By Ron Lane
According to a club flyer, the Ray White Noosa Dolphins have wrapped up their season with a great night at Dolphin Oval to celebrate and acknowledge all those players, coaches, managers and army of volunteers – volunteers, who worked to make the season, an outstanding success.
When asked to comment and reflect on the season, club president Donald McKill said, “Of course, nine from nine grand final appearances was pretty cool, but I have to say that when you are around the club as much as I am and you see all the other work that goes on, day in day out, that a lot of others don’t see that I am most proud of. We have an incredible army of volunteers working hard behind the scenes, creating within the club, one of the best environment’s for kids and their families to come and play rugby: and above all, enjoy our facilities. On top of this, our senior players both men and women, just seem to thrive in this atmosphere, an atmosphere that you, our workers have created.”
In his closing remarks, the president went on to say, “We have definitely created something special here at Noosa. You must remember that during the last couple of seasons, we have also been home to the British and Irish Lions, Saint Kilda AFL, Essendon AFL, and, up until last week, the Melbourne Storm. And now, this week, the visiting All Blacks will be utilising our facilities, gym and playing fields. This, I believe, tells us that we must be doing something right.”
The type of hospitality the Dolphins have created and extended to not only our visiting teams, but also those from overseas, is without a doubt the best type of publicity that we, as a tourist resort, could possibly wish for.
The night and presentation ceremony, superbly hosted by Tess Evans and Jet Fairfax from the Ladies Team, saw a multitude of awards. The Best and Fairest (team) Awards were: Colts, Leo Langridge, Women’s, Imogen McLeod, Reggie’s, Yvhan Allsworth and A Grade, Jock Hansson. But perhaps the most important of all, the Club Person of the Year, was awarded to Tash Ramsden for her work at both junior and senior levels of the club.
Regarding representative players, some Dolphins players made the Stingrays and Queensland Country rep sides, while others were gearing up for the 7s tournaments: these will only be played in Queensland, due to Covid -19 restrictions.
Queensland club 7s will be the next event for Dolphins, with Dolphins being the host club. The games will be on 13 and 14 November and details will feature in Noosa Today over the next few weeks. Next week we will be talking with the Noosa Pirates Rugby League regarding their season.
Little Athletics.
Later this month the Little Athletics Queensland All School Championships will be held in Brisbane at the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre. In preparation for this, the Noosa Little Athletics, training under the supervision of Mick Hooper, Level 4 Senior IAAF Head Coach. Hooper recently took part in Little Athletics Queensland State Level Spring Carnival held in Bundaberg. For the Noosa club, they were represented by 17 athletes, and for them it was indeed a very successful carnival.
Competing against athletes from 55 club around the state, our athletes performed well winning 32 medals (15 gold). Lots of other athletes achieved top 10 placings with new personal best performances.
‘’This was the type of competition that they require if they are to perform well at the Spring Carnival. Perhaps a major highlight was the fact that their achievements were spread across both track and field events,’’ said coach Hooper. An added bonus on the day, was a boys’ and girls’ gift race, that was made up of all the individual 100 m age group winners. Noosa achieved an incredible result, with five athletes winning their 100m race, thus gaining a second run in the Handicap Gift Race. Girls’ U/12 Taya Clayton, U/13 Harley Davis, and boys’ U/9 Ben Clayton, U/13 Luca Gerrard and U/16 Jaxon Retchless.
“This was great viewing, specially with blanket finishers in both events. This resulted in Jaxon finishing in secnd place, running off a handicap of 2.5m in 11.21 seconds. These results were achieved because of putting in a great effort early in the winter and I congratulate all involved.”
For the Noosa team, the next major carnival will be in November. Known as the Original Relays, the top three teams from each division will contest the state titles in Brisbane in December.
Pickleball.
Sunday 10 October is World Pickleball Day. Celebrations will be happening all over the country as well as around the world. The Noosa Pickleball is hosting a friendly-teams, round robin competition at the Noosa Tennis Club from 2-4pm.Social play and a Free Come and Try opportunity will be available from 4-6pm. The Noosa Pickleball Club is also celebrating its one and only dedicated pickleball court, dedicated at the Noosa Tennis Club. The court was built with funds received from a Gambling Community Benefit Grant earlier this year. The club is currently raising funds and awaiting on another grant, to build a world class all-weather dedicated pickleball facility in the future: a first of its kind in Australia.
Pickleball is a friendly, fun sport that will get your heart beating without putting stress on your knees, hips or shoulders. Anyone who would like to try playing the game is welcome to attend Thursday evening sessions from 6-8pm at the Noosa Leisure Centre. Pickleball is always looking for new players of all ages. Feel free to contact the club for more information on info@noosapickleballclub.com
