on goal but their goalkeeper played well, they counterattacked and we went down.
"They were hungry after the loss because they didn't get the call of the whistle in the first round. We told them to go out there and show them what they could do. It was close after the first two quarters but then they came out and put two goals away."
Both Bathurst players came home with a goal each to their name.
Norris scored an early penalty corner in NSW's 9-1 hiding of Northern Territory and Fitzpatrick was successful from the field in her side's 7-0 win over the ACT to start their tournament.
As one of the younger age players Bestwick thought Fitzpatrick did a solid job for her state.
"Charlie played quite well. She can improve on a few things and knows what she can do," he said.
"She held her own as one of the bottom age 15s. It can be daunting when there's other players out there bigger than her but she did a great job."