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| Queensland Juniors Team:
Win National Title in Toowoomba! Former GC Junior Mark Gibson brings home winning Junior Team
Queensland last won the Series in 2004 so it was good to bring it back again. The Team is now resting and we will come together in July to start preparation for the title defense in Western Australia next April. I enjoyed working in a team environment. It was a motivating, exciting and rewarding time with a group of extremely gifted, hardworking athletes. The Team Members are: Tarquin MacManus (Pacific GC) (captain), Daniel Nisbett (Caboolture GC); Warwick Betts (Indooroopilly GC); Eagle Chang (Oxley GC); Drew McClelland (Hills GC); Kris O’Sullivan (Royal Queensland GC); Tom Crothers (Manager), Mark Gibson (Coach). Team Captain, Tarquin Macmanus, said “I really enjoyed having Gibbo as our Coach and appreciated all his efforts. He caddied for me for a couple of matches and he was great on the bag.” The team started as a squad of 20 players regularly working together with me since last July. The final team was chosen late January and from then on we were building towards the Queensland victory. Part of the build up was two weekend camps in Toowoomba to familiarise the team with the courses. Valuable in the teams success was a constant monitoring of hydration, daily stretch classes and pool recovery sessions for the team (and Coach!!) In some matches we were behind in 4 of 5 matches but the team fought hard to finish the series undefeated. I was extremely proud of the way the boys toughed it out, fighting back under pressure. Our preparation had focused on self belief, positive self talk and positive body language and it proved to be the difference. After the Presentations were finalised all the Teams had a luncheon but the Queensland Team was the only Team with the trophy on the table!! |
The
Championship Series has been held since 1958 and previous winning
teams have included Greg Norman, Wayne Grady, Stuart Appleby, Robert
Allenby. It was a marathon event playing 15 rounds over 9 days. The
series culminated in Queensland playing Western Australia (the
favorites) in the final match and we were victorious. I was
extremely proud of the way our boys toughed it out, at times
fighting back under pressure. Our preparation had focused on self
belief, positive self talk and positive body language and it proved
to be the point of difference and the edge we needed in the end.