There’s only one thing you need to see to realise just how excited Orange High School’s Kiana Pakinga is to represent her state.
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That one thing is the giant grin that streaks across the her face when you bring up her recent NSW under 13s selection.
The humble 13-year-old didn’t say a lot when speaking with the Central Western Daily earlier this week, but what she did say combined with that enthusiastic smile, well, it’s not hard to tell she’s champing at the bit to don the sky blue of NSW.
“I’m pretty excited, I found out a bit over a week ago,” she said.
Her selection comes after Orange’s encouraging performance in division one at the state championship earlier this year, she was named in the NSW squad after that.
Then she was put through a gruelling selection process, which passed with flying colours
Incredibly, she battled an ankle injury at the state titles too but still did enough to earn the right to trial.
“[My ankle’s] alright now, I got through the trials,” Pakinga smiled.
She’s set to play in the NSW Lions’ defensive line. Hockey NSW has picked two even state sides – the Lions and Stars – in the under 13s this year, rather than a top side and a development team.
She heads to Perth in late September, but she admitted she’s not sure what to expect from her opposition.
It’s Pakinga’s maiden NSW gig but she said having a handful of friendly faces will help her.
Their combinations will help the side in title bid too.
Bathurst’s Millie Fulton, Parkes’ Meghan Searl and Lithgow’s Kelsie Whyte were also named.
“There’s a couple of girls I played with for Western and in the NSW development squad,” Pakinga said.
NSW players are given the option of finding sponsors to help with the trip’s cost, if you’d like to help Pakinga you can do so at https://www.gofundme.com/help-send-kiana-to-represent-nsw.