Double As A Kick-Off

My team in the Year 5/6 Developmental hockey team for 2015 is called the Waikanae Sharks, and we kicked off the season with two consecutive matches on Tuesday 28 April 2015 at the Mazengarb Road stadium in Paraparaumu.

I must congratulate the guys (by guys I mean boys and girls) on their performance, which was played by six players who had a single game last season and the other five who were relying entirely on the very scanty training hour I was able to cobble up last Monday. That training session consisted of demonstrating how to hold a hockey stick, the important difference between a "hit" and a "push" (at this level, "hitting"is not permitted),  pushing and receiving (trapping) the ball between two lines and a bit of a run-about and dribbling. Mostly chaos and mayhem, interspersed with a bit of banter and laughter. After all, one of the aims of playing sport at this age is to have fun!

View of part of the sports arena - http://www.kapitihockey.org.nz/

Player of the Day

It was a difficult task to decide who should be recognised. Our capable striker (we used to know this position as centre-forward), with three goals to his name probably felt hard-done by.However, in my opinion, he only played to the extent of his talent, and could still improve heaps in many aspects of the game -- with proper coaching,plenty of encouragement, and a number of years of competitive training and competition, he might well be provincial or even national material. However, I eventually settled on handing the "Player of the Day" award (being a certificate sponsored by Pitapit Raumati) to a fellow called Fletcher. Fletcher served quite admirably and competently as the fully-kitted goal-keeper in the contest against the Kapiti Kings. He then swapped his pads and helmet for his running legs and played right wing for the entire match against the Kenakena Krushers, demonstrating logical strategy and a mean turn of speed when needed.

Results

I must stress that the score at Year 5/6 Developmental is of minor academic concern,with the complete competition being played on a round-robin basis,giving everyone the opportunity of learning the ropes, playing socially among their peers in a fashion of goodwill and teamwork. There are no logs, or silverware, simply playing the game, and improving as time goes by.

Having said that, it is still of interest to have a record of the score, even if we lose most of the games :

Game 1 (4:00pm)

Kapiti Kings: 1    Waikane Sharks: 2 (Zac)  

Game 2 (4:45pm)
Kenakena Krushers: 0  Waikanae Sharks: 1 (Zac)

P  W  D  L   GF  GA  P
2   2   0   0     3      1    6

The Sharks are scheduled to play their next match (against Pram Beach Keas) at 5:30pm on Tuesday 5 May 2015.