Luckily the teenagers aren't strangers to hard work, sacrifice and dedication after their selection in the boys and girls Hockey NSW Accelerated Athlete Program.

Over the next 12 months they will put their best foot forward in the hope of securing a spot in the state under-18 teams for the national championships in April 2022.

What happens from that point on is up to them.

Hockey NSW regional participation coordinator Leigh McIntosh said their selection was the highest representation they could make until the state sides themselves are announced.

"Once they're in those state squads they head off to nationals and that is where everybody wants to see what they can really do," McIntosh said.

"From there, their pathway futures are in their own hands."

The AAP program is a 10-month program Hockey NSW use as their High Performance Program for the under-18 age division.

Having four players selected at this level shows Port Macquarie-Hastings hockey is starting to reap the rewards of their junior development programs.

"It does show there's no reason to go to a bigger region to be able to be selected ... they can be selected for these type of squads while still representing locally," McIntosh said.

"They can still show off the talent they have while representing their local region. It shows we're doing the right things with junior development around Port Macquarie.

"It's one of the bigger groups we've had in a particular age group. We've usually had one or two at this level at a time."

McIntosh said their selection was the result of the amount of sheer hard work they have put in with Tacking Point Thunder duo Drewitt and Smith having been in the representative system for a long time.

"They continue to put all the work in to stay in the system," he said.

"Adam and Taj have been close a few times and had quite a few disappointments in terms of non-selections, yet they both kept on working really hard to prove themselves to get to the standard to be picked.

"They've got a lot more hard work ahead of them to prove why they can take that next step and make the state teams, not just the AAP squad."

It is their continuation on the representative pathway.

"If you're not in the AAP program you're not going to be looked at for under-18 NSW selection in the next 12 months," McIntosh said.

"It's going to be a lot of hard work at local training where they need to execute the fundamentals really well.

"Then when they get to the squad weekends of which we have four a year, it's putting their best foot forward and taking their opportunities."

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