IT’S one for the MacKillop College history books.
Year 10 student Noah Pociask has become the school’s first national tennis champion.
Selected as the only student from Combined Catholic Colleges, Noah competed as part of the NSW Tennis team at the All Schools National Tennis Championships in Bendigo.
It is the highest tennis achievement earned by any student in the history of the school.
The NSW team consisted of eight boys with seven from Sydney. Noah was the only regional athlete.
“I had an amazing week down in Bendigo,” he told News Of The Area. “The atmosphere was amazing and the level was really high.
“NSW had the pressure, as we had won 12 out of the last 14 national titles and you could see that all the other states were striving to beat us.”
Playing a mix of singles, doubles and mixed doubles each day, Noah came away with a clean sweep of his singles matches.
WA were increasingly strong in doubles, but it was Victoria that proved difficult for Team NSW after both teams tied at the end of all matches.
NSW were ultimately victorious, securing the 2025 Pizzey Cup following an exciting one set victory over Team Vic., based on a countback.
The Pizzey Cup is a distinguished national tennis championship for secondary school students, allowing boys and girls aged 18 and under to represent their state in teams of eight players.
Despite Noah’s obvious talent, his mother Rebecca recalls that tennis wasn’t his first sporting love.
“Our family loves several sports but tennis was never really on the radar until we moved houses when Noah was six”, she said.
“He made friends with our new neighbours and their young son was doing tennis lessons.
“They used to practice together so Noah asked if he could do lessons too.”
Noah started at Westport Tennis Club and when his skills improved, he entered the tournament arena.
“He did well pretty much right from the beginning,” Rebecca said.
Noah now trains at Port Macquarie Tennis Club with Aaron Waters.
The club allows him to use their facilities whenever he needs to and Aaron tries to hit with him as much as he can to ensure he feels competition-ready.
It’s a standard of skills and frequency of training that can be hard to find for a regional athlete.
For Noah, it was exactly what he needed in the lead-up to his state selection.
“The trials were tough but it was something Noah really wanted to achieve.
“He played some of his best tennis to make it into that team.”
Being one of the youngest players was a daunting prospect, but with the support of his family, friends, tennis club and school, he backed himself.
“I knew I had the ability to make the NSW team,” Noah said.
“I wasn’t sure originally [that] I’d make it this year, being only 15, but it was my goal.
“I’m already preparing to trial successfully again next year.”
Also this year, Noah has won the Gosford Junior 250 in the 16s division and he has been a finalist and semi-finalist in Men’s Opens events.
Still being in school means the support of his educators is incredibly important.
“MacKillop has been really supportive. I’m allowed to train in sport time and… take some days off to travel.”
Noah’s ultimate goal is to win a Grand Slam one day or, at the very least, to qualify to play in one.
For now, he’s setting his sights on playing Junior ITF tournaments and training with the National Academy.
By Rikki WALLER
