And their teams have been crowned the best in Australia. 

Rene Hunter, Andrea Gillard, Abigail Wilson, Sam Gray and Lachlan Sharp have all been in Wollongong for the past week hitting out for NSW against the best young hockey players from across the nation. 

Both the NSW women’s and men’s teams went through the tournament undefeated. Abigail Wilson and Lachlan Sharp scored four goals each throughout the competition.

The last of the 24 matches in the competition were played on Friday, July 14. 

The NSW women’s team came up against Western Australia in the battle for the gold medal, and won 2-1. The NSW team managed to keep seven shots from hitting the back of the net.

The NSW men’s team similarly made it to the finals against Queensland. The finals were a repeat of a match played earlier in the tournament in which Lachlan Sharp scored the deciding goal in the 57^th minute.

The finals ended on the same score as the previous match, with NSW winning 4-3. Queensland scored their final goal in the 60^th minute. 

As if being on the top team was not achievement enough, Lachlan Sharp was named Player of the Tournament. He received a $1000 gift voucher from Just Hockey. 

Lachlan’s mum, Tania Sharp, who was at the tournament was very excited. 

“It goes to the player they feel like is a stand out throughout the tournament,” she said. 

“Who knows what he will do after this.”