Armidale and District Netball Association coaching co-ordinator Rochelle Joyce said she was expecting big numbers for the try-outs, especially in the younger age groups.

“We’ll be sending teams away in the Under 12s, 13s, 14s, 15s and 17s so there are a lot of positions to fill,” Joyce said.

“In the younger age groups we tend to get a lot of girls try out — the skill level and talent is fairly even across the board in the Under 12s and 13s.

“We might only get 15 or so girls trial for the older age groups, but that’s okay.”

For the Under 12s, 13s, 14s and 15s, the state age championships can be a hectic weekend.

“The girls play one game on, one game off over three days in the July school holidays,” Joyce said.

“So most of the kids will play 21 to 27 games in a long-weekend.

“We don’t have anything like that in Armidale so it’s a big test for our girls.”

The netball trials are not only open for Armidale youngsters, with Uralla and Guyra girls also encouraged to try out for selection.

“The only requirement to get into the teams is that they play in the Armidale competition this year,” Joyce said.

“I think we’ll be fairly competitive again this year in all age levels but the travel and the hectic schedule always makes it a bit tough for us.”

Joyce, who will coach the Armidale Under 17s side, said her age group doesn’t play in the same tournament as the other representative teams, instead playing in the state championships over the June long-weekend.

She said the girls who made the Under 17s team would train almost fulltime prior to the championships.

“We’ll train twice a week - one a fitness session and the other a skills session,” Joyce said.

“That training is separate from their own club team so they could be training up to four times a week as well as playing in the regular competition.