Sport
North Coast news daily:
Great start to ANZAC Cup for Byron Rams The first round of Football Far North Coast’s preseason competitions, the Anzac Cup and Callan McMillan Shield, produced a mixed bag of results for the Great Northern/Rails Hotels Rams and Wildcats. With so many familiar faces and new recruits lining up to play for Byron, the Club has entered four teams in this year’s Cup – one in the Premier Division, two in the Open A competition and the Wildcats womens team in the B Division of the Callan Macmillan Shield. The weekend’s opening round saw the return of many Byron regulars and the debut of some talented new signings. Byron’s Wildcats womens team hit the ground running with a resounding 8–1 win over Lismore’s Rovers Rangers. The Open A – Pool A Rams had a strong opener, but went down 1–0 to a more seasoned Ballina crew. The Open A – Pool C boys copped a bit of a hiding with a 7–1 loss to a strong Lismore Thistles. The Great Northern Premier Rams lined up with a
New signing Quinn McDonald made a powerful first impression, scoring with a cracking 30 metre drive.
mix of seasoned Byron campaigners and new signings for 2016. While the team is obviously still in its ‘settling in’ phase, they did play simple and creative football and outclassed a newly rebuilt Italo Stars 3–1. Stars opened the scoring with a superbly taken free kick to take an early lead. Byron stalwart Jonathan Pierce opened the scoring for the
Rams moments later to level the score at 1–1. While the experience and cohesion of the Rams regulars was clear, Byron’s newbies also acquitted themselves well. Chris Watts pounced when the Stars’ keeper spilled a power drive from Tyson Kaye and drove home his first goal for the Rams and debutante Quinn McDonald blasted home his first with a
cracking strike from 30 metres out. The next round has the Prems at home in Ewingsdale on Sunday at 4.30pm against Lennox Head. The Wildcats take on Tintenbar/East Ballina in East Ballina at 2.30. The Open A, Pool A Rams meet Richmond Rovers in Lismore at 4.30 while the Pool C boys are off to Nimbin for a 2.30 kick-off.
Campaign for girls to make a move on sport On Monday a landmark awareness campaign was launched to encourage younger Australian women to ‘make your move’ after bombshell new research found teenage girls were only half as physically active as their male peers. The #girlsmakeyourmove promotion will be headed by a series of fresh TV advertising spots plus a social media campaign, featuring girls getting active and involved in physical activities or sports they enjoy. Minister for health Sussan Ley said the campaign comes on the back of new research showing nearly 60 per cent of girls aged 15–17 reported undertaking little to no exercise or physical activity compared to one-third of boys. ‘This campaign was a fun way to encourage young women in their teenage years to build their bodies as they are growing,’ said Ms Ley. ‘It aims to tackle this sliding-door moment in young women’s lives when they actually are laying down the foundation for the rest of their lives. ‘Physical activity in the teenage years lays down the muscle and bone you need for the rest of your life. It’s a unique time as your body develops and the greatest
opportunity to build up strength in later years. ‘It will also help us to tackle a serious “epidemic” of diseases and chronic conditions facing this current generation if they do not exercise more. ‘The research is telling us around the late primary to early high school age girls first engage in some form of physical activity within peer groups. And if that first experience is not enjoyable the
46 March 2, 2016 The Byron Shire Echo
idea of exercise and sport also can become a negative. ‘Yet we know, for girls, exercise and physical activity is the number one way to prevent illnesses such as osteoporosis, later in life, which affects almost one quarter of all Australian women aged over 50. And we’re doing it by playing physical inactivity at its own game – through inactive pastimes such as social media and TV.’
Hidden within the Australian Bureau of Statistic’s recent National Health Survey 2014–15 were some disturbing figures for girls aged 15–17 showing: • Proportion of girls aged 15–17 years reporting no or low exercise levels (55.9%) was much higher than boys (38.3%). • Less than half (44%) of girls aged 15–17 years were undertaking moderate or high levels of physical activity compared to 62 per cent of boys. • More than twice the number of boys aged 15–17 years than girls report high exercise levels (36.7% and 15.3% respectively). Ms Ley said there were a number of reasons why girls may be inactive, including lack of time, low confidence in their ability and a fear of being judged. ‘I’ve been a teenage girl, and there’s everything from pimples, periods and other puberty blues through to trying to look cool and fit in, in your decision making when it comes to playing sport and exercising. ‘When you’re a boy, it’s cool to be a sports hero and get all sweaty and dirty. I want girls to get that message too. ‘It doesn’t have to be intense exercise or even joining a
netdaily.net.au
FNC life savers head to state Far north coast junior life savers are state bound A committed group of junior life savers from across the far north coast will take on the best surf athletes NSW has to offer when the NSW Surf Life Saving Age Championships get underway on the central coast later this week. From Friday, almost 3,000 competitors aged between nine and 14 will hit the waves as they battle it out in events including beach sprint, swimming, ski paddling, board racing and ironman. It promises to be a barnstorming three days of competition as the best young lifesavers vie for medals and the chance to write their names into the history of the largest surf carnival of its type in Australia. Almost 40 representatives from seven far north coast clubs will make the trip south. Byron Bay SLSC and Cudgen Headland SLSC will be fielding the largest teams with 10 and 18 competitors respectively, while Lennox Head, Yamba, Brunswick, Cabarita Beach, and Ballina SLSC will all be fielding teams. The State Champs will be a highlight of the competitive season for these youngsters, many who are full of confidence after a highly successful Country Championships campaign at South West Rocks last month. Among those who will make the trip are Hayley
Smith (Cudgen Headland), who won silver in the U13 Board in 2013, and Tex Hembrow and Leilani Carter, both of Byron Bay, who are also hoping to come home with medals again this season. Other athletes to watch out for are Paige Leishman (Byron Bay), who enjoyed a highly successful time at Country Championships, and will be lining up in the U14s, Joey and Elizabeth Warne (Cudgen Headland) and Jorden, Malik and Yasmin Elabbasi, and Kalani Ives all from Yamba SLSC. NSW Surf Sports manager Rob Pidgeon expects that the 2016 State Champs will be a memorable experience for all the athletes, officials, volunteers, and spectators who make the trip. ‘The State Championships are always eagerly anticipated by our young members, who will be looking forward to testing themselves against the best competitors from around the state in a diverse range of events,’ Mr Pidgeon said. ‘They will also get to experience firsthand the camaraderie that life saving is famous for, and this will, we hope, encourage them to stay involved in life saving. Many of our long-serving members still look back fondly at their time competing at the State Champs and other surf carnivals, and all of the current competitors will be looking to add to this rich history.
‘Personal’ year for Mick Fanning Three-time world champion, Tweed’s Mick Fanning, plans to compete part-time in this year’s World Surf League – but he will return to the scene of his shark attack. The 34-year-old will contest the first two events in Australia – at Snapper Rocks in Queensland and Bells Beach in Victoria – before skipping some others throughout the season as he makes 2016 a ‘personal year’. Fanning was left feeling ‘empty’ after a tumultuous 2015, during which he split from his wife, survived a shark attack in competition at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa and learned of his older
brother Peter’s death while vying for the world title at the season-ending event in Hawaii, which he narrowly lost. ‘Last year was definitely intense… I got to a point at the end of the year where I felt empty,’ Fanning said. ‘I didn’t feel like I had much to give back.’ After some time away, Fanning said he would take stock to assess his emotions. However he expects to return Jeffreys Bay to confront the demons of last year’s great white shark attack during the 2015 final, which was televised live and watched worldwide. ‘I feel like there’s something there that I want to go and face, I want to make sure that I scratch that off the list.’
team. Even moderate gentle exercise reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, colon cancer, obesity and even just minor injuries. ‘Regular forms of activity also help manage stress,
alleviate depression and anxiety, strengthen self-esteem, enhance mood and boost mental alertness.’ Ms Ley said the campaign would be available online to view and download at australia.gov.au/girlsmove.
Sydney AAP
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