Coming into this year’s KEEPUP Kanga Cup tournament, Hornsby Heights FC have been champing at the bit to get on the field and compete to the best of their abilities.

In the U9’s mixed team’s first year at KEEPUP Kanga Cup, it marks Hornsby Heights first year that the junior mixed teams will play, having only previously registered female teams to the tournament.

This brings about tons of excitement for the players and coaching staff giving them a chance to play familiar, and unfamiliar teams from interstate.

“That’s the main thing, as long as they’re having fun, we’re happy. They’re playing well as a team and it’s been a good experience so far for them and the competition’s run well, the refs have been really good,” U9’s coach Daniel Kent said.

“Well, it’s interesting actually, the team we’re playing now we used to play them in our normal comp, but they’re not in it this year.”

The U9’s team combines players from the U8 and U9’s in their local competition making their preparation and training for the tournament much easier.

“They’ve been training quite a lot. We train twice a week normally. The nines and eights actually train together, so it’s not been too hard to get them to play as a team, which is good,” Kent said.

Breaking up the days with team bonding activities such as bowling, team dinners and Questacon has been a great escape for the team to recoup their mindset each day.

“Good to go away and play in the soccer holidays, and not just to play full days of football. Especially at this age, their concentration only lasts two, maybe three games tops but one or two games is good,” Kent said.

The team have enjoyed their time in Canberra so far, maybe even too much as they enjoyed a nice dinner out as a team.

“The first day they were really, really good. Yesterday we went out for dinner, so I think a bit of a late night for a few, so maybe a bit too much team bonding”, joked Kent. “So, we had an earlier night last night.”

Words: Harrison Frater