Gunnedah netballers Holli Rodstrom and Bella Gallagher will represent the Northern Inland Academy of Sport (NIAS) at the 2018 Your Local Club Academy Games next month.
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Rodstrom will play for the NIAS division two side while Gallagher – who is the captain of the 2018 NIAS netball squad – will play in the division one side.
The Academy Games – to be held in Maitland from April 27-29 – will mark the first time Gallagher will captain NIAS in a competitive match.
The 16-year-old said training had put her in good stead for the tournament.
“I’ve captained at training and it’s been heaps of fun,” Gallagher said.
“I think it’s [training] prepared me fairly well. It’s all about encouragement, helping them [players] grow and being a positive influence.
“I’ve always loved leadership roles and I just felt that I could do a good job.
“I was hoping I would get it when I applied but any of the girls would have done amazing jobs at it.”
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Gallagher said the two NIAS sides will be different to last year’s sides and she was excited to see how they performed.
“We have a lot of new girls in the [division one] side, and the squad in general, and we’re going to have a strong team again,” Gallagher said.
“They [division two NIAS side] are looking just as strong and it will great to see how they go as well.”
Gallagher said the games would be a big test for the NIAS netballers.
“It’s extremely tough playing against other academies that train a lot more than us but we’ll go in there and give it our all,” Gallagher said.
“I love playing at the higher levels. It’s great to test your skills and abilities.”
The 2018 Your Local Club Academy Games will be hosted by the Hunter Academy of Sport.
The 2018 Your Local Club Academy Games will showcase athletes across eight sports including basketball, golf, hockey, tennis, softball, AFL and surfing along with netball.