Georgia on road to sporting success

Georgia Mason shows her speed in South Otago yesterday. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
Georgia Mason shows her speed in South Otago yesterday. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
This girl stands out from the crowd.

And not because she is a female in a predominantly male sport.

As the only girl in a rugby tournament which had more than 400 players, Georgia Mason made her impact on the field - winning the "man" of the match award in one game, and then being picked for the tournament team.

The 13-year-old, who hails from the Chaslands, about as far south in Otago as you can get, has the sort of rugby and sporting skills most members of the opposite sex would die for.

She has scored 35 tries this season in club play and was one of just three players from Otago to win selection in the South Island under-48kg team after a tournament in Christchurch this week.

The last Otago girl to make this side was Black Fern Kelly Brazier in 2002.

Otago coach Graeme Reid said Georgia was a player who had all the skills, and she kept the boys on their toes.

Georgia said her selection for the tournament team was a "surprise", but she did not find it hard playing against boys. After all, she has been doing it for more than half her life.

A No 8 who previously played lock, she has been playing the game since she was 5.

And she sure knows the road between her home in the Chaslands, south of Tautuku, and Dunedin. With representative rugby and hockey training, and then matches at the weekend, she travels more than 1200km in a week.

But the Catlins Area School pupil is not complaining, and said she was used to the travel.

Next week, she will be in Timaru to play for Otago in the Collier Trophy hockey tournament.

Once winter sports are out of the way, touch and softball will feature over the summer and she has made Otago squads in both. But rugby is her favourite sport.

Her Otago team-mates did not find it unusual to have a girl in the team, and once they saw her play, it was "Give the ball to Georgia".

Mum Michelle, more commonly known as the "taxi driver", said Georgia was a determined girl who never gave up.

Next year, she will be heading south to Invercargill to boarding school at Southland Girls' High School.

 

 

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