Beale ups sticks for pro career

By Mary Anne Gill

One of the best hockey players Waipā has ever produced has secured a professional contract with a leading Dutch club.

Jackson Beale, 18, will make his debut for Hockey Club (HC) Houten sometime in the next week. He flew out of New Zealand yesterday (Wednesday) en-route to Amsterdam via Los Angeles.

The classy midfielder, who plays for the Te Awamutu Sports Hockey premier men’s team, started playing hockey when he was six and a pupil at Cambridge Primary School.

He continued onto Cambridge Middle School and Cambridge High School where he excelled at hockey, football and cricket.

He came to the attention of social media purists during the first Covid lockdown in 2020 when he won the Waikato Hockey Trick for a Stick competition.

His video showing some tricks with a stick and ball impressed the judges.

While Jackson was working through options for tertiary study towards the end of last year – scholarships at AUT and Waikato were on the cards - his mother Paulette suggested he might want to look at playing hockey overseas during a gap year.

“That seemed such a cool idea,” said Jackson.

So he put his CV out on the market with videos of him playing for Cambridge HS, Te Awamutu and Waikato.

There are hockey leagues in the UK, Germany, Belgium and Australia but the competitiveness of The Netherlands appealed to him.

He had a lucky break when Stephen Atkinson, a former St Peter’s School student who had played for HC Houten, put in a good word for him.

Houten head coach Jens de Graauw took a punt and signed Beale. One of the club’s midfielders picked up an injury earlier in the season so Beale will fill in for him.

Houten, a commuter city known for its bicycle friendliness, has a population of about 50,000 and is in the centre of The Netherlands in the Utrecht province. The hockey club is second in the Gold Cup league having been promoted last year from the Silver Cup league.

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The squad has 16 players, including two keepers, so the chances of Jackson getting a run are high. Shortly before he arrives, the team is heading off on a training camp to Spain. He does not speak Dutch but most of the players and club staff speak English anyway.

While it is a professional contract, Jackson is not getting paid – mum Paulette and dad Colin are his major sponsors – he will get accommodation provided and the club is already setting up work opportunities.

Jackson is in The Netherlands on a 90-day tourist visa but the opportunity to extend that is promising.

“I’m always up for a challenge. I have high hopes I should get a longer visa,” he said.

Cambridge High School hockey manager Glenys Bichan said the school and the club was very proud of Jackson.

“He is a Waikato under 18 player with a huge talent, and in year 10 he set some hockey goals and now he is fulfilling those. He was the captain of our team that won Olympic Sticks and he scored all our goals. The boys adore Jackson, he is a great leader,” she said.

“He has worked really hard for this and we couldn’t be prouder of him. He is a humble guy but I think this is a great honour for him, his family our school hockey and our town.”

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