For five of Otago's up-and-coming hockey players, Christmas is coming a little earlier.
Neve McLean (18) and Lydia Shirley (17) have been selected to attend a New Zealand junior camp in Auckland on December 4-7.
The 38-strong squad will prepare for a series against Australia on the Gold Coast early next year.
The final squad for that series will also be drawn from the New Zealand Futures squad which includes three players from the Southern region - Ginny Wilson, Tessa Jopp and Neve's older sister, Maddi McLean.
Malachi Buschl (15), Caleb Booth (16) and Jordan Ward (17) will also get a trip to Auckland in December.
The trio have been selected for the men's junior camp and are also preparing to play Australia.
They will also have to compete for spots in the final side with players from the New Zealand Futures squad which includes four players from the region - Dominic Dixon, Jack Waddell, Jonny Thorn and Richmond Lum.
Otago Hockey general manager Rachel Minton-Smith said having a good core of young players coming through bodes well for the future.
''We are starting to do a lot of work with our up-and-coming players all the way down to our year 5 and 6 players, so I would hope in the future we would see more of our players being selected for Black Sticks teams,'' she said.
''The ones that have been selected have been doing an awful lot with our high performance coach and all really deserve to be there. Hopefully, they can inspire some of our kids for the future.''
Dunedin is hosting the under-15 premier boys' nationals this week. Otago had a 5-2 win against Manawatu yesterday.
