Indigenous students from the North Coast got the opportunity to come together under the watchful eyes of some of the region's most experienced sports coaches, as part of a talent identification program.
The first NCAS Underwriting Agencies Australia (UAA) Indigenous Talent ID Day for 2022 was held on May 11 at Southern Cross University's Coffs Harbour with representation from high schools from the region.
Students got active early with sport testing and measurements to start the day provided by ACE Performance Coffs Harbour.
Following on with sporting disciplines including basketball, volleyball and netball run with support from Basketball NSW, Coffs Harbour Volleyball Association and Netball NSW.
This same concept will be run at the Cavanbah Centre, Byron Bay on Thursday, August 11. Schools are encouraged to sign up for last minute spots.
The concept of an ITID Day was developed in partnership between the Regional Academies of Sport and Underwriting Agencies Australia (UAA) with a focus to 'unearth' local indigenous talent from the regions and to then be able to provide full scholarships to academy programs.
The end goal includes the Academy providing the top performers from the day to take part in a six week training and education program. From here students will be invited to join one of the eleven 11 sports programs operated by the NCAS throughout 2022-23.
Michael Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of UAA said of the day, "UAA is committed to supporting pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders to succeed in life and sport may help with that goal. This event has run successfully for the past 6 years on the Central Coast and we are excited to see this expanded throughout NSW."
Claire McCulloch, NCAS Sport Programs Manager said of the program: "The day was fun and busy, by offering different sports and sport science we were able to record some excellent data on all the students' fitness and skill levels."
