Australian Under-18 squad announced
In the aftermath of the Australian Under-18 Championships, which concluded in Nightcliff today, Bowls Australia’s National Selection Panel has unveiled the 10-strong 2014-15 Australian Under-18 squad, a feeder high performance tier featuring junior players entrusted with international representation for the next year.
Overseen by National Coach Steve Glasson OAM and the five state and territory based National Training Centre Coaches, this year’s squad features a handful of the nation’s brightest young prospects and a raft of gold medal winning talent from the nation’s premier junior competition.
Six members of last year’s contingent have retained their position in the reduced squad, which dropped from 20 to 10 members as a result of the under-18 and development teams for the annual Trans Tasman test series being merged to field two mixed-aged teams featuring between two and three juniors in each.
NSW’s Dawn Hayman, Ellen Ryan and Dylan Skinner, Victoria’s Tayla Morison and Joshua Corless, and Western Australia’s Elizabeth Allan have all held onto their positions within the sport’s junior high performance squad on the back of stellar Australian Under-18 Championships performances.
In addition, NSW’s 13 year-old dual Australian Under-18 Championships gold medallist and Australian Open Under-18 winner Jono Davis, Queensland’s two blue-ribbon singles silver medallists Nic Gosley and Connie-Leigh Rixon, and Victoria’s Jayden Christie, who lead the Big V to gold in the boys’ fours, have been elevated to the squad for the next 12 months.
From here, the team selected to participate in the Kiwi clash at the Trans Tasman will be decided by the selection panel in January, with the event staged in Christchurch next March.
“It has proved an extremely difficult task to narrow this squad down to just 10 players, and I would like to congratulate all competitors who participated in the Australian Under-18 Championships on their efforts,” Glasson said while announcing the squad.
“The players chosen in the squad are of an exceptionally high calibre and have proven themselves worthy of international representation.
“There are certainly some stars in the making amongst them which will bode well for Australia’s future international efforts.”
2014-15 Australian Under-18 squad.
Elizabeth Allen (WA)
Dawn Hayman (NSW)
Tayla Morison (VIC)
Ellen Ryan (NSW)
Connie-Leigh Rixon (QLD)
Jayden Christie (VIC)
Joshua Corless (VIC)
Jono Davis (NSW)
Nic Gosley (QLD)
Dylan Skinner (NSW)