Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a big thing to represent one's country in any regard but particularly in sport when you first have to be the best in the country. I therefore take this opportunity to pay tribute to the effort of the 2014 Australian champions at the Little League Baseball competition. That team is the Perth Northern Metros, consisting of Etienne Charette, Matthew Coleman, Carter Dowling, Calvin Eissens, Benjamin Hewett, Callum Johnson, Blake Monaghan, Javier Pelkonen, Tarrant Reimers, Nicholas Riley, Callum Schipp, Daniel Stephenson, Zak Taylor and Jordano Vivona.

The Northern Metros beat 20 teams to be crowned the Little League Baseball Australia Region Champions at the 2014 Australian Little League National Championships. The six-day event was held on the Gold Coast, finishing on Sunday, 8 June, when Perth Northern Metros defeating Manly, 3-2, in a thrilling championship game. No doubt the pressure was extreme, yet the Northern Metros team was up to the challenge and were victorious. I congratulate them.

The head coach of the Northern Metros is Brian Armstrong, he was assisted by Grant Johnson and Kim Pelkonen and the executive officer is Adam Stephenson. As head coach, Brian Armstrong pulled together the best 14 players from the Wanneroo and Carine baseball clubs. This is the second time in three years that they have been crowned national champions—they won in 2012. I have had the honour myself of winning a couple of national championships and I know the effort and dedication required to win. I know that this team did train hard because I recall seeing a team of boys in red training over the whole weekend about two months ago. Given I live less than 500 metres from the Wanneroo Baseball Club I saw them training very hard, and given the Wanneroo Baseball Club plays in orange and black it now make sense when I saw the boys in red. What was always clear was that the Northern Metros put in the time and effort, they worked hard and they won.

To put the achievement in perspective, Australia is the fastest-growing Little League baseball country in the world. Australia's national champions now receives automatic qualification to play in the Little League Baseball World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Northern Metros will get to be part of this opportunity of a lifetime. I hope that they do well, but also enjoy the great opportunity that they clearly deserve. The World Series takes place in August and the games will be televised internationally on ESPN.

Apart from paying tribute to second placed Manly, from the Prime Minister's electorate, I also congratulate Swan Hills for their third place at the championships. The other teams that participated included Adelaide North, Adelaide South, Brisbane Metro, Brisbane North, Brisbane South, Canberra, Perth Metro Central, Cronulla North, Eastern from Western Australia, Gold Coast, Hills North from New South Wales, Macarthur, Manly, Northern from Victoria, Northern Metro, Ryde North, Sunraysia, Swan Hills, West Coast and Yarra.

I am a fan of sport and particularly junior sport. While it is in many ways the defining game of the United States, baseball also speaks loudly to Australians. I think the skill levels, the fitness, the agility and the mental challenge of competition make it almost unique and that is why it is so widely played and growing. This is an opportunity for young people to learn important lessons in life. Those lessons include not only that you have to work hard or perhaps even harder than your opponents to achieve victory, but also that respect for one's opponents is part of any good sport. Little League baseball is in fact a sport that has been built internationally for 75 years on participation and community, and therefore its reputation is based on good sportsmanship. From the Australian championship competition I know that the Sportsmanship Award is very highly regarded. Although certainly not from the Cowan electorate, the Swan Hills team from Perth was selected by other teams, officials and volunteers as displaying the very highest of sportsman-like behaviour throughout the competition and were therefore awarded the Sportsmanship Award.

It should also be noted that the Australian Little League is becoming literally world renowned for the high quality of sportsmanship and the positive participation by players, coaches, parents and spectators in the spirit of the game. Last year's team from Perth Central Metro were awarded the Sportsmanship Award. While being world champions would have been great, the reputation of our nation has been well advanced by the excellent young sportsman that the Little League turns out in Australia.

I would again like to congratulate Brian Armstrong and the boys of the Perth Northern Metros for their national championship victory and wish them all the best as contestants in the 68th Little League Baseball World Series that begins on 14 August in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. I hope that when the championship game commences on 24 August that they are there and they are victorious. It will not be easy, but nothing worth winning is ever easy. They should be self-confident because they know that they are well prepared, they are tough, fit and mentally ready. I am sure they will bring credit to themselves and to our country.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It being 9.30 pm the debate is interrupted.

House adjourned at 21:30