Daryl Kennewell is expecting big things in the future from a group of junior hockey players following success at the state championships.
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The Orange under 15s finished in second place in the division two competition, and coach Kennewell believes they will be all the better for it.
"It's a really good opportunity to see what other kids are doing in the country towns and Sydney areas to see what areas they need to be at," he said.
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"Usually when they come back from a competition like this, they switch on to a different level and their skillsets and thinking gets better. It's really good for their development overall."
Orange finished second in their pool, behind Northern Sydney and Beaches Hockey Association, but the two sides would meet again in the grand final.
However, it was the Northern Sydney side which would come out on top again to finish the competition undefeated.
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Kennewell's team has been training alongside the under 13s and under 17s since April and said all the hard work paid off.
"Some of them play together at local comp and the training we've been doing, we've been working on the structures and positional plays," he said.
"How it all comes together is they put their different skillsets together and make sure it all comes together.
"I'm really proud of the boys. They scrapped really well and they got better each game they played."
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The toughest task as a coach was identifying all the individual skills his side brings to the table and harnessing it for the good of the team. But he was far from the only one to thank for their success.
"It's different from cricket, where you've got individual skills for specific moments. For this, you've got to get those individuals to do their individual jobs," he said.
"At that age group it's getting them to trust each other and work as a team. Sometimes they get off track and out of position, so that's probably the hardest part of being a coach, getting them to work as a team.
"We've got people behind the scenes like Jodie Williamson who was the manager. My job would be ten times harder without her."
Orange's players player from the tournament was Mark Jachi who scored five goals across six games and "showed massive heart all weekend."
The coaches award went to fullback Seamus Dwyer.
"Without his defensive efforts and reads over the weekend, I don't think we get to finals," Kennewell said of Dwyer.
"He played slightly out of position but never once questioned what was asked of him and dug in for Orange the entire weekend."
The side was captained by Milton Knight who was solid all weekend in centre half, with Kennewell
Kennewell gave special mention to Dubbo's Zamael Berger he said was one of Orange's "best over the weekend in attack."
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