The region's hockey talent has been starring abroad in the past week with Georgina Morgan helping the Hockeyroos secure a place in the inaugural FIH Pro League grand final, Ehren Hazell scoring goals for the Australian under-21s at the 8 Nations Invitational Tournament in Spain and Nathan Czinner winning gold with the School Sport Australia boys team at the Whitsun Four Nations Tournament in Germany.
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Overnight in Germany a flying start saw the Hockeyroos claim a 3-1 victory over the home side and guarantee a top four finish.
The Aussies couldn't have asked for a better start with Jane Claxton scoring twice in the opening three minutes of the match. Emily Chalker extended the Hockeyroos' lead to 3-nil in the 21st minute after a goalmouth scramble, and they held that through to the main break.
The tournament finale will be held in Amstelveen later this month and see the Hockeyroos doing battle with the Netherlands, Argentina and Germany.
Hazell and the Burras meanwhile had to settle for fourth after going down 4-3 in a shoot-out to Belgium in their play-off after scores were locked at 2-all at the end of regular time.
Their hopes of gold had been ended 3-2 by Germany. Hazell put the Burras ahead in the second minute of their semi-final after strong defence led to a counter-attack, but the Germans hit back with two goals to lead by one at the first break.
They snagged another in the third quarter but the Burras came back strong in the final quarter. Tom Harvie converted a corner to close the gap to one, but try as they might they couldn't find an equaliser.
Hazell's goal was his second goal for the tournament after finding the net in their 4-nil opening game win over India.
Czinner and his Aussie under-16s team-mates were impressive throughout their tournament, which saw them taking on teams from the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany, sealing the gold with a 7-nil win over Ireland.
Closer to home, on the back of their performances at the recent state opens championships a host of New England and Tamworth players have been named in the NSW Country men's and women's teams to play at the Australian Country Championships in Shepparton in August.
New England's Brooke Anderson, Sarah Osborne, Brittany Parker and Brianna Sutton, and Tamworth's Emily Chaffey and Katrina Rekunow have been selected in the women's team and New England's Darby Chalmers, Ben Hanlan and Jake McCann the men's.
