This Sunday, March 8, roughly 450 of the most talented young soccer players from across the region will descend on Goulburn for the Skill Acquisition Program Gala Day.
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Run by Football NSW, the SAP Gala Day is a chance for children in representative sides to test themselves against one another in order to gauge their skill level.
The Southern Tablelands Football Association will field four teams in the competition, one each in the Under 10 Girls, Under 11 Boys, Under 12 Girls, and Under 12 Boys Divisions. Some local players will also be scattered through the Southern Branch sides.
Along with the four previously mentioned, there will also be Under 9 and Under 10 Boys divisions playing on the day.
STFA president, Craig Norris, said the day was a great opportunity to showcase their abilities and potentially impress higher-level coaches.
"It's always a good eye opener [for the kids]," Norris said.
"In those young age groups there isn't really a lot of difference between the higher-trained kids and the local kids, they're on par.
"At the moment, they should go pretty well, and one or two of them might get offered a role in the next level up.
"Some of the regional coaches can say this kid's got a little something, and it also might open their parents eyes as to how good of a player their kid might be."
This year's matches will be held at the Cookbundoon sporting fields, which have played host to the gala day in the past.
Norris said Goulburn's location and the closeness of its playing grounds made it a popular choice for representative events.
"We've had [the SAP Gala Days] here for a couple of years," he said.
"The fact that all the fields are in the one spot helps so much and we're a good midway distance from everyone. We find that a lot, we're well located.
"They generally try to get together [for gala days] once a month during the season, we're hopefully getting another one later in the year as well."
While the children are busy playing on Sunday, Norris said the coaches will likely network and get to know one another.
All matches are expected to wrap up by 2pm this Sunday.
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