HUNTER Sports High duo Matt Cooper and Emma-Sue Greentree have been granted Hunter Region School Sports Awards for August.
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The two 15-year-olds have been outstanding in their chosen sports this year.
Matt was selected for the under-16s NSW Origin rugby league side and Emma-Sue placed third in her age in the heptathlon at the under-16s Australian Athletics Championships.
Matt caught the eye of NSW selectors with a six-try haul against St George for the Newcastle Knights' championship-winning Harold Matthews Cup team in January.
The feat was the first of its kind for more than four decades.
The fullback says he looks up to the Knights' Jarrod Mullen and Penrith's Matt Moylan and hopes to one day replicate his junior form in the top grade.
"I'm contracted with the Knights until 2016 so I'll be in the under-20s side by then," Matt said. "I want to make a career out of it."
Emma-Sue, who specialises in the high jump with a personal best of 170 centimetres, competed in the heptathlon for the first time at the Little Athletics state titles this year.
She proved to be a natural and finished in second place in her first attempt at the event before going on to place third in the same event at the national titles in Melbourne.
"I used to just do high jump but people could see I was good at a few others things and they told me to go into the multi-event competitions," Emma-Sue said.
Emma-Sue dreams of representing Australia at the Olympic Games one day, and she can take inspiration from her family in that regard.
Her half-sister, Belinda Barnes, won a bronze medal for softball at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
"She's a bit older than me and it's a different sport but she is always cheering me on," Emma-Sue said.
Matt and Emma-Sue will be formally presented with their awards at a school assembly this week.