The city's aspiring under 12s and 14s representatives were put through their paces at the Charles Sturt University gymnasium to try and earn a place in the blue and gold for the 2022 season, playing in a number of short, unscored games in order to showcase their skills.

Bathurst Netball Association president Tina Muller said it was thanks to the excellent work of both the netball and wider community that the trials have been able to take place.

"It's really great to get the girls playing netball again. A lot of them probably haven't had a netball in their hands for quite a while," she said.

"It's nice seeing them back, and with COVID we weren't too sure whether we would be back trialling again but we've been very fortunate. Everyone's been doing the right thing.

"Everyone's sent through what they needed to do, and have let us know if they were close contacts, so a couple of them missed their first trial but they've done their isolation, been tested and come back this weekend."

Muller was impressed by the number of participants making their way to CSU on Sunday, and was happy to see plenty of new faces putting their hand up for a shot at a Bathurst representative spot.

"These girls are at the age where we're looking for a lot of basic skills stuff. We want to make sure they're throwing a decent pass, their footwork is solid and that they're getting the fundamentals right," she said.

"They're starting to progress a lot with their skills at this age, and a few of the girls here already have some experience with rep netball. We've seen a lot of new girls trialling and the numbers have been great.

"These two age groups have probably been our two best with numbers but our 17s have also been good, and they'll be trialling in December.

"Sometimes numbers are on and off, but it's nice to see the numbers coming back. There can be a drop off in 17s in some years but it's good to see that numbers in that age group are great this year."

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