LOCAL polocrosse star Ben Bennett will be starting out tomorrow on a six week journey taking him to Perth to compete in the Australian National Carnival from the 13th to the 19th of October.

Ben, who plays for the Young Polocrosse Club in the South West Slopes regional competition, was selected back in May for the NSW Junior Open team after a couple of fill-in appearances for the Tasmanian team and a mixed squads selection carnival at Mendooran.

As a result of his performance there, Ben was then selected in the South West Slopes representative team, winning the NSW Zone Carnival in Muswellbrook as well as the award for “Best Zone in NSW’.

Ben will travel to Perth with his own three horses including 13-year-old ‘Dancer’ and several Wagga players and horses who are competing in the NSW open aged teams.

He will join with the other members of his own state team on October 1, including three players from Albury and another three from northern NSW.

All competitors will have a lay-over when they reach Kalgoorlie for quarantine where horses and vehicles will be inspected carefully before heading on to Perth for a week training before the national event.

Ben said he was very excited about the entire journey travelling about 4,500 km.

“It will be a great experience and fun way to see a lot of Australia,” Ben said.

“Once we get there, it will involve some intensive training with some of the country’s best polocrosse players which will help my own game a lot.”

“The competition will be of a very high standard, and I hope Dancer and I can be up to the challenge and hold our own amongst the talent there,” Ben added.

It won’t all be training and hard work though as Ben says the events always have a very social atmosphere.

“We will be having a day paint-balling and ten-pin bowling at the start to get to know our team mates,” Ben said.

“I’ll meet and hear advice and stories from people who have competed on the international stage.

There will be selectors watching the carnival carefully as they decide on a new Australian team to compete in New Zealand, the United Kingdom next year and ultimately at the next World Cup in 2010.

“It would be a dream to be able to compete at that level and play in the next World Cup,” Ben said.