Mackay, Whitsundays horseballers to head to France to represent Australia

Three Mackay and Whitsundays riders are heading to France to take on the world’s best horseball riders, a unique sport with elements of Harry Potter and a whole lot of skill. Here’s how you can back the team.

For Linda Gray it began as a way of keeping her son on a horse.

Now, nearly five years removed she is the woman charged with leading Australia’s Under-16 team to France for the 2022 Horseball World Cup in August.

“I have two children that ride and my son (Lachlan) was starting to lose interest in 2017,” Gray said.

“We went to a horseball clinic in Mackay with Francisco Campeao and they introduced us to the sport.

“My son loved it and so we took it up and actually created a pitch here in Strathdickie which is the only permanent pitch in Australia.”

Australia’s Under-16 Horseball Coach Linda Gray. Picture: Laura Thomas.

Gray will coach the team in France, where she’ll be tasked with the challenge of bringing together a new group.

“The team hasn’t actually had very much time together at all because we’ve got the guys from New South Wales working down there,” she said.

“In the next school holidays we will have the whole team together to put all their skills together and decide on their best position, so we can put our best foot forward.”

Australia took senior and junior teams to Portugal for the event in 2016, made from mostly players from the Tamworth region.

In 2020, eight Mackay and Whitsundays riders were preparing for the trip to France before the pandemic hit and those plans were cancelled.

“Covid slowed some of our progress but we were moving forward and a lot with the juniors, where in Tamworth it was generally a focus on the adults,” Gray said.

Local Horseball players taking on the Australian team. Cameron Hird, Mila Parkinson, Brooke Mizzi, Lillian Kelley, Francisco Campeao, Erin Stirling (NSW), Katie Maund (Whitsundays), Hayley Schatkowski (Mackay), Charlotte Adams (Whitsundays). Picture: Supplied.

The coach described the unique sport as a cross between rugby and basketball on a horse, or for the Harry Potter fans, “like quidditch on horseback”.

While the description may make it sound dangerous, Gray stressed that it was not.

“There are a lot of rules to protect them on that side of things, for example when they go for a ‘pick up’ no other players are allowed to be within five metres of the pick up,” she said.

Mackay and Whitsundays horseball players taking on the Australian team. Picture: Supplied.

“It’s great for kids and especially for young fellas who often hit a certain age and don’t want to be wearing tight pants and doing the fancy stuff.”

Being an instructor, Gray added it was the perfect way to train up young riders.

“I have never seen anything that develops a rider quicker than horseball because if they are a little bit nervous, instead of worrying about what the horse is doing, they just focus on catching the ball,” she said.

“It is also a good way to encourage teamwork with horses instead of just the individual in that it’s not just horse and rider, it’s a team of horses and riders.”

Hayley Schatkowski from Mackay and Charlotte Adams from the Whitsundays are part of the Australian horseball team hoping to go to France. Picture: Pink Lady Photography.

The team will come together in Strathdickie on June 27 for a week of intense training.

Cannonvalley Pony Club will host a fundraiser and tournament on July 2 where they will be challenged by previous local, state and national players.

Fundraising activities will include raffles, Go Fund Me page, cinema movie openings, auction dinner nights, Bunnings sausage sizzles, pony rides, pony painting, petting zoos, car boot sales and markets.

To see how you can get involved, Linda Gray can be contacted at [e-mail].

The 2020 team list is:

1. Charlotte Adams – 14yo -Whitsundays

2. Rainer White – 14yo – Wagga Wagga (NSW)

3. Erin Stirling – 15yo – Tamworth (NSW)

4. Katie Maund – 14yo – Whitsundays

5. Hayley Schatkowski – 14yo -Mackay

6. Ethan Whiting – 14yo – Wagga Wagga (NSW)

Coaches – Linda Gray – QLD and Barb Wiscombe NSW