Seven young Southern players for international stage

Media release
24 November, 2014

Seven young Southern players to experience international stage

Hockey New Zealand has named seven young Southern Hockey players in a group of four teams to test their skills on the international stage in tournaments on the Gold Coast of Australia next month.

Polly Inglis, Phoebe Steele and goalkeeper Ginny Wilson, who are all regular names in Southern representative teams, will play in the women’s tournament against three Australian teams, and a team from Japan.

Johnny Thorn, Jack Gilbert, Daniel Guthrie and goalkeeper Jack Waddell were named in the men’s teams who will also play three Australian teams, a Japanese team as well as a team from India. Thorn, Gilbert and Waddell have represented Southern for a number of years, while Guthrie captained the Southern Under 18 Men this year, after moving from Auckland to attend the University of Otago.

Hockey New Zealand High Performance Manager Terry Evans says the large group of two men’s teams and two women’s team travelling to Australia gives an opportunity to expose both young players and developing coaches to international competition.

To help ensure the pool of players is as wide as possible, Hockey New Zealand has made changes to its high performance pathway, which from October 2015 will see a Junior Black Sticks Squad and Future Black Sticks Squad named.

Instead of national squads being age-based like in previous years, players selected into the Junior Black Sticks Squad have been identified as having the potential to be a Black Stick within 3-5 years, while those selected into the Future Black Sticks have the potential to be a Black Stick within 1-2 years.

Columba College student Phoebe Steele said she was excited about the call up for the trip to Australia. “It wasn’t something I expected, but it was something I was hoping for.” In terms of eventually making the Black Sticks, she doesn’t have a schedule, but it is certainly in her sights. “I hope to move up through the teams, it’s definitely the end goal. Steele is a talented striker, whose hat trick against St Andrews College won the final of the Audrey Timlin Memorial tournament for Columba.

Southern players Maddi McLean, Tessa Jopp, Nick Elder and Jeremy Morris have already represented New Zealand this year for the Future Black Sticks, with McLean being selected into the Black Sticks Development squad, just one step away from the national squad itself.

All four squads will be named each year following the Ford National Hockey League. Selection tournaments include the Ford National Hockey League, Under-18 and Under-21 National Tournaments.

[ENDS]

Two Under 19 New Zealand Women’s teams, Gold Coast, 13-19 December 2014
Two Under 19 New Zealand Men's teams, Gold Coast, 6-12 December 2014

Additional information and the full team lists can be found here: http://bit.ly/11Mpupk

Original release by Julia Woodley of Hockey New Zealand.
Additional reporting by Sam French of Southern Hockey.

© Scoop Media