Women In Sport : Tamsyn Moana-Veale

– What’s your favourite aspect about your sport?

I love being able to travel the world and working towards goals every day. It’s cool to think that it’s one of the few jobs in the world where everyone around you (coaches, physio’s, dieticians etc) is actively trying to make you better. 

– What made you decide to do Triathlon’s professionally?

I grew up swimming and was naturally a good runner, so some swimming friends who also did triathlon, suggested I give it a go. I won my first race and started doing well in State races as a 14-15 year old, and it progressed naturally from there, to national racing then international.  

Women Of The Commonwelath Games : Stephanie Kershaw

Meet Stephanie Kershaw- at just 4 years old Stephanie started playing hockey in her hometown of Townsville. She was then selected by the QAS to move to Brisbane after school in 2013 to train and in 2015 she was selected to start training with the Hockeyroos in Perth. Unfortunately due to an injury in 2015, Stephanie was put out for the whole 2016 season and this mean’t she missed the Olympics.

#SheSociety got the chance to ask Stephanie some questions on her beginnings in hockey and how she got to where she is today.

South Australian cycling stars Carlee Taylor and Alex Manly join forces with World Bicycle Relief to send disadvantaged kids to scholl on Buffalo Bikes

IMAGINE getting the kids to a school 50km away when you have no transport. South Australian cycling stars are helping put children in developing countries on the road to a better education.

IF you find getting your children to and from school a daily transport challenge, imagine being 50km of bad roads from the nearest classroom and you have no car, there’s no bus and the kids don’t even have pushbikes.

Thousands of children in developing countries are missing school simply because they can’t get there, but a unique international charity now gives South Australians an opportunity to get them on the road to an education.

Kershaw confident Hockeyroos can continue golden run

TOWNSVILLE star Stephanie Kershaw insists the new-look Hockeyroos can handle the pressure of performing at a home Commonwealth Games as they look to maintain their dominance of the tournament.

World number five Australia has claimed the past three gold medals, but face stiff opposition in England (second) and New Zealand (fourth) on the Gold Coast next month.

Kershaw’s selection was a massive relief for the 22-year-old, who was left shattered when a serious knee injury robbed her of any hope of playing at the 2016 Olympics.

“It’s a much nicer outcome. I’m absolutely stoked and it’s a dream come true, I’ve wanted to go to the Commonwealth Games since I was a little girl,” Kershaw said.

Aussies have beach volleyball momentum

You can't come into a Commonwealth Games with much more momentum than Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar.

The two only came together as a team on the beach volleyball court last October, and have since been undefeated on both the Asian Tour and the FIVB World Tour.

Now they will look to keep that run going all the way into winning gold at the sport's inaugural Commonwealth Games appearance.

Marijana Rajcic reflects on first AFLW goal during Adelaide's four point win over Fremantle

MARIJANA Rajcic describes it as one of the most important goals of her cross-code football career.

But Adelaide’s soccer convert said her maiden AFLW major during the Crows’ thrilling four-point triumph over Fremantle owed much to star teammate Erin Phillips.

Rajcic held her nerve to convert a free kick late in the first term in Darwin on Friday night as Adelaide kept its premiership defence alive.

The former Adelaide United W-League captain said a crash-course in goalkicking with reigning AFLW best and fairest Phillips a fortnight ago proved telling in the pressure moment.

“We were at training and Flip (Phillips) goes to me ‘MJ have you got a set-shot routine?’,” Rajcic, 28, said.

“I was like ‘nah mate’, but she said ‘everyone has got to have a set-shot routine’.

“So she spent about 15 or 20 minutes with me before training and basically just stood on the mark for me to do my set shot.

Westfield Matildas unaffected by Asian Cup favourites tag : Arnold

Goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold is confident the Westfield Matildas will be unaffected by the tag of favourites for April's AFC Women's Asian Cup.

Australia are set to enter the tournament in Jordan as the top-ranked nation after surging to fourth in the world on the back of a record-breaking 2017.

An increase in expectation could add pressure as they attempt to win the continental competition for the second time, but Arnold says the group remain grounded. 

Australia names its beach volleyball team for Commonwealth Games debut

INDIGENOUS trailblazer Taliqua Clancy and Peruvian-born Mariafe Artacho del Solar will create beach volleyball history on the Gold Coast in April when they represent Australia in the sport’s Commonwealth Games debut.

Clancy was Australia’s first indigenous beach volleyball Olympian in Rio in 2016 and will team up with Artacho del Solar who moved to Australia from Peru when she was 11.

They only formed as a team in October last year but have been undefeated since on the Asian and FIVB World Tour.

Hills ramps up preparations for Gold Coast Commonwealth Games

Madeline Hills delivered one of the races of her life at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. This April on the Gold Coast she’s hoping to replicate that performance. 

Her fourth-place in the steeplechase in Glasgow came just over a year after an eight-year absence from the sport. The result was the last thing she expected and it was the trigger for a successful period that included two Olympic finals.

Four years later, much has changed for Hills, but plenty remains the same. She has made the move to Melbourne and married her husband. But she also continues to work full-time in the pharmaceutical industry while juggling her athletics career. 

Three knee reconstructions and six W-League seasons later, Marijana Rajcic has made her mark in AFLW

SOMETIMES a game boils down to a matter of moments.

Erin Phillips stole the show up forward in Adelaide’s scintillating seven-point win over the Western Bulldogs.

But it was the defensive efforts of a number of her teammates that would have been shown on repeat at match review.

Marijana Rajcic’s goal-saving tackle in the final term would have been one of them.

“Our backline, we were under the pump in that last quarter,” Rajcic tells foxfooty.com.au.

“We dug deep and did everything we could to prevent a goal. I had the girls’ back and they had my back. It was teamwork to be able to stop that Western Bulldogs’ goal happening.”

Amy Cure named in Australia's Commonwealth Games track endurance team

Amy Cure’s place at April’s Commonwealth Games was confirmed on Tuesday after the 25-year-old was included in Australia’s track endurance team.

She will be one of two Tasmanians in Queensland for the cycling program at the Games, with Launceston’s Georgia Baker included for what will be her Commonwealth Games debut.

Cure, of West Pine, has previously tasted Commonwealth Games success after winning silver in the scratch race and third in the individual pursuit at the Glasgow Games in 2014.

Adelaide Crows have named former Lady Reds captain Marijana Rajcic for first game

FORMER Adelaide United W-League captain Marijana Rajcic has been given the nod to make her debut with the Adelaide Crows’ AFLW team as it chases its first win for the season against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday.

Rajcic, 28, was taken at No. 38 in last year’s draft and will join fellow Lady Reds players Ruth Wallace and Jenna McCormick in her first national league game of Australian football.

Roar goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold will use W-League semi-final to show she can be Matildas No.1

BRISBANE Roar goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold has another chance to show she is fast closing the gap between her and Matildas’ first-choice custodian Lydia Williams at Perry Park on Sunday.

Having won the W-League premiership last Sunday, the Roar can book a spot in next weekend’s grand final, and earn hosting rights, with a win over reigning champions Melbourne City.

Both teams have a host of national team representatives, including Arnold and City’s keeper Williams.

It’s a case of master versus the apprentice, but Arnold, 23, believes she is ready to unseat 29-year-old Williams in the Matildas’ best 11.

Two gold medals for Amy Cure at 2018 Track National Championships

North-West Coast cycling champion Amy Cure has continued to boost her reputation as one of the most versatile riders in the country after a golden weekend at the Cycling Australia Track Nationals in Brisbane.

Following on from a silver medal on Friday night in the individual time trial, Cure defended her crown in the points race on Saturday before making it back-to-back 10 kilometre scratch race titles on Sunday afternoon.

Her haul of three medals across the four days of racing was enough to see her jointly take out the champion of champions award for the elite women with South Australia’s Steph Morton and all but book her spot on the Australian Commonwealth Games team when it is announced later this month.

Amy Cure collects silver at the 2018 Track National Championships

West Pine’s Amy Cure has added another medal to her already burgeoning collection after winning silver at the Track National Championships in Brisbane last night.

Competing in the 3000 metre individual pursuit, Cure qualified second for the medal round, and faced off against race favourite Ashlee Ankudinoff in the ride-off for gold.

Ankudinoff started the quicker in the final, but Cure cut the margin to 0.20 seconds with five laps to go and looked to be making her move.

But the New South Wales rider kicked again, pulling away from Cure, who won the event in 2014 and 2015, to cross the line in 3:31.064, 0.90 seconds ahead.

Edmondson relishing fresh cycling start

Annette Edmondson's body finally gave in late last year, but the track and road cycling talent says she is back to her best ahead of April's Commonwealth Games.

A refreshed Annette Edmondson says the confidence is back in her racing as she eyes off a stacked individual pursuit field on day two of the track nationals in Brisbane.

Edmondson hit a wall and was forced off her bike for two months late last year, after performing well in a road racing season she viewed as a "mental break" after the Rio Olympics.

Thyroid problems kept the former world champion and Olympic bronze medallist from training at full intensity and saw her put on 5kg in what she now admits was a case of her body screaming at her to stop.

The 25-year-old returned in January with a stage win at the Women's Tour Down Under, before a successful debut on Brisbane's Anna Meares Velodrome on Thursday in South Australia's team pursuit.

Annette Edmondson wins Race Melbourne with a bike throw

ALBERT PARK, Australia (CT) –  As Annette Edmondson (Wiggle High5) and Georgia Bronzini (Cylance Pro Cycling) came barrelling over the line there were no victory salutes, no excited shouts of ‘the winner is …’ from the commentators. Quite simply it was so tight no one could immediately be sure who was the winner of the Cadel Evans Road Race curtain raiser, Race Melbourne.

The race announcers at the 63.6 kilometre kermesse around Albert Park Lake furiously padded and the riders looked at each other until the announcement came. The bike throw from Edmondson as she crossed the line had secured her the victory and a big €8000 (AUD$12,270) cheque. It left two-time world champion Bronzini having to settle for second. Kendall Ryan (Team Tibco-SVB) was just a wheel back in third.

Annette Edmondson column : In the end, I ran out of legs. Now it's time to return to the track

THE plan on Sunday night was to not use too much energy, and focus on the final sprint.

During the race I was going to try to chip away at the lesser points during the intermediates, but after one attempt we decided it best to sit in and wait for the final.

We tried to do what we could and got together on the final lap.

The girls did a great job but I just didn’t have the legs to finish it off like I did on the first day, but was glad to hang onto third.

Former Adelaide United Captain Rajcic is now a Crow

Tash Gunawardana interviewed former Adelaide United captain Marijana Rajcic who was selected at pick no.32 by the Adelaide Crows in the 2017 AFLW National Draft. Congratulations and good luck to Rajcic in her first season at the Crows this year.

Why did you swap codes from women’s soccer to women’s Australian Rules football?

It was something that came out of the blue really. I had not ever really thought about playing AFLW, until my best friend planted the seed in my head. The opportunity presented itself and I thought why not give it a crack. A new environment, new people and a new challenge.

Do you think there will be other players from the W League who might swap codes like you and play in the AFLW?

Yes for sure. We already have the likes of Bri Davey, Ellie Brush & of course Jenna McCormick who have made the switch to AFLW. But I know a number of girls who have made the switch and are currently playing SANFLW.  But as AFLW continues to grow, I know girls will see what AFLW has to offer them and make the switch.

Mixed day for Amy Cure and Macey Stewart at the Women's Tour Down Under

It was a mixed second day at the women’s Tour Down Under in South Australia for the North-West Coast’s Wiggle High5 duo.

The absolute low came when Devonport’s Macey Stewart was forced out of the event due to concussion following her crash on Thursday.

The 21-year-old withdrew from the race on Friday morning.

She crashed just 300m from the finish line in what was her second major incident in a matter of weeks following her crash during the Boxing Day Criterium at Ulverstone.

The Tour Down Under signalled her return to professional racing after signing with the Wiggle High5 team. She said via an Instagram video on Friday that she was “going to try to stay positive and be back out there again soon”.

But the high came from Amy Cure who put in an outstanding performance in wet and windy conditions to finish Friday’s 102km second stage from Lyndoch to Mengler’s Hill in 12th place, which saw her move up to that position in the general classification.