Boys’ and Girls’ Hockey

GIRLS 1ST XI HOCKEY

My name is Emily van Dijk and I was privileged to be the captain of, and part of, the Girls’ 1st XI Hockey team for 2021. 2021 heralded lots of ‘the new’ for us - a new coach, a new manager and six new Year 9s in the team. We started with a literal “smash” when Eva Sexton’s first hit at the goal led her ball to clear the fence at - what we soon learned was - the wrong end of the school turf for practicing penalty shots from. We were entered into both the B Grade of the BOP School Competition and also the Whakatāne Women’s Competition. We played well as a team, developing our skills and building upon our success. Whilst in the B Grade, we were able to try new things out and also give our new team members plenty of opportunities to play. We won our first round in the BOP School Competition and were promoted to the A Grade for the second half of the season. The Women’s Competition gave us additional chances to play hockey against harder teams and the score lines reflected that the competition was tougher. The A Grade definitely required us to improve our game; the games were harder and the opposition were tougher and, although we didn’t win that many games, the score line was often not a true reflection of each game. We ended up fifth in the competition. We lost the opportunity to play in the final of the Women’s Competition in the semi final where we lost 3-2 in a shootout after a 1-1 draw at full time. We ended up coming fourth in that competition. We were all gutted that our tournament week was cancelled again this year; hopefully this is the last year of disruption to large sporting events. We’ve played Gisborne Girls’ High and our own Second XI Boys’ Team, as well as playing the Trident Girls’ Team four times over the season with a 2-2 draw in games won. The top goal scorer for the season was Eva Sexton and the top goal saver was Olivia Calder. Strong defence came from Monique Prasad and Madi House. There was also fabulous play all over the pitch from Lara Longney, Daisy Boon, Huiarau Tutua and Jessie Jones. Zoe Giles, Ashlyn Bennett, Kithmini Melville,

SIX A SIDE HOCKEY

An action packed six a side competition was enjoyed by all the players and spectators this season. WHS entered two evenly matched teams this year, Team Gold and Team Black. Both teams embraced the competition and went hard on the pitch. The teams showed up to every game with a positive attitude, passion and respect for the game. Team Black had a lot of confidence going into their Semifinal as they had been unbeaten and took out the win again, seeing them into the final. Team Gold only had one loss heading into the semifinal and was triumphant, gaining them the second final spot. With the two WHS teams in the final it was a match not to be missed. Team Black came out and took an early lead which only made Team Gold more hungry for the win, or to even the score - which they did! Each team took turns taking the lead, teasing the spectators in a nail-biter game which stayed this way right to the end. It looked like Team Gold was going to have to bow their heads to Team Black when, all of a sudden, right on the whistle, Team Gold scored to even the scores at three apiece, resulting in a shared title between the two WHS teams. Congratulations to both teams for your competitive spirit and for having a never-give-up attitude. The biggest win from the season was that both teams had basically started off as a group of strangers and ended up being one big bunch of new friends. Some standout moments of the season were from Darcy Dury who discovered his natural talent as a goalie; Callum Giles for his outstanding attacking skills; and Ashley Aiyana Prasad and Bea Knapton have shown that they have the speed and fitness to run and run; they are fast in attack, show great stick skills and are quick to get back in defence. We had awesome goal-opportunity-makers and scorers in Kendall McKane, Emily Van Dijk, Mo Davis, and the new signing, Marina Sirkku. With such a young team, it will be exciting to see how these players’ skills develop as they progress. The team’s culture is certainly awesome and there are plenty of laughs when they are together. It was awesome to see how far the girls grew as a team this year and we definitely have a strong team going into 2022. I would like to give a massive thanks to the coach and manager, Mark Longney and Clare Knapton, for taking the time out of their lives to support and help make the team possible. I would also like to thank the girls for making this the best last year of high school hockey and a final thank you goes out to all of the team’s supporters who came to watch our games in the cold. It was awesome to have you guys there. Also, thanks to all our fans - even during Covid times your voices have rung loud and clear across the turf. Good luck for next year, girls.

Giles was a leader, building the team up with encouragement and guidance on and off the turf. Fjord Haggar was new to hockey but proved to be a natural and scored some sensational goals. Zoe Giles demonstrated her ability as a utility player and as a manager whilst nurturing her broken finger. Finn Jones excelled as an attacker with his agile and suave stick skills. Kaden Naidoo was a defensive machine who thrived under pressure, while Mouwhia Davis consistently remained cool, calm and collected as she scored some solid goals.

A massive shout out goes to Shane Tailby for his constant support, and Karen Toone who showed up to every game and ran the substitutions.

We had another successful season with both our boys’ teams in 2021. We were disappointed that Tournament Week was cancelled as the 1st XI were intending to travel to Hamilton and had put together a great season leading into the tournament, and our 2nd XI were taking advantage of the competition being held here in Whakatāne to gain tournament experience. As always, the hard work and commitment of coaches, Amish Fermah and William Searle, and managers, Shane Tailby and Jimmy Heal, must be recognised and applauded. We are looking forward to another successful season in 2022.

BOYS’ 1ST XI

Coach’s Report After four years of hard grind, the Whakatāne High School Boys’ Hockey programme finally peaked. Ten years of mediocrity playing B grade hockey and dismal tournament week performances werre erased after one fine season. The bulk of the players in the team spent the last four years developing their core physical and mental abilities. Being able to execute fundamental skills, combined with understanding how to play good hockey, resulted in the team finishing third in the BOP A Grade Competition. From a coach’s perspective, it has been rewarding to see the team’s performance this season. It’s been good watching the boys develop as individuals and as a team over the last five seasons. Hopefully, the boys continue to grow as players in the future. Captain’s Report I have spent five years playing for the 1st XI team and have been captain for the last two years. This is now coming to an end. It has been a great journey from starting in Year 9 and losing 21-0 at a Tier 4 Tournament and 15-0 in the local B Grade Competition, to finishing off with a win and coming third in the BOP A Grade Competition. The boys have worked so hard over the years, working their way up the rankings in the Bay Competition. Even with only having two years of tournaments because of COVID, the boys really worked hard in the normal season to produce a great result. Amish Fermah has coached the team for the past five years; I’ve really learned a lot on and off the turf and would like to thank him for his commitment, and for the amount of work that he has put in over the years. I wish all the boys all the best for the future and, hopefully, they will get to tournament next year. Alex Manning BOYS’ 2ND XI

Coach’s Report This year, the Boys’ 2nd XI Hockey Team saw an injection of young players, resulting in a primarily Year 9/10 team. Their enthusiasm translated into effort with the direct result being increased skill and confidence across the whole team. The boys who applied the most effort saw the greatest benefit. There was genuine team bonding with excellent comradery, which, combined with determination, resulted in progression in the second round to the B division. The boys responded to third quarter slumps and extremely wet playing conditions to build resilience for the transition to a tougher competition, gaining a lot of respect from our opponents for the way they played and their positive attitude. The team proved that they had the ability at both ends of the field, scoring goals as well as providing solid defence. There was always a good turn out for training, and a couple of end-of-season social games proved it was an enjoyable season despite the disruptions and the cancellation of tournament week.