An aerobics competitor will be the only Bay of Plenty dancer to represent New Zealand in the 28^th International Aerobics Championship in Arizona.

Catrin Pearce, 17, will be competing in her first international competition alongside 10 other New Zealanders from July 29 to August 2.

She will be competing in an individual women's performance in age group two, which is between the ages of 15 to 17 years old.

She says she is surprised and grateful that she was selected out of all the other dancers who trialed, and wants to make New Zealand proud.

'She's worked really hard and has been a real role model for the sport in the area,” says coach Rachel Harvey.

'She is probably quite nervous, but she is a pretty good competitor, so I know she'll be fine.”

Rachel, who is the coach for Bay Aerobics, says ever since she has been couching, she has never known of a Bay of Plenty gymnast to get into the New Zealand team.

'I'm extremely proud and it's an amazing achievement for her.”

Catrin applied for the role last year and had to meet a certain score to get selected to go to international competitions.

She found out earlier this year that she had met the qualifying score.

Rachel says it was a bit of a rush when they found out because she was originally going to compete in an Australia competition to get more experience in international championships.

'Since it was her first trialing in an international competition, we thought we'd go for Australia, but then she ended up getting the qualifying score for the competition in America.”

Catrin says her parents are very proud of her and she has been working extra hard during training sessions in Tauranga and Auckland to perfect her routine.

Catrin has been doing aerobics for five years, and since 2013 has won several national aerobics competitions in individual and trio performances.

Before doing aerobics, she originally competed in gymnastics, but stopped because of an injury on the bars.

'I broke my arm and had to stop for a bit, and I got into aerobics to strengthen my muscles,” says Catrin.

If Catrin wins her division in the first round she will be asked to perform her routine again to determine the international winner.

The International Aerobics Championship has been running since 1983 and has individual, mixed pairs, trio and teams in junior, varsity and senior divisions.

The championship will see 21 countries compete against each other for the top spot in their divisions.