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League Talent Put Through Paces in Hamilton

The Waicoa Bays sides which will represent the Upper Central Zone (Waikato, Bay of Plenty & Gisborne regions) in the inaugural National Competition were put through their paces in Hamilton on Sunday, 22 August in the seventh and final of the New Zealand Rugby League's series of Hearts Camps. 

Players came from as far away as Whakatane, Tauranga, Rotorua, Tokoroa and Taupo to attend the Hearts Camp which gave them a taste of what it takes to become a professional Rugby League player. 

The day started with a seminar from Drug-Free Sport New Zealand and a presentation by New Zealand Rugby League around the pathways available to Rugby League Players domestically.

National Competition will see New Zealand Merit sides picked from the 15s and 17s grades with a view to playing against Australia in 2011, and a New Zealand Resident's side will be selected from the Premier teams that will play a game at the end of the year. 

These were followed by a series of Fitness / Battery Tests which gave the NZRL High Performance team a benchmark to track the players' development. Players will be tested on an annual basis and given advice on how to best train for their position.

The highly successful day culminated in the launching of the new Waicoa Bays jersey, which will be worn by all three teams in this year's National Competition.

The NZRL are working hard to prepare the junior grade players and the Hearts Camp demonstrated that being a professional athlete is as much about maturity and pride as it is about talent.

"The players are under no illusion of what's coming up" says Marcus Reynolds, General Manager of the Upper Central Zone. "Today gave them a taste of what being a professional athlete is all about and the players stepped up both in the seminars and during the battery tests. We have a mature group of people who have a big opportunity to be seen on the national stage, you could see the excitement building."

The 2010 National Competition will see the newly formed Zones go head to head at 15s, 17s and Premier level. Teams will travel across the country and get a genuine look at how they compare to the best players in the country, with Waicoa Bays kicking off this weekend away to Wellington. 

The first home game is in Hamilton on Sunday 5 September at Resthills Park.