Vice President Phil Nguyen (left) and Juniors Director Sarah Dowling (right) awarding Stella Bernardi the inaugural 2019 Junior Club Champion Shield
In 2019 La Trobe University Hockey Club celebrated the 10 year anniversary of our highly successful junior program. From one team of children in 2009 to a full program in 2019 – starting as young as Under 8s in Hookin2Hockey right through to teams in Under 16s. With a number of premierships to show, our junior program continues to be the fastest growing part of the club and has been an incredible success.
To celebrate our 10 year anniversary, the La Trobe University Hockey Club is proud to announce our first major underage trophy, the Junior Club Champion. This will be awarded each year to the player who excels on and off the field at either club level, representative, state and national level.
In 2019, the junior program had its most successful year with record numbers, as well as three premierships, and 12 juniors playing in the Junior State Championships and four players participate in the National Championships. On top of this, we had a number of juniors play at senior level, with five players in the two Vic League squads.
We had many great individual achievements in 2019 but one player was exceptional. She played in our Under 12 and Under 14 girls premierships, including hitting two goals in the Under 12s Grand Final. She played in Victorian Under 13s and also the Victorian School side where she won bronze, hitting the match winner with 10 seconds go to against South Australia.
Currently playing Mixed Summer on Monday nights, she has hit seven goals against the adults. She has very silky skills and great game sense which sets her apart. It is great pleasure to announce Stella Bernardi as our very first Junior Club Champion.