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National Women's Junior Program |
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| Aug 06, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Although Australia did not reach the level of success it set out to do, it certainly earned the admiration of the handball world for the way the players did not give up fighting up to the end. AHF is also pleased that at the close of the Australia’s last match in the tournament on 2nd August 2008, the Team was ranked second in Team Fair Play. Australia’s participation also showcased some fantastic handball performances by a number of individual players. One of these players is Sally Potocki, Player No. 8, Left Back position. During the tournament, Sally impressed the spectators and officials with her skilful and energetic performance. Sally finished second top goal scorer with 61 goals, 4 goals behind Denmark's Camilla Dalby, with 65 goals for the tournament. To highlight the level of Sally's achievements, it is interesting to note that none of Sally's goals were scored from 7 metre penalties, compared to Camilla, who scored 11 goals from 7 metre penalties and played one more match than Sally. Also, Sally finished 11th for goals and assists and equal second for Steals in defence during Australia’s participation in the tournament.
Another player who made the tournament’s Top Goalscorer list was Vanja Smiljanic, Player No. 15, Back position. Vanja finished the tournament in equal 25th position with 40 goals and at one stage occupied equal 9th position earlier in the tournament.
Taylee Lewis, Goalkeeper, also shone during the tournament. Taylee finished the tournament on 18th position for saved penalty shots as well as saving goals at crucial moments during the matches played.
AHF recognises that the performance of the three ‘star’ players was made possible by the team work of all the players and the hard work of the officials. AHF also wishes to express its appreciation to JAT airlines for their contribution to the team's airfares and helping with their pre tournament camp in Belgrade, Serbia. |
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| Aug 06, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Dear
Aussie Junior Women's TeamCongratulations on your results and achievements at the World Junior Championships. Whilst I and all of us in Australia would have loved to see you win a game, we are nonetheless proud of the way you fought and tried to stay competitive throughout what was a long and hard tournament. No-one could have fully explained to you prior to your attendance at the World Championships just how hard it will be and how good you have to be in order to be competitive at that level. You have all now taken an important step in your future handball careers by gaining this valuable experience and by doing your country and your sport proud by the nature of your competitive spirit. I sincerely appreciate all of your efforts throughout the Championships but I also have to single out a few of you for special mention: Sally Potocki for coming 2nd in the Top Scorer list only 4 goals behind the top placed player who had the advantage of an extra match! Well done Sally; Vanja Smiljanic, who also got herself on the Top Scorer list at number 25 and whose statistics for 7m penalty shots (8 from 10 scored) place her easily as an elite player; Taylee Lewis for her top 20 placement in 7m penalty shot saves - your ability to save better than 1 in 5 of 7m shots should give you great encouragement; Rajan Pavlovic, who has devoted so much of his energy and enthusiasm for this campaign - Rajan, no-one can doubt your passion and commitment, well done on producing some outstanding results; and finally congratulations to the whole team for placing 2nd in the Team Fair Play Award. You have shown that Australian's play the game tough but fair and for that I want to thank you. Congratulations again girls, you are a credit to Australian Handball. Regards Alex Gavrilovic |
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Click logo for World Women's Junior Championships website |
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Women's World Junior Schedule |
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In collaboration with the Media & Public Relations Officer and the Webmaster, Cathy Kent reports on the Australian Junior Women’s games and shares observations on other activities by the Australian Junior Women’s Team which is participating at the XVI Junior Women’s World Championships in Ohrid, FYR Macedonia. [Cathy who is Goalkeeper of the Australian Senior Women’s Team, has recently been signed up to play in the French professional team ‘Cergy’.] |
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| July 29, 2008 Australia 22 - Japan 33 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tonight Australia played against Japan, its second game of the President's cup. After last night’s close match against Chinese Taipei, the Aussies were ready to give Japan everything they could give. Japan proved to be a very quick team and committed few mistakes. Also, the technical ball skills of its players are amazing. The Aussies needed to be on their game tonight from the start to challenge the Japanese team. Unfortunately, the Aussies played tonight without their captain Emma van Bussel. Emma had been very sick the previous two days and had to sit out tonight’s match. Emma's absence in tonight’s game against Japan no doubt had an impact on the team's play. We hope she will be fighting fit to play against our next opponent, Slovenia. Before the match, assistant coach Kim Briggs said, “The girls will do their best and understand how important tonight’s match is. Some of our starting players are off sick or injured, so hopefully our subs will rise to the occasion. The Japanese are fast and fit; most of our players have played 60 minutes, so physically it will be a huge challenge to keep up.”
The Aussies started very confidently and were ready to go. Right wing Gail Lucas was first to put a point on the board with a fantastic wing goal 31 seconds into the game. This was followed shortly by a goal from Sally Potocki at 1 min 22. The girls were running and confident. After five minutes, the score was level at 2 -2. Around the six-minute mark, the Japanese team had settled into the game and any mistake or drop ball from the Aussie side was turned into a fast break goal. Any shot at goal we attempted, seemed to be anticipated very early by the Japanese goalie. Aussie Goalkeeper Taylee Lewis made a couple of great saves, but the score line was slowly slipping away from the Aussies. At twenty-third minute mark, the Aussies seemed to regain their fighting spirit. Sally Potocki took the Japanese defenders on and managed to put four goals away in seven minutes. Unfortunately, these were not enough to make the score more appealing. Half time score 16 – 10 to Japan. At the start of the second half, the Aussies looked eager and ready to start again. There were a number of brilliant plays of handball by our Team. These included a great save from Taylee Lewis; a pass from Aminta Thomas to Sally Potocki for a goal at 32.38 game time; and an intercept from Sally Potocki who ran the entire court to score past the Japanese keeper. We were running back to defense and slowing down the Japanese attack, but they were still managing to find gaps in our defense with perfect passes and being patient. It seemed as though the Japanese goalkeeper was one step ahead of us for every goal shot we had. Vanja Smiljanic shot from eleven metres for a goal, followed by a block from Sally Potocki enabling Vanja to put score another goal. Taylee Lewis made three very important saves, but by now the Aussies seemed too tired to take advantage of them.
We started running out of substitute players, so players started playing in other positions. Coach Rajan Pavlovic quickly put Aminta Thomas into centre back and she did not hesitate to play in that position. Aminta straight away smashed one goal in from centre back to the Japanese goalkeeper's top right. A great pass from Aminta to Vanja was converted into another goal. Aminta again took the Japanese defense on from the centre and put another one by the keeper. 50 minute mark was 18 – 26 to Japan There were more great saves by Taylee Lewis. A pass from Aminta Thomas to Vanja Smiljanic resulted into another goal by Vanja. At the 52 minute mark the Japanese team increased their lead and intensity again. A pass from Aminta Thomas to Sally Potocki for a goal. Again a pass from Aminta playing centre back to Sally to break through for another goal. Aminta's shot which hit the post was caught by Sally on rebound and resulted in another goal. Final score 22 – 33 to Japan. The Aussies played well for a team of ten ( usually fifteen). They fought and fought, but Japan had more experience and was very disciplined. Aminta Thomas definitely stood out tonight and had a brilliant game. After the match coach Rajan Pavlovic said “ Emma and Joanna were out tonight; we had not many options. We are getting better. Sally was still feeling little injuries from last night’s game, but we fought a lot. When it is not going well, they seemed to keep going. Lack of players is our biggest problem, if we had a full bench we could play against anyone. Milly ( Aminta ) played an amazing game tonight”. “We pushed a lot through the game. We needed more of the girls to lift up the team, not just individuals. I thought our attack was more controlled and we looked for the gaps more,” said Aminta Thomas. Taylee Lewis said, “I felt like I had a good game, one of my best games. I’m disappointed by my defense, I felt like they could have helped me more and I felt very alone tonight”. The Aussies are all fighters and had many moments of great handball tonight.
Sally Potocki is now ranked ‘The Best Goal Scorer’ for the tournament so far with a huge 47 goals, just 1 above Danish player, Camila Dallby. Sally also scored 11 goals tonight another huge scoring game. Another achievement she should feel very proud of. This is my last report on the Australian Women’s Junior Handball team. I wish the Aussie Team and the coaching staff all the best of luck in their upcoming games. I have enjoyed immensely being with the team and reporting on all their matches and activities. I am really so proud of each and every player and I will miss them. I would like to say a huge thank you to Violi Calvert, AHF Public & Media Relations and Peter Cama, AHF Webmaster for all their hard work with editing, uploading and making these reports possible. I would also like to say a huge thank you to all my friends within the Macedonian Handball Press in Ohrid and in Vinica. They had been extremely kind and generous towards me; and without their help and support, these reports would not have been possible. I also wish to thank John Ryan, Editor-in-Chief of Team Handball News for his kind comments about our collaborative effort to report on our Team's participation in the World Championship. To those who may not have visited John's website of late, here's the link: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php . I fly back tonight to Paris to start in my own handball season with 'Cergy', my team in France. I look forward to playing with many of the girls in the Senior Women’s Aussie Team at our next big competition, the Oceania Region World Championship Qualifying Tournament. Until the next Junior World Handball Championships, this is good-bye from me.
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| July 28, Australia 25 - Chinese Taipei 29 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tonight
Australia
played against Chinese Taipei, its first match in
the President's Cup at the XVI Women’s Junior World
Championship. Aside from President's Cup title at
stake, this round also determines the placement of
the twenty countries competing in this tournament.
The Aussies had a light fifty-minute training session this morning at the new stadium ‘Vinica’ which has a capacity of over two thousand spectators. Later in the afternoon, the Team watched and analysed videos of games played by their opponents. The opening match tonight in Vinica was Japan vs Slovenia, followed by Australia vs Chinese Taipei. This gave the Aussies a glimpse of what they are up against in the matches to come. “The girls are ready tonight. It all depends on how much they run; if they run, we can win. Unlike when we played against Croatia and Brazil which are better teams, we are more prepared for this game, though we only have eleven players", commented coach Rajan Pavlovic prior to the start of the match. I am sad to report that from tonight, to the rest of the tournament, the Team will not have Joanna Blondell, who injured her lower back.
At tonight's match, the Aussies started very strongly and were first on the scoreboard with a goal from Sally Potocki after forty-five seconds of play. Another goal closely followed, scored by right back Vanja Smiljanic, and another goal as Sally Potocki broke through the defense line up. The Chinese team tried very hard in the first minutes to score a goal, but Aussie goalkeeper Taylee Lewis saved three of their first four shots. At the ten minute mark of the first half, Australia led 5 – 2. The Aussies were really giving it everything. Vanja Smiljanic scored from right back; this was followed by a pass from Aminta Thomas to Sally Potocki which resulted in a goal. Vanja Smiljanic scored off a penalty throw and Monica Najdovski scored with two defenders 'hanging' off her. Sally Potocki took on the Chinese defense when one of the Chinese girls tackled with what appeared to be head high contact. Sally was down for a few minutes, but like always, jumped back up. Surprisingly, the referee did not issue a red card. In my opinion, it warranted a red card, especially when compared to the red card Sally received for a less challenging tackle she made in the Preliminary Round. By the twenty minute mark, the Chinese Taipei team had caught up to make the score an even 8 - 8. Any little mistake the Aussies made, the Chinese girls punished into fast break goals. Half time score 11 – 10 to Chinese Taipei. The second half started strongly again and looked like the Aussies were ready to get their lead back. Sally Potocki scored in the first fifteen seconds and again a minute later. Both wing players, Aminta Thomas and Gail Lucas, scored from their positions. Thirty five minutes into the game and the Aussies had levelled the scores to 13 – 13. After the forty minute mark, the Chinese team had slowly increased the gap in the game score. A change of goalkeepers saw Leanne Perrins come onto the court. Leanne had four great saves in a row, but it was not enough to get Australia back in the game. The girls were fighting the rest of the second half and the defense was very strong. The Aussies definitely made Chinese Taipei work for every goal and they didn’t make it easy for them.
Monica Najdovski scored two lovely goals from pivot and Aminta Thomas also scored three great goals. Sally Potocki, despite all the attention she received from the Chinese 'T' defense, managed to score a total of fourteen goals. The end score was 29 – 25, a great fight and effort by all girls. “We played better, but we still had some fear. We played one good attack, then we panicked in the next. We started rushing and not looking for it. Some of the tackles against Sally should have been a red card” said coach Rajan Pavlovic. Vice captain Sally Potocki commented after the game: “About twenty minutes we played really well, then after twenty minutes we started to drop and fell back. We stopped running back in defense and their goals came from our errors and turned into fast break goals. Each individual had good moments, but we didn’t pull together in the crucial moments. Tomorrow is going to be a very similar game. Japan's technical skills are much better, but if we play like we did the first twenty minutes of this game we should give them a very good run for their money”. Pivot Monica Najdovski said “The first fifteen minutes were good, everything we tried worked. The last ten minutes we were very tired. The defense wasn’t as good tonight, if we can play better tomorrow night we can beat Japan”. All in all it was a great game and the Aussies should feel very proud of themselves. At this stage of the tournament, Sally Potocki is ranked the equal 2nd highest goal scorer, with 36 goals and also ranked 8th for steals. Tomorrow night’s match is against Japan. This match seems to be within the Aussies' reach and we hope for the best results. Tonight Japan played Slovenia and Japan won 35 – 31. Until tomorrow night, that is good night from me.
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Today was a rest day for the Aussies, so everyone was able to relax and do a bit of sightseeing. In fact a great day was planned for us by coach Rajan Pavlovic and assistant coach Kim Briggs. The day started with a visit to the 13th century church of St Jovan Bogoslov at Kaneo. Then we went to see the Czar Samuil Fortress and the Ohrid Castle. Afterwards we went on a boat ride in the Ohrid Lake, the oldest lake in the world; it was a beautiful day for it.
Later in the evening, the team watched a couple of handball matches. First was Korea’s draw against Croatia 29 – 29. After this match Brazil played the home team FYR Macedonia. It was a great match, “neck and neck” the entire game until Brazil led with 2 points, with a minute left of the game and subsequently winning with the final score of 27 – 25. The girls had a great time and really enjoyed themselves. Actually we all did.
Tomorrow is a travel day and we head off to Vinica, south east of Skojpe the capital of Macedonia. This is where the Aussies will play their next round in the President’s Cup. Australia’s first match will be against Chinese Taipei on Monday 28th. Then it will be against Japan on the Tuesday night followed by Slovenia on Thursday night. So it’s good night from me until Monday night.
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| July 25, 2008 Australia 12 - Korea 39 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tonight the girls play against Korea, its fourth opponent and its last match in the Preliminary round of the XVI Women’s Junior World Championships in Ohrid, FYR Macedonia. The Aussies started very strong and played well as a team committing few mistakes.
At the five minute mark the score was 4 – 3 to Korea. Australia displayed some brilliant plays of handball including a pass from Aminta Thomas to Sally Potocki for a great goal. Sally also intercepted the ball from our defense line and dribbled the ball the entire length of the court and successfully scored a goal past the huge Korean goalkeeper. A pass from centre back Emma van Bussel to Sally Potocki who cut into pivot and put another goal away. Sally again dodged many of the Korean defenders to put her fourth goal away. A pass from Emma van Bussel, a block from pivot Lauren Keith and Sally went through again, for yet another goal. The defense was great with every girl putting in a 100% effort to get back and stop any fast breaks that the Koreans attempted. Captain Emma van Bussel stopped three fast breaks in a row by sprinting down the court to tackle or intercept any of the long passes the Koreans attempted.
At the twelfth minute mark, the Koreans adjusted and settled down into their game and progressively widened the gap in the score, making it more difficult for the Aussies to catch up. A pass from Sally Potocki to Aminta Thomas who was cutting in as second pivot resulted in another goal for the Aussies and a perfect pass from Sally Potocki to Monica Najdovski in pivot, who scored a goal, topped off some great teamwork by the girls. Yet another impressive game from goalkeeper Taylee Lewis who pulled off many great saves throughout the match. However the Korean wing players managed to find gaps to put goals in past Taylee. In one instance, Talyee saved yet another penalty, but unfortunately the ball rebound to find a Korean player who scored past her. Half time score 18 – 7 to the Koreans. It was a huge running game for the girls tonight and the Koreans did not stop running, but the Aussies always had at least three girls sprinting with the Koreans, in an attempt to distract and disrupt the many chances the Koreans had at goal through fast breaks. Pivot Monica Najdovsli caught a difficult rebound after a shot at goal by Sally Potocki and put a goal away, followed by left back Vanja Smiljania and again another goal from pivot Monica Najdovski. Even with a limited bench, the girls did not stop running the entire game, regardless how exhausted they all were. In contrast, the Koreans had a full and experienced bench, so they had 'fresher legs' to run the match out. Final score 39 – 12 to Korea.
After the game, captain Emma van Bussel said: “Each game we have improved. There were some real moments of excellence in this game tonight and moments of play we can really learn from and improve for the next match. We ran and ran and ran tonight and it kept us on the game”. Coach Rajan Pavlovic said: “We played much better defense tonight, but our inexperienced showed. Good running back by all. Vanja and Sally did not get their chances tonight. Fourth game in five days and we still haven’t played as we can. Nerves, but much better running home in defense”. The girls have a free day tomorrow to recover and relax and get ready for their next round which is played in Vinica. The girls will play against the teams that finish fourth in group D, fourth in Group B and fifth in Group A. The girls should feel very proud of how they played tonight, it was a tough match and they did not give up fighting. Six of the Korean girls are part of the senior Korean National Team that will compete at the Beijing Olympics in August. So the team was filled with young, but experienced players. Sally Potocki has defiantly stood out amongst the teams here as a future international back player, with many officials talking about her performance here so far. They are very impressed. Sally is ranked fourth at the moment for 'Top Scorer' with 22 goals. Also Vanja Smiljanic is ranked ninth with 20 goals. This was supposed to be my last report of the tournament because I have to get back to Paris to start my own pre-season training for next season. However, I have enjoyed myself so much and being here to report and support the girls, so I am looking into changing my plane ticket to stay with the girls for their next round of matches. Therefore, we shall see what happens. Until next time, that is good night from me.
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| July 24, 2008 Australia 12 - Brazil 34 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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“The girls are more prepared tonight. They didn’t run and found it to be a bit of a shock to the system playing against Croatia. Tonight against Brazil, we shall slow down the play and the girls will run a lot more. We only have twelve girls on the bench, not a huge bench.” commented Coach Rajan Pavlovic prior to start of the game.
The Aussies looked fresh and had a great warm up. They were full of smiles tonight, pumped up and ready to give the Brazilians a great game. Australia had a good start being first to put a point up on the scoreboard with a penalty scored by Vanja Smiljanic. This was followed by four awesome successive saves from goalkeeper Taylee Lewis.
Five minutes had past and the score was 2 – 2. In the first ten minutes the Aussies scored some awesome goals and displayed great team work by all. Captain Emma van Bussel had a great fast break and played a cross pass to Sally Potocki to score assisted by a great block by pivot Lauren Keith. Vanja Smiljanic scored from a 'canon' ground shot, followed by a pass from Aminta Thomas to Sally Potocki for another goal. It was not until the ten minute mark that the Brazilians changed their defense. They started playing an aggressive ‘one-on-one’ defense. This had a huge impact on the Aussies as this made it very difficult for them to score. Throughout the game, our defense was really good. All our players were running 'home' and standing their ground in defense. Some great defense from pivot Lauren Keith and from right wing Gail Lucas in tackling many of the Brazilians. In attack we just couldn’t find an opening. Half time score 18 – 6 to the Brazilians. The start of the second half goalkeeper Taylee Lewis was on fire again with three saves in a row from Brazilian wing shots. The Aussies' problem wasn’t so much with defense but more how to get through the Brazilians' "one-on-one" defense and score.
The Aussies nevertheless showed some instances of great play. Left wing Aminta Thomas showcased great play by doing a zigzag around the Brazilian defense to score all the way from right back. Left back Sally Potocki scored four goals in the second half with jump shots and break throughs. Sally also had an awesome intercept, running the entire court and being chased down by the Brazilians. Unfortunately the Brazilian goalkeeper somehow managed to get her leg up to the top right corner and saved Sally's shot. There was also a fantastic goal from Joanna Blondell who ran straight through the centre of the Brazilian defense line up. Full time score 34 – 12 to the Brazilians. “We played a lot better than when we played against Croatia. We fought till the end with our heads up. Tomorrow against Korea we will play the same way; keep fighting 100% using our strengths,” said Aminta Thomas “Our girls are less experienced, nervous and made simple mistakes. This time the girls were running back but not looking at the ball. Better preparation next time with more players. Croatia and Korea are in a league of their own, Brazil and Macedonia are more on our level. We just need more experience, tonight was only our seventh international game together as a team,” commented coach Rajan Pavlovic. Taylee Lewis' comments after the match: “We fought and held on, but we still have a lot of room for improvement. We had many silly mistakes, but the defense was good”. The latest tournament statistics showed both Sally Potocki and Vanja Smiljanic ranked equal 9th in Top Goalscorer , with 17 goals each. Sally Potocki also ranked 12th for goals and assists whilst goalkeeper Taylee Lewis still ranked number 3 for most penalties saved.
A big thank you to pivot Monica Najorski’s parents, Tom and Adriana, for not only helping with the washing of the Team's uniforms, but also bringing all their family and friends to the games, making Aussies have the biggest cheer squad here in Ohrid. Second of course to the Macedonian’s. It’s also amazing how many Australians, who are only here in Macedonia for holidays, have come to watch and cheer on our Team. Australia plays Korea tomorrow night. Until tomorrow night, that’s bye from me.
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| July 23, 2008 Rest day | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The girls had fitness training this morning followed by an afternoon of video analysis. In the evening, they watched FYR Macedonia take on Korea. Korea beat them 35 to 27. It was an awesome game to watch with an absolutely packed stadium. Tonight it seemed to me though that the girls were not their normal happy self's, it felt like they were still down from their loss to Croatia the night before. They looked very quiet and exhausted. Hoping a good night sleep can re-focus the girls and they can restart fresh for tomorrow night's game when they take on the Brazilians.
Many thanks go to Petar Strojanovski, who is a professional photographer for the FYR Macedonian Handball Federation. He has kindly been taking photos of our girls in action for us. I am very excited about tomorrow night’s match against Brazil, I have a good feeling. Until tomorrow that is good night from me.
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| July 22, 2008 Australia 18 - Croatia 53 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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After what looked like a solid warm up by all with lots of high 5’s, support and encouragement by Australian Coach, Rajan Pavlovic and Kim Briggs, the Aussies were ready and eager to battle it out with Croatia.
However, the Team had a challenging and rather rocky start. Croatia started with a 5 -1 defense, which seemed to startle the Australian players. The two first attempts at goal was by our Captain, Emma Van Bussel from centre back and Vice Captain Sally Potocki. Unfortunately both 'canon-shots' found the goal post and ricocheted to the Croatian defense line up, which resulted into fast break goals on each occasion for Croatia. The first twenty minutes of the game were the best handball Australia played against Croatia. There were moments of brilliant play. Vanja Smiljanic scored a penalty followed by a ground shot from right back. Left back Sally Potocki tricked the Croatian defense with a huge 'dummy' jump shot from outside nine metres, then a quick bounce and broke through the Croatian defense to score. A quick goal from left wing was scored by Aminta Thomas and a very impressive shot by Emma van Bussel from centre over the Croatian defender’s head to score a goal. At the 15 minute mark, the score was 9 – 5 to Croatia. There were also a number of great moments in defense from the Australian team. The running back to defense was very impressive, having at least three of our players in positions to tackle the Croatians on their fast break attack attempts. Our Goalkeepers Taylee Lewis and Leanne Perrins made great saves but not enough to stop the Croatians from continually increasing the gap in the game score. Every mistake Australia made, Croatia turned it into a fast break, far too fast for the Aussies to stop. A time out was called from the Australian bench at the 19 minute mark of the first half, but even following a break in play was not enough for the team to get back into the game. Half time score 24 – 8 to Croatia. At the start of the second half the Aussies seemed still able to give 100% into the game again. Their court fitness, however, was no match of the Croatian's who did not seem to stop running for the remainder of the match. The Aussies nevertheless continued with their high-spirited play. Gail Lucas and Sally Potocki’s strong defense moves unfortunately resulted in each getting two minute suspensions. In my view, they only did what one could do in the situation where an opponent kept running at them like a 'freight train'.
There were still some amazing team work from the Aussies towards the latter part of the game. Sally Potocki drew two players and released a perfect pass to right wing Gail Lucas who scored a goal. A quick start from Emma van Bussel turned into a fast break pass to Aminta Thomas who scored a goal from 12 metres for Australia. An intercept from Sally Potocki on her defence line who then dribbled the ball down the entire court and scored. Another tricky pass from centre back Emma van Bussel to Sally Potocki for a goal. Vanja Smiljanic and Sally Potocki scored a total of 6 and 7 goals respectively. But it was not enough for the final score look more appealing. The final score was 53 – 18 to Croatia. “The first 15 – 20 minutes were good. Our players were nervous but kept going and fighting. We were not prepared properly, but have enough to pass on”, commented Coach Rajan Pavlovic. Goalkeeper Taylee Lewis said “We could have played better but we still fought hard. To play against a strong team like Croatia, it’s good for us to keep some respect; being in the game is an achievement in itself” Captain and centre back Emma van Bussel said “The score didn’t mirror how we played. The first 15 minutes were close, we were really giving them a fight. As Captain I am really so proud of the Team as we fought to the very end.” By the way, after two games played, Vanja Smiljanic ranked equal 9th goalscorer in the competition so far, with Sally Potocki in equal 21th; Taylee Lewis ranked equal 3rd goalkeeper for % Penalty Shot saves in the competition to date. Definitely something the Aussies ought to be proud of!
And the upcoming matches? The Aussies have a free day tomorrow to recover and prepare for the next match against Brazil on Friday night. Until then, it’s good night from me.
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July 21, 2008 Australia 16 vs
FYR Macedonia 33 The Australians started in defense and the players seemed to take a couple of minutes to find their feet and get used to the rhythm of the match. The additional challenge for the Australians was to rise over the parochial support of the FYR Macedonia crowd, as the home team, right from the first blow of the whistle. This did not deter centre back for Australia, Vanja Smiljanic, from scoring three goals in less than ten minutes.
An awesome intercept from Aminta Thomas was finished off by Sally Potocki; great team work in defense and three blinder saves in a row from Australian Goalkeeper Taylee Lewis and the Team was on a great run. At 19min 24 sec, the concerned FYR Macedonian Coach had to call a 'time out'. Twenty minutes had passed and the Australians had caught up to make the score 10 – 8 to FYR Macedonia. It wasn’t till the twenty-first minute of the first half that things got 'blown out of hand'. Sally Potocki made a huge tackle on one of the FYR Macedonia girls who was running 'one hundred miles an hour' at her, in defense, Sally stopped her and the FYR Macedonian girl slipped to the side of Sally. The referees made the toughest call possible and red-carded Sally from the game. In my opinion, it was definitely a two-minute suspension at the most, as was discussed later back in the Press Room by the FYR Macedonian media. Following this unfortunate part of the game, a couple of fast breaks and FYR Macedonia seemed to have their confidence back. However, this did not stop the Australians to keep fighting. They stole more turnover’s in defense and then attacked the FYR Macedonian defense with all their hearts. There was one 'awesome' penalty save from Australian Goalkeeper Taylee Lewis, when faced against FYR Macedonia’s star player.
Half time score 16 – 9 to FYR Macedonia. The second half started with maybe a little too many handling errors from the Australians than hoped for, but the 'Aussies' fought for every ball and steal for the next thirty minutes. Vanja Smilijanic putting a penalty away, a tricky shot from Joanna Blondell , a steal and goal by Gail Lucas and Emma van Bussel breaking through are just some of the many great things the Australian girls did together in the second half. Full time score 33 – 16 to FYR Macedonia. The 'Aussies' have really improved as players and it did show on the court tonight making us all proud of them. A lot of credit goes to all the hard work and dedication from the coaching staff. “Macedonia played well. The goal difference was not measurable. Sally’s red card was not justified, but our girls fought on under a lot of pressure and played well. For tomorrow’s game, we will come with 100%, play well and will start from the beginning again”. said Australian Coach Rajan Pavlovic after the match. “It was a close game. I was disappointed about getting my red card, but the Team kept on fighting, nothing much we can do now, we just need to focus on tomorrow’s game”, commented Sally Potocki. Tomorrow night’s game is against Croatia. Croatia beat Brazil tonight 33 – 25. In the Press Room when the Brazil Coach was asked what teams are the biggest threat for the Brazilians he said, “Macedonia are good; but Australia we must be careful with, they are always a surprise.”
That’s good night from me until tomorrow. |
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Dear Team, I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you all the best for the Junior World Championships to be held in Macedonia. I know from my discussions with your management team that all of you have worked extremely hard over the past 12 months to prepare for what will be for most the highlight of your handball career to date. I would also like to remind all of you that whilst this is the pinnacle of your career at the moment, you each possess the necessary skills, drive and motivation to go much further in the world of handball. I am sure that most if not all of you will over the next few years’ progress to the senior team, as some already have done and a number of you will no doubt at some time in the future be offered the opportunity to play the game somewhere in Europe. I look forward to seeing the results of your games and wish you well both as individuals and as a team. I am sure you will as ambassadors for your country and your sport do yourselves, your families, your friends and the Australian handball community proud. GOOD LUCK!
Steve Jackson |
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Australia Participates in XVI Women’s Junior World Championships 2008 |
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After a series of training camps where the players showcased their skills, the following players were selected to comprise the Australian Junior Women’s Team:
The Australian Women’s Junior Team will be headed by Emma van Bussel who takes on the role of Captain. Sally Potocki is the Vice Captain of the Team. Sally who has only been playing handball for 18 months has represented Australia in six international matches, with a total score of 5 goals. This will be Sally’s second world championship as she competed in Women’s Senior World Championships in France in 2007. The Team has been receiving support and guidance from a highly dedicated and experienced Management Team comprised of:
The Team will undertake its last training camp in Sydney during 27th – 29th June 2008. This will be conducted initially at the Sydney Hills Grammar in Kenthurst on the 27th, followed by sessions at the HK Ward, Sydney University and in Sydney Boys High School on the 28th and 29th June respectively. The Team will leave for Belgrade in early July to hold a camp prior to going to FYR Macedonia for the World Championships. The team is in Group C in the competition, with a tough draw to play against Brazil, Croatia, FYR Macedonia and Korea. The Team is looking forward to its participation in the tournament. The attention of the handball world will be focussed especially to its first match which will be against the host team FYR Macedonia, straight after the opening ceremony. The AHF wishes the Women’s Junior Team a very enjoyable and successful participation in the XVI Women’s Junior World Championship. |
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Junior Women’s National Camp 25th to 27th of June 2007 |
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They certainly got what they expected and a whole lot more! On the Saturday there were two training sessions and in the late afternoon everybody enjoyed a relaxing swim, sauna and water aerobics workout led by Danny Laborelli and Kim Briggs. All that exercise was followed by dinner together and then more handball – this time a video.
Lunch and a run on the beach at Watson’s Bay in the autumn sun, with quite a few people feeling ready for an afternoon snooze. But no rest for the wicked - we all drove back to Sydney Boy’s High for the last session. The coaches and their helpers should be congratulated for a well planned and very successful weekend, and that includes the parents who made all those lunches and taxied us all over town. Sasha Dimitric was also there on Sunday taking plenty of photos of all the action. This weekend has been a great kick off for our junior national women’s team thanks to Rajan Pavlovic ( Head Coach ) and his assistant coaches Kim, Danny, Kelly and Vella – who made the trip up from Melbourne. Pernille Clarke Manager Australian Junior & Youth Women’s Handball
Pernille Clarke is the newly appointed Junior / youth women’s
Manager. Pernille started playing handball as an eight
year old in her native Denmark, playing on the Danish
Junior National team and also with the Danish first
division club FIF, Copenhagen. Immigrating to Australia
some twenty years ago she continued her involvement in
the sport in Australia, playing in Victoria, New South
Wales and South Australia during the 1980’s. She retired
from playing Handball in 1991 when she moved to America. |
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The
Junior Women's National camp has been a great success,
with plenty of good work and getting to know one
another.
Sunday
morning it was back to training at Sydney University –
team spirit growing with everybody trying to ignore the
pain from the last two days of hard training. 
