More than 100 players converged on Bathurst, with athletes coming from not just the Central West-based Western Region Academy of Sport (WRAS) but from the Northern Inland Academy of Sport and Hunter Academy of Sport as well.

WRAS head hockey coach Kent Bestwick said the weekend provided hockey players with an opportunity to improve their ball skills, as well as meeting players from different parts of New South Wales. 

“On Saturday we worked on a lot of structure skills. It was about getting the kids getting in touch with the hockey ball again,” he said. 

“They’ve already had a few sessions in their home town before they came to Bathurst, like in the Hunter, Tamworth or Armidale.

“We pulled them all together and did some skill sessions up until lunch time, focusing on network and playing together. We played games up to 4.30pm on Saturday.

“On Sunday we worked together with our own academies and started organising our individual teams for the academy games next year.”

In just the space of two days, Bestwick said he’s seen some massive improvement from the players. 

“They’ve improved tenfold,” he said.

“On Saturday it was touchy feeling, with players getting use to new people and their positions. 

“On Sunday we saw big improvements.” 

WRAS had four teams on the weekend – two girls and two boys – for a total of 46. 

Both the Hunter and Northern Inland academies had three teams of two boys and one girls. 

Australian hockey representative and Bathurst native Tamsin Bunt, alongside her husband and selector/mentor of the 2019 under 18s NSW boys Jye Bunt were also at the training camp, but on Saturday only. 

The two talented hockey players were sharing some of their knowledge of the game. 

“They were helping players fine tune some of their skills and kids were asking questions about where they can improve,” Bestwick said.

“They also floated around in the games and skill sessions to critique some of their skills. Both they and the kids really enjoyed the day.

“A lot of the girls got a lot of information out of Tamsin on Saturday, on their preparation, training, food, nutrition – Tamsin gave it all to them. She just gave them that knowledge, which was great for all.” 

Nine Bathurst talents took part in the camp: Bridget Ellis, Kirsten Fitzpatrick, Isobel Fitzpatrick, Shona Jarvis, Belinda Kidd, Matilda McDonald, Andre Rossitt, Trent Simpson and Benjamin Watson‐Tauaalo.