The Northern Inland Academy of Sport launched into season 2017 over the weekend with the first round of trials for aspiring athletes to make the program.
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Hockey, netball and mountain biking were first out of the gate as the academy gets ready to host its largest number of programs to date.
On Saturday the hockey boys braved the miserable and wet conditions to be put through their paces by coaches Blair Chalmers and Andrew Davey.
The region has a rich history of hockey players, with a few big names going all the way to the green and gold, including recent NIAS graduate and Australian U21 star Sam Liles.
On Sunday the mountain biking hopefuls hit the tracks around Inverell, while in Armidale the netball squads began their program with trials under coach Kirstie Fuller.
Following a huge year for the netball squads places in the two sides will be hotly contested after not only success at the NIB and Academy Games but also the first ever NIAS overseas tour, with the 2016 squad recently returning from a training and playing tour of New Zealand.
