Golf has become a passion for Ryan McKinnon but his entry into the sport came following a dire incident.
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In 2015, while riding at a skate park in Warialda with his cousin, McKinnon had an accident.
"I was on a scooter, came off over the handlebars and landed on my knee in a bent position," the 16-year-old said.
The accident saw McKinnon break his knee cap, tear all the ligaments and tendons around his knee and strain his ACL.
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It put the youngster out of action for over six months and means he "more or less" can't play contact sports.
But along with his dad, he found golf and hasn't looked back.
"He and I started to play with one of his friends, just as a thing to do, and then we found out we started to enjoy it a lot more," McKinnon said.
"We started getting some coaching, that progressed to playing competition and we've gone from there."
McKinnon takes lessons with Tamworth Golf Club's Brock Sampson and is heading into his third year as part of the NIAS squad coached by Darren Burger.
The combination of coaching has worked wonders on his game. When he first started with NIAS, McKinnon's handicap sat at 28.
The golfer now hits off nine and and is hungry for the descent of his handicap to continue.
"I kind of want to be able to get down to about 4 or 5 by the end of the year," McKinnon said.
"In our [Tamworth Golf] Club Championships, the cut off handicap for our A grade teams is five and I want to make it there by October."
Most days, you'll find McKinnon on the golf course, whether it be tournaments on the weekends or practising during the week.
He's also been given some good opportunities through NIAS including the inter-academy weekend with the Hunter and Central Coast Academies of Sport in Newcastle two weeks ago.
The athletes were given tips and tricks on a range of subjects which McKinnon plans to use going forward.
"I'm definitely going to put a lot more time into mapping out the courses before playing - finding out where to hit it, how to hit it - and I'll be putting more effort into nutrition coming into a competition itself," he said.
The NIAS squad are now training for the Academy Games in Newcastle.
"They see me once a month and then it's up to them to go back to their home clubs and put into practice what I've taught them," Burger said.
"Our biggest event for the year is the academy games, which is in April. It's [training] always working towards and preparing them for that."