The champion Illawarra under-18s state indoor hockey team. Back: Peter Anderson (manager) Jack Hayes (coach), Jack Donovan (IAS), Peter Cowan (IAS), Cameron Parsons, Blake Govers (IAS) and Max Hughes (IAS). Front: Brady Anderson (IAS), Mitchell Galea(IAS) and Thomas Miotto (IAS). An Illawarra junior hockey team comprised of 7 Illawarra Academy of Sport Southern Phone Hockey Program graduates, has clinched the state indoor and outdoor double for 2014 to extend an unbeaten run at state level to at least seven years. The Illawarra under-18s No 1 team beat Goulburn 10-7 in the state indoor final at Unanderra this month to add to the NSW outdoor crown they won last May. Illawarra skipper and IAS Graduate Blake Govers has now won every indoor and outdoor junior state hockey title at Division 1 level. The core of the Illawarra 18s team are unbeaten in seven years at state indoor championships, plus they won most of the outdoor state titles as juniors. The latest victory was particularly sweet for goalkeeper Max Hughes and Peter Cowan, who signed off their junior careers with an unbeaten run at the NSW indoor titles. Five IAS graduates – Max Hughes, Brady Anderson, Tom Miotto, Jack Donovan and Josh Mayo – were named in the NSW under-18s indoor team. The amazing run of success by the one age group in Illawarra hockey is testimony to the important role the IAS Southern Phone Hockey Program plays in the development of highly skilled Hockey players from the Illawarra Region. The dominance of mostly the same team from under 13s to their final junior year of 18s makes them among the greatest junior sporting teams produced in the region in any sport.
