The squads hosted a visit from the Hunter Academy.

Games were a big part of the weekend program as the squads build towards next month’s Academy Games.

“We played lots of games,” head coach Andrew Farmilo said.

They changed the games up a bit, throwing in a few different rules and awarding different points for things like five or so consecutive passes.

They also played a bit of Super 9s.

“The Academy Games will be a 9s tournament so we had a taste of that,” Farmilo said.

It was their fourth session together.

“It was pleasing to see how well they actually played and how their structure was,” he said.

“Both the boys and girls got better as the weekend went on.” 

He’d wanted to see some constructive structured hockey from them, and some second- phase work.

The golf, rugby and netball squads also had sessions over the weekend. 

The golf squad headed to Sydney where, as part of their visit, they attended a tailored morning at the Australian College of Sport High Performance Centre for Golf.

The rugby boys trained at Farrer on Friday night to prepare for their upcoming trip to Sydney.

They will train with the Waratahs coaches as well as play some Sydney teams and catch a Super 15 game.

The netball girls were also in preparation mode  for the Academy Games,  with the focus of their session in Armidale on Sunday selecting the two squads to play on the Central Coast.

For the first time, NIAS is  entering teams in both divisions.