Six Wagga soccer stars to play at National Youth Championships

Mikayla Blake, 14, Vaughn Jenkins, 14, Finn Jenkins, 16, Jireh Sutton, 15, Dipkar Rai, 16, and Kade Lyons, 15 have been selected in NSW Country teams.

Lyons and Blake have joined the squad for the second year, both stepping into their respective teams after being selected as shadow players last year.

The pair said it's an exciting achievement to make the step into their teams this year.

"It felt great, I loved the feeling, I was a bit sad last year that I didn't make it," Lyons said.

"Last year I started as a shadow player and then I made the team this year, it's really great," Blake said.

With a mixture of new and familiar faces taking the field alongside them, the pair said it's nice to join forces with the best young players from regional NSW.

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"There's two other Wagga boys in my team as well, Finn and Dipkar are both in my age, it feels good to have a bit of chemistry on the field," Lyons said.

"I've been going to these NSW camps for the past couple of years now, so I know the boys from the other regions as well.

"I'm keen to play with a great bunch of boys and have some fun."

Blake said her team has a good mixture of players she's come across before and new girls.

"I think there's a few ones that have come back but there's some new ones too," she said.

"I'm really excited, I haven't done it before so it's cool to do it for the first time."

The trial process for the athletes selected was quite involved, including several trips away to play in front of selectors.

"We're competing in the NSW Country football team at Nationals in October, we had to do a few rounds of trials at Goulburn and Sydney, and then they selected the team," Blake said.

"It was pretty involved for the trials, they were some pretty big days with the boys," Lyons agreed.

The teams will compete against sides from across the country in October, all in front of the eyes of national team selection stadd.

Each competition runs for five days, with the boys heading to Glenwood and the girls to Wollongong.

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