Riley Sutherland is on the verge of representing her country for the first time.
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The 21-year-old from Kiewa has been selected for the Australian under-21 indoor hockey side and is off to Russia for practice matches and a tournament in late November and early December.
Sutherland has competed at state level every year since she was 14, often in multiple age groups, but impressed selectors as a striker for Victoria at this year's national championships to earn her maiden Australian call-up.
She made her first outdoor state team at 12 years of age and only gave indoor a try because a few friends were playing it.
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It's become a big deal for the Sutherland family with her uncle, Troy, having represented Australia at the World Cup, while younger sisters Macey and Summer were recently at national training camps at under-18 level.
Sutherland rates it her biggest highlight and hopes to make the most of it.
"I just want to experience it all first and see what happens," she said.
"I wasn't expecting to be picked in the team in the first place.
"I enjoy indoor a lot more than outdoor because you're more involved.
"There's less people and it's a smaller court.
"Predominantly, I play as a striker for Victoria, but when we go away I think the coach wants us to play all over the court."
Sutherland isn't sure what to expect when she arrives in Russia, but knows the standard will be higher given how popular the sport is in Europe.
"We don't know who's playing in the tournament or what's happening. I guess we'll kind of figure it out when we get over there," she said.
"Going into the European leagues, it's quite a few steps up. It's a lot quicker, stronger and more technical.
"It's very big in Europe. It's pretty much the start of our season when we head over and it will be the middle of their season.
"Mum and dad, my youngest sister Summer and my boyfriend are all coming, so we'll make a bit of a holiday out of it.
"We'll be over there for five weeks, so we'll do the hockey and then holiday and have Christmas over there."