Trans-Tasman netball triumph
FOR netballer Joel Gocs, it was the perfect debut in the Australian men’s under-23 team, with a clean sweep in the three-game series against New Zealand in Auckland earlier this month.
The trans-Tasman tournament saw all four Australian teams – men’s open, men’s under-23, men’s under-19 and mixed – win every match in the biennial event.
Gocs, who plays centre and wing, helped his team win 70-24, 54-23 and 58-22.
“It was a great thrill to play for Australia and to win all our matches,” he said after the tournament.
Now he hopes to continue his good form with the state team in a national tournament in April and gain selection again for Australia, which is set to compete in South Africa in late 2013.
Gocs, 22, has just completed a degree in sports management/commerce at Deakin University and combines netball with playing football with the AJAX Football Club.
He started playing netball while attending McKinnon Secondary College and was a member of the school’s boys team that won the Victorian state schools premiership in 2006 and 2008.
In 2009 he was a member of the Victorian men’s under-19s, who won the Australian championship, and in 2010-11 he captained the Victorian men’s under-23 development team.
The week-long tournament in Auckland was organised by the Australian Men’s and Mixed Netball Association, and the New Zealand Men’s and Mixed Netball Association.
After the thrill of the New Zealand tour, Gocs has his sights on helping out at the Maccabi Junior Carnival in Sydney in January as a youth leader with the Victorian team.
REPORT by AJN staff
PHOTO of Australian netballer Joel Gocs with the under 23 trophy.
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