Bathurst netballers Clancy Best and Lilli Mooney will be hoping to make their mark in Sydney next year, after both being selected to compete for teams playing in high-level competitions in the state's capital.
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Sixteen-year-old Best was selected for the GWS Fury Pathways team in the Baulkham Hills Shire Netball Association Metro League Division One, while 15-year-old Mooney was picked to play netball for UTS Sparks in the Netball NSW Premier League Under 23s.
Best said being selected for the GWS Fury team was a great "confidence boost" after been knocked back by several other teams.
"I had to go to a trial at Blacktown last Sunday and in the morning I had Baulkham Hills trials and by that afternoon they had sent me a text to tell me I had been selected in the team," she said.
"I was excited because I had been knocked back by a few teams, but I didn't let it take over. It was a confidence boost after being knocked back by a few teams."
Best - who plays wing attack - was selected in a Netball NSW regional talent squad late last year, travelling down to the Genea Netball Centre, at the Sydney Olympic Park, throughout 2019 to participate in training camps.
She was one of 26 players selected in the talent squad, including fellow local product Teagan Germech, with the camps providing regional netballers with coaching that they may not normally be available to them.
"It's another step up in the ladder for where I want to go," Best said on the GWS Fury team.
She'll now travel down twice a week during the 2020 season, Tuesday nights for training and Thursday nights for games. She will be able to complete her strength and conditioning training in Bathurst.
Throughout the 2019 Bathurst Netball Association season, Best played for Panthers Agriwest in the A grade competition, the team defeated in the minor semi-final to Bulldogs Verdelho.
Mooney had previously been selected in an emerging talent squad, as well as being selected in the Catholic Schools Sports netball team this year.
Mooney, who may be only 15 years old, said she was the youngest player "by quite a bit" to participate in trials for the UTS under 23s side.
"I wasn't expecting to get this fair [in the selection process], but I got an email that I had got into the team," she said.
"I went to the actual University of Technology Sydney to trial and there were a lot of girls there, but I was the youngest by quite a bit. It was really, really crazy.
"I was pretty excited [to be selected], but dad woke me up to tell me so I was a bit annoyed to be woken up. But it was good news, it's really good news."
Mooney said she used to be a goal shooter, but has been selected for the team as a goal attack.
"It's kind of weird because I've always been a shooter because of height," she said.
She will play her games on Wednesday nights, while heading down to Sydney for training on Sundays and Mondays until the season starts, before dropping a day of training.
Throughout the 2019 Bathurst Netball Association season, Mooney played for Panthers Renshaw in A reserve grade II, the team that lost the grand final 55-45 to Nova Sky.
The duo are current students at MacKillop College.