South Otago High School pupil Sydney Marshall (16) celebrates her recent selection for the Touch New Zealand Under-16 development campaign taking place in Auckland from September 27 to October 1. Her achievement came from years of playing touch rugby —she began at the age of 8. Sydney said she didn’t expect to be selected and was proud of herself. The training camp will allow her to continue to develop the skills she has to improve in touch rugby and be part of a nationally recognised team. Although she attempted to keep humble and quiet about it, Sydney said her mother was ‘‘extremely proud’’ and was ‘‘almost stopping everyone she knew in public’’ to tell them the news. REPORT / PHOTO: EVELYN THORN
