Opportunity knocks for hockey youngsters

Four Marlborough hockey players were selected from 23 associations across New Zealand to compete in the inaugural under-16 Super Challenge Hockey Experience, which was staged at St Peter’s College in Cambridge over Easter weekend.

Millie Large, Harry Wilkin, Louis Girling and Maddie Large were part of the Storm boys and girls teams, representing the South Island against four North Island composite sides. The other three teams involved were from the North Island - the Heat, who were selected from the Auckland/North Harbour region, the Force, from Waikato/Rotorua/Tauranga regions and the Thunder from Hawke’s Bay/Taranaki/Wellington regions.

After a series of round-robin matches both Storm sides reached their respective finals, losing both. The boys lost 3-2 to the Thunder, while the girls went to a golden goal drop-off against the Heat, who scored first in extra time.

This tournament was an initiative created by The Hockey Experience, and Brent Edwards from Go Hockey, after Hockey New Zealand stopped all competitive tournaments from under-18 down.

After an enormous response from teenagers around the country, the hockey Experience team spent 10 weeks travelling around NZ, trialing and selecting from over 600 players to make up the four teams.

The teams came together on Good Friday at St Peter’s for a live-in hockey camp. As well as the string of highly-competitive games, players were also put through fitness testing, skill, and strategy development, all under the direction of high-level coaches. Uniforms were supplied by Go Hockey.

Storm Boys’ results:

Day 1 – v Heat, lost 2 – 0

Day 2 – v Thunder, won 9 – 3

Day 3 – v Force, won 3 -2

FINAL: v Thunder, lost 3 - 2

Storm Girls’ results:

Day 1 – v Heat, won 4 – 3

Day 2 – v Thunder, won 3 – 2

Day 3 – v Force, won 4 – 0

FINAL: v Heat, 1 – 1 at full time, lost in extra time drop-off.