The 2025 Your Local Club Academy Games drew to a close today, a conclusion that saw a number of IAS athletes take home some silverware.
In the hockey, the IAS boys team remained undefeated all weekend, and wins against Central Coast Academy of Sport and Western Region Academy of Sport put the team into the grand final match against South West/Western Sydney Combined.
A short corner on half time put the IAS boys ahead, and three more goals in the second half sealed the match to bring the gold medal home with us!
Congratulations to the IAS boys team!
The IAS girls hockey team started with a with a win that took them into the bronze match. Further realisation regarding the importance of substitutions, the IAS girls took on Western Region Academy of Sport to finish the tournament as it started. Neither team could be broken (1-1), the game ended in a draw. A huge effort by all players to continue persevering!
An awesome weekend of learning, skill and enjoyment for our IAS hockey teams!
The IAS basketball squad started Day 3 with the boys being the winner of the first semi-final by defeating North Coast Academy of Sport 65-61. A great achievement with just 5 players with the NSW State squad boys being rested.
The IAS basketball girls then went to the playoff for 7 v’s 8. Unfortunately the girls went down by 55-49 to Southern Sports Academy.
Well done to the IAS basketball girls as, for most, this was their first Academy Games and they will be eligible for a few more years – great improvement from game 1 on Friday night.
Then onto the grand final for the IAS basketball boys against Central Coast Academy – still with just the 5 athletes.
Unfortunately their winning streak finished here, going down 82-57, a great improvement over the weekend for this team.
Congratulations to Nash Wood who was named in the Tournament All Star Five Boys team, well done!
The IAS volleyball squad had a huge weekend of high quality play and development.
The IAS boys volleyball team had a mix of different experiences, some club players, some state players and some with national program experience. Our aim for the boys was to get into some high pressure situations and work on closing out the match.
The IAS boys volleyball team had some really intense games, including the two matches against the gold medal winners where the boys were really put the test and brought out some high quality volleyball through all of our players. It was sad to just miss out on the gold but an incredible learning experience for the boys across the board.
The IAS had a very young girls team who had the goal of development and building confidence. Most of the girls coming into the weekend had never played a representative competition before but came in and performed at a high level taking sets of the other teams showing that they were super competitive. The growth we have been able to see in all of the girls over the weekend has been huge and we are excited to see where this experience takes them.
Our IAS netball athletes and umpires rounded out their time in Tamworth with incredible sportsmanship and determination.
Day 3 saw both teams progressing through to the finals fixtures, showcasing strong on-court connections and high-pressure one-on-one defence.
Congratulations to Izzy and Lucy, who were named our MVPs for their standout efforts, bringing sibling rivalry to a new level.
A huge shoutout to our umpires as well – Makayla, Sienna and Lily who all received their National B Badge endorsements. Well done!
In the golf tournament, Day 3 matchplay saw some high quality golf from our IAS athletes with some very close matches.
In the semi-final match, Sage and Jaidon chalked up wins, and a hard fought tied match for Charlie saw the team progress through to the final with a 3/2 win.
The final was even closer with Jaidon going down in a very tight match on the last hole, Charlie came up trumps getting the job done in his match with a great win! And Sage fighting back from a 3 down deficit to square her match saw the team all square with their opponents only to go down on a countback and miss a team medal by the barest of margins!
That caps off a very successful weekend for the IAS golf athletes who performed with all the attributes the IAS is about – Skill, determination and above all great sportsmanship, well done to the golf team of 2025!
All our IAS athletes put in an incredible effort over the weekend, and put on an amazing display of talent and skill.
The IAS would like to thank all our coaches, managers and parents; without such a supportive community, opportunities like this wouldn’t be possible.
Let’s do it all again next year!
