Above: Miners captain Shahid Malimar and six of his teammates will head to the Gold Coast next year to represent Victoria at the 2008 Gridiron Australia Senior National Championships at Runaway Bay Sports Centre.By Marc McGowan
SEVEN Berwick Miners will represent Victoria at the 2008 Gridiron Australia Senior National Championships at Runaway Bay Sports Centre on the Gold Coast next year.
The event will run from 26 April to 4 May.
Miners’ wide receiver Jamie Stafford, linebackers Donte Newton, Mark Petana and Rob Zimmerman, defensive back Steve Baker, and running back Shahid Malimar will all take to the field, while tight end Lee Lindsay has been selected in the train-on squad.
Lindsay has the chance to join his teammates if he can impress coaching staff between now and the championships.
It is the first time Berwick captain Malimar, 24, has received the honour and he now has his eyes on even loftier goals.
“I’m hoping to make it onto the Australian squad,” the Narre Warren resident said.
“I’ll hopefully be able to pick up some tips to improve myself as a player by being around the guys who have been selected in state and being up against opponents of a high calibre.
“I have to improve my overall game skills, the way I read my blocks, the way I cut off the ball, the way I catch, my receiving, and everything needs to jump up a level when you play at this standard.”
Malimar has played the sport since he was 16 and is ecstatic at his club’s achievement.
“It’s huge. It’s not every year that you get seven. To have seven players selected to go up there is big for us,” he said.
“A lot of us have done extra work outside of training, like gym work and fitness, and the coaches, Darren Shaw, Dale Warren and Mel Martin, have been really good.”
Malimar previously played soccer for Hoppers Crossing and won the 100-metre Victorian Secondary Schools’ Sports Association athletics title in 1999.
But he was always interested in gridiron and since linking up with Berwick he has not looked back.
This season was Malimar’s second as captain and he is hoping to continue his rise in the game in 2008.
“It is a huge honour to be captain and I’m hoping to do it again next year,” he said.
“I was very happy with the outcome (personally) this season and I’m looking for a better season next year.”
