The strength of Dubbo ultimate frisbee will be on show at the weekend when two local players head to Sydney for the Australian Under-22 Ultimate Championships.
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Aidan Shields will feature in the squad while Ashleigh Boatman is the head coach of the state side.
Dubbo Ultimate Frisbee Federation (DUFF) president Tim Hosking said it was “great to see” local players enjoying success on the national stage.
“It is sensational. It’s all the stuff we work towards here at Dubbo – a strong player base that feeds into state competition and regional competition,” Hosking said.
“Aidan has come through the ranks in Dubbo 100 per cent, so an example of our league really producing top-notch players.
“Ash has come from further abroad but has chosen to come and live in Dubbo and play ultimate and that’s sensational that we can provide her an opportunity to continue to play at the level she likes to and then go to coach NSW teams.”
Boatman said the team was “coming together really well”, and were on track to win a medal – possibly even gold – at the three-day championships.
She said the men were likely to play a total of seven “extremely high intensity” games across the three days.
“At our last training camp we really started to get our connections working really well together,” she said.
“I think the boys are all on the same page about what we want to achieve this weekend.
“To win the championship is the ultimate goal but we’ve got a lot of new players coming through … so we’ll see how we go in a bit of a development year.”
NSW is traditionally one of the strongest teams at the national championships, with Victoria the biggest rival on the field.
Many of the players – including Shields - were on the NSW squad that came second to Victoria at the Under-18s national championships last year.
“Strong competition from ACT and Queensland will be expected and it’s just going to come down to the weekend. Who knows?” Shields said.
“The team is looking strong. We had a good hit out against a couple of teams in Sydney [at a recent training session] so we’re looking good for the weekend.”
Shields will be playing as a cutter and receiver – “very similar to a midfielder in football”.
“A lot of running for the next three days of the tournament,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to just spending time with these guys, spending a lot of time around a lot of people that play ultimate in Australia at an elite level and just kind of grabbing knowledge from everyone and continuing to improve my game.”
NSW’s campaign will get underway with a game against WA at 9am on Friday, with the finals scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
Game schedules and results will be updated across the weekend at https://u22nationals.ultimatefrisbee.org.au/e/Australian-under22-ultimate-championships-2017.
Some games, including the final, will be live-streamed on the Ultimate Australia YouTube channel.