Dawlish News
Local junior Octopush players defeat rest of Britain
In a quite astonishing day of competition in Newport last Saturday, Dawlish Junior Octopush players combined with their close colleagues from Plymouth to represent South West England against the rest of Britain in the British Regional Championships. What emerged after five hours of tumultuous competition was complete dominance by the South West Juniors against all-comers from the rest of Britain. The competition was against Wales, The North and the South East at ages Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16 and The South West won every match except a single draw in the round-robin competitions. South West swimmers were top scorers in every age-group, and every player returned with a medal.
Nowhere was the dominance more complete than in the Under 12 age-group, where South West, the bulk of whom play out of Dawlish, took three “equal” teams to the nine team tournament, and came away with gold, silver and bronze medals ahead of Wales “A” in fourth place, The South East in fifth and The North in sixth place. The minor places went to Wales and The North second and third teams. In 24 games the South West players conceded just 7 goals, scoring ninety-seven. Toby Curle (17), Lewis Bartlett (14) and Caleb Pullen (11), all of Dawlish, were individual top-scorers at Under 12 level. Other team members were: Joe Broom, Jackson Spry, Rachel Davis, Hannah Spry, Seb Curle, Josh Cooper, Rachel Jonas, Zoe Russell, Miles Gillhespy, Lewis Bartlett, Jazz Lidiard, Guy Ashworth, Mollie Rowsell, Morley Atkins, Fred Teasdale, Caitlin Johnstone, Ben Close, Tom Nuttall, Tyreese Norville, Aidan Leigh-Brown, Lewis Mears, Paige Connolly and Daisy Wright.
The South West fielded two “equal” Under 14 teams; like their Under 12 colleagues, they swept the board, coming away with gold and silver medals. They had to take to the pool eight times; they scored 30 goals conceding just 8, finishing undefeated. Top scorers in the age-group were Dawlish’s Laurence Ashworth with 11, and Plymouth’s Dylan Studden with 6. Other team members were: Lyndon Beddow, Isabel Handy, Louis Pyper, Lucy Gill, Raisha Gibbs, Oliver Johnstone, Alex Patton, Kieran Tucker, Oliver Curle, Sophie Marsh, Lucas Bagnald, Alice Nuttall, Adam Hyslop and Elliot Wilkinson.
At Under 16 level The North put up stiff resistance, but The South West still emerged undefeated. Dawlish’s Harry Elsmore emerged as top-scorer with 9 goals, 5 in a single match, with Dawlish club colleague Tom Burgess, team skipper, just behind and Louisa Colley and Ellie Shelley, both also of Dawlish, completing the prolific scoring. South West emerged with a hard-earned gold medal after defeating the obdurate North in a thrilling final by the margin of 2 – 1. The rest of the team members were: Chloe Stoneman, Sam Peat, Dougie Samuels, Oliver Price, Eve Jones and Catherine Gillespy.
Dawlish is recognized throughout Great Britain and Europe as a centre of excellence in senior and junior Octopush; that status has never been more evident than in Newport last Saturday afternoon, as the very best in Britain were put to the sword by the local juniors. The Dawlish juniors are off to Holland next, to take on the continent’s best in April.
