158 INNER WEST COURIER, Tuesday, July 31, 2012 MB

NEWS1-36

WHAT’S ON34-35

LIFESTYLE37-42

PROPERTY43-137

CLASSIFIEDS138-154

SPORT158

SPORT158

FOOTBALL

Brian Dene

Dene to remain at college as directorOliver Murray

BRIAN Dene will continueas the director of footballat Stanmore’s NewingtonCollege despite being pro-moted to head coach ofSydney FC’s youth team.

Dene was assistant to IanCrook for the Sky Bluesnational youth team lastseason, but will be head

coach after Crook tookover the reins of SydneyFC’s first team.

Dene, who has coachedin the NSW PremierLeague, said it was import-ant to remain in his role atNewington College.

‘‘Being in a school en-vironment allows me tounderstand more easilywhat these young athletes

go through and give up,and how they managethat,’’ he said. ‘‘Also mywork at Newington is dur-ing terms two and three,while with Sydney FC it’sterms one and four.’’

Dene wants to help de-velop more players for theSydney FC first team, withyouth team members JoelChianese, Daniel Petkovski,

Mitch Mallia and BlakePowell now in the topsquad.

‘‘I like working youthdevelopment, because Ilike seeing the playersprogress in their lives,’’Dene said.

‘‘Not only their footballeducation, but also theiracademic education. It’simportant to make sure

they have a good educationas well.’’

Dene was also lookingforward to working withCrook.

‘‘I know the system hewants to play and theyouth team will play thesame system,’’ he said.

‘‘It will be an easier tran-sition going from the youthteam to the first team.’’

FOOTBALL

Marrickville under-10s.

Kanga kidsbounce backwith trophy

Balmain under-14s

TEAMS from Balmain Dis-trict Football Club and Mar-rickville Red Devils re-t u r n e d f r o m a ninternational youth tourna-ment in Canberra with tit-les. The Balmain DFCunder-14 boys team won theKanga Cup final 2-1 at Mc-Kellar Stadium against theImran Soccer Academyfrom Indonesia.

The Marrickville under-10 boys team went throughthe tournament undefeatedand won the final 5-0 again-st Monaro Panthers.

The Balmain DFC under-14s captain Joseph Birdssaid: ‘‘Playing in the KangaCup was a fantastic experi-ence. It was exciting to playteams from overseas in thefinal.’’

The Kanga Cup includedmore than 200 teams fromcountries including Chile,Indonesia, Korea, NewZealand and the Philippines.

Monique’s six of the bestMonique Rae broke six records, including two state ones, recently. Picture: DANNY AARONS

JUNIOR SPORTS STAR

SWIMMER DREAMS OF GREEN AND GOLD

Nominate a Junior SportsStar at:innerwestcourier.com.au

MONIQUE Rae has brokensix records, representedAustralia and trained at theAustralian Institute ofSport. And that’s only in thepast week.

Monique, 13, dreams ofgreen and gold and herfather Neil Rae couldn’t beprouder.

‘‘We’re supporting her ona journey and we’re veryproud about that. Winning

awards, including those forthe Trans-Tasman squadand becoming National AgeChampion in Brisbane aremy proudest moments,’’ hesaid.

Monique, this week’s Re-bel Sport Junior Sports Starnominee, broke the NSWr e c o r d s i n t h e 8 0 0 m

freestyle and 200m back-stroke at the NSW Metro-politan Championships atSydney Olympic Park thismonth. She started swim-ming at age six and hasn’tstopped paddling since.

‘‘I love everything aboutswimming. It’s so much funto be in the water,’’ she said.

‘‘I’m pretty competitivetoo, when I’ve put in all thehard work I expect to seeresults.’’

Monique, from Leich-hardt, trains an average of16 hours per week and ho-pes to follow the footsteps ofher Olympic hero LibbyTrickett.

‘‘I got to speak to Libby forabout half an hour and inthat time she told me to havefun and always try yourbest,’’ she said. ‘‘I’ve followedher advice and hope to dowell in my coming meets.’’

written by internChiara Gargano