By JARROD POTTER
FIRE and Ice will battle it out in a frosty, but fiery clash between the best women’s players in the Gridiron Victoria competition.
After the rampaging success of Gridiron Victoria’s 2014 women’s season, the debut year for the Berwick Diamonds – who finished third overall – the league introduced an All Star match to showcase the league’s premier talent.
The rosters for the two teams were announced this week, with 15 players from the Diamonds’ 2014 squad making the grade.
Diamonds co-captain Cat Bouwhuis, from Clyde North, thought it was thrilling to get a chance and play on the biggest stage yet created for women’s gridiron.
“It’s pretty exciting – particularly for all the girls who have tried so hard to get into it,” Bouwhuis said.
“Fifteen Diamonds tried out and all of us got positions on the two teams.
“Nine are on the Ice with former head coach Jamie Stafford and the other six girls made it onto the Fire team.”
A schoolyard pick decided on the selections for each side as four Diamonds – Bouwhuis, Bliss Love and the Gubatanga sisters Larni and Erin – were picked in the top 10.
While it will be a little strange to clash with her team-mates in the Friday night spectacular, Bouwhuis admitted it was a great opportunity to show how far the sport had progressed in only one season.
“We all feel it as more of a fun match were we can hit each other hard then pick each other up,” Bouwhuis said.
“We’re all just going to do our best on the day.
“We all go up against each other in practice, so we’re sort of used to going up against each other – but not at 100 per cent like it will be on the night.
“It’s a really big thing for women’s sport to show that we can play everything the guys can play – and sometimes we can even do it better than them.”
The Fire versus Ice showdown will be Friday 5 June, from 7pm, at the State Netball Hockey Centre.
If any locals are keen to join the Diamonds or affiliated Miners, there is a coming sign up day to join the south-east gridiron ranks.
Berwick Diamonds and Miners Juniors sign up day will be Saturday 13 June, at Sydney Pargeter Reserve, Endeavour Hills, from 10am-1pm. For more information, contact the club at info@berwickminers.com
BERWICK DIAMONDS REPRESENTATIVES
TEAM ICE: Erin Gubatanga, Larnie Gubatanga, Lema Laumua, Sarah Mu, Ashlee Sarna-Kosnar, Chantelle Stringer, Marissa Taputu, Renee Turner, Clara Yip.
TEAM FIRE: Cat Bouwhuis, Vanessa Brown, Bliss Love, Jenner Ramasima, Joanna Rashleigh, Loretta Williams.
