Junior Sport Star nominee Easts Dynamite a cracker contender

A GRAND final victory for Easts Dynamite has led them to being nominated for the Team Spirit Award in the opening round of the Junior Sports Star.

Champions, the Easts Dynamite under 14s side.

A GRAND final victory for Easts Dynamite has led them to being nominated for the Team Spirit Award in the opening round of the Junior Sports Star.

The side defeated Randwick in the grand final after dismissing them for 91, and as a result the Easts Cricket Club nominated the Under-14 side for the team award.

Coach John Kyriazis said the side had been bolstered this year by some new layers who had brought “a lot of ­enthusiasm” to the team.

“Their main strength was team spirit and fielding,” Mr Kyriazis said.

“There are a lot of boys in the team that were younger than 14 but they still were able to lift and beat bigger teams with older players.

“Even though some are younger they all wanted to play together as a team ­instead of staying at a lower age group.

“Most of the boys will play at an older age group.

“They’re all very keen to keep playing together.

“It shows that their ­enthusiasm for cricket is ­really high. They all trained or practise hard and they were very courageous.”

Most of the team also compete for their school and train at least twice a week.

Last year the Dynamite missed the finals, but Mr Kyriazis said this year the team “just gelled ­together”.

“There were a lot more close matches and the boys all lifted in those matches because they played a lot of games that went down to a few runs,” he said.

The Junior Sports Star is in its 11th year and is proudly sponsored by Rebel. This year 7News has come on board as a media partner.

Dynamite players ­include: Jack Attenborough, Jake Kyriazis, Jack Willis, ­Campbell Pert, Jackson Watson, Alex van Vugt. Hugo Giles, Jackson Irwin, Archie Crawford, Max ­Cotton, Ben Leslie, Dean Bennett, Edward Oppenheim and Phillip Lapanaitis.

GET INVOLVED:

— To nominate someone for the Junior Sports Star awards go to juniorsportsstar.com.au and follow the prompts.

— Nominations are open until October 23 for children between 10 and 16 years old. This year there will be no hard copies of entry forms . Email [e-mail] to receive a nomination form.

—Finalists will be announced in November and winners will be announced in February next year.

— Follow us on Facebook, or Twitter @Thewenty or #juniorSportsStar.