A Canberra father-son duo will team up to chase international glory when they play for Australia in a trans-Tasman series against New Zealand this week.
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Coach Dai Harrison and son Dylan are in Wellington with the Australian side, which also includes Canberra teammate Josh Rochow.
The trio played for the ACT representative side at the mixed championships earlier this year and impressed on the national stage to win international selection.
Dylan, 19, and Dai first teamed up in basketball, but both made the switch to netball for a different challenge.
"My dad has been there every step of the way, when I knew he could have the job as the Australian under-20s coach I was so determined to be part of the team," Dylan said.
"I found out I would be part of the team at the presentation night after the championships and I'm delighted we'll be able to do this together."
Dai coached the under-20s mixed side, leading the team to a third place finish, but even he was surprised to be given the Australian coaching duties.
"I did an interview, it was an hour long interview with one the selectors and then a couple of weeks later I was notified so it was a bit of a shock, but very happy to have the role," Dai said.
"I only got into netball coaching from watching my step daughter play, I'd only coached basketball before and when someone asked to to fill in and coach netball and since then I've been watching other coaches and done all of the accreditation courses.
"Now after going to a couple of the junior championships its crazy it's come this far."
Australia is sending four men's squads to New Zealand to play in the under-17s, under-20s, masters and men's divisions.
"We'll be playing in the under-23s competition against some older players, they are going to be strong but it will be good to see what they are like in their local competition," Dylan said.
"We had a training camp recently where we got to meet everyone.
"Not everyone was playing in the same division at nationals so we didn't actually get to meet or see them but it's a good group of guys and now we looked really prepared to go."
Dai added: "Playing against fully grown men will mean a really physical tournament.
"The difference between the men and the girls is that the pace of the game is extremely fast because the men are just so athletic.
"We have a pretty young team so were looking to have younger players used to playing at an international level so they can have that exposure against different styles."
