OUT & ABOUT
LOCAL SPORT ISABEL NAMED CAPTAIN OF STATE TEAM Naracoorte’s Isabel Ross has been handed a great honour - she has been named the female captain of the 2017 South Australian SAPSASA State Athletics team that is set to compete in Adelaide from December 2-6. Isabel has been doing athletics since she was six, when she started at the Naracoorte & District Little Athletics, and has done it every year since. It is no real surprise that Isabel earned the captaincy - it is her third successive year in the State team. She will be competing in the 100m, 200m, Medley Relay, where she is running the 100m leg, and 4x200m relay. Aside from the weekly trips to Adelaide for training every weekend since October, Isabel trains up to three times a week, working on not just her sprinting, but also extending herself and building her endurance over longer distances, as well as strength training. Isabel also loves cross country running and netball, while working on her flexibility and coordination with her dance studies through MJ Dance Studio, which has been operating classes out of Naracoorte for a few years.
MORE STATE SUCCESS FOR ELLA
The spotlight was on violence against women last week as the annual White Ribbon campaign hit the headlines. Mount Gambier held a breakfast on Friday with a variety of community members on hand to raise awareness of an issue so often hidden behind closed doors. Events have been held across the region and nationwide in the past week, with some events set down for this week. Above (top) - Peter & Jane Zeitz helped with the cooking of the White Ribbon Breakfast at Frew Park last Friday. Above (bottom left) - Andrew Thomas has become a regular face at the barbeque at the annual White Ribbon Breakfast. Above (bottom right) - Gavin Male pins a white ribbon on 11 year old daughter Jenna. The Mount Gambier Railway Lands took home three prestigious awards at the Planning Institute Australia (PIA) South Australia Awards for Excellence 2017 in Adelaide earlier this month. City of Mount Gambier representatives accepted the coveted overall Planning Minister’s Award and also won the Plan to Place and Great Place Awards for the planning and development of the community project.
Soccer has Aussie Rules to thank for snaring Ella Firth as one of the rising stars of the game. Early next month, the Year 11 Grant High School student is heading off to Adelaide to represent South Australia at the Under 18 School Sports Australia Pacific School Games, in a sport she took up because there was no real future and limited opportunities in Australian Rules Football. “I wanted to play footy but that was hard to do and some of my friends played soccer so I decided to give it a go,” Ella said. “Soccer was the next best thing.” That was back in 2011 and the 17 year old has made her name as a defensive midfielder. It is not her first time in the South Australian tri-colours – she has made the trips with regional SA teams to Fiji in 2015 and ’15 – the same trip six locals are headed on this year. She has also represented the State as part of the Christian Football Association national titles – that was last year and earned Ella a trip to Sydney. “I started to really love soccer because you do get a fair bit of the ball and you are always in the play really,” she said. And while soccer is her focus at the moment, the rise of women’s football has already captured her attention. She played in the South West League in Hamilton before pulling on the boots for North Gambier in the inaugural South East Women’s Football Season. She also plays touch football. Earning selection in the Under 18 State team saw Ella make her way through three gruelling trials and since getting the nod about six weeks ago she has headed to Adelaide every weekend for match practice. Locally she is coming off a huge
season where she was part of United’s senior premiership team.
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Above - Cr Hannah Persello; Mayor Andrew Lee & Deputy Mayor Cr Penny Richardson proudly displaying the three awards collected by Mount Gambier’s Rail Lands project. lifestyle1.net | 42
WEEKEND SPORTS ACTION