Hundreds of talented, young soccer players ran onto the fields at The Armidale School on Wednesday vying for an opportunity to play at a representative level.
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Around 250 students from five North Coast Independent Schools lined up for their schools in the carnival with selectors eyeing off their talent to pick squads to travel to Sydney to take on the city teams.
Selector Mason Brenton said the talent this year was of a high standard and making decisions on who to put through to the represent the region against bigger areas was a tough ask.
"Football is rapidly growing, it is Australia's number one sport now too so it is important we get a good squad out of this and take it to the Sydney teams,” he said.
"Difficult to pick out of the five schools that are presented here.
"We found it quite difficult to find specific players and what not.”
Across the 28 games played in the miserable conditions, Coffs Harbour’s Bishop Druitt College dominated winning both the senior boys and girls division.
Junior boys and girls results are yet to be calculated.
Carnival convenor Luke Polson said despite the conditions, competition was fierce and the five schools at the event finished the day with happy faces.
"All along the North Coast, we had schools from Tweed Heads, Kempsey, Lismore, Armidale Byron Bay and Coffs Harbour,” he said.
"Everyone left having had a very good day despite the conditions, everyone left positive and played some good football.
The senior boys’ team to represent the region was also announced at the conclusion of the carnival with TAS pair Jim Orr and Lachlan Knowles selected in the squad.
The day also marked a historical moment for the school with the first senior girls team taking to the field for their first game in TAS colours.
They unfortunately didn’t win any of their matches but were happy just lacing on the boots for the first time.