Indoor hockey event an ‘unreal experience’
College student joins NZ U21 side in Australia
Kāpiti College student Mckaela Woodward was among the New Zealand team which took part in the indoor hockey U21 Australia state championships.
The players they were competing against had been playing indoor hockey since they started playing field hockey as opposed to the New Zealand team where some had started playing only two months prior or had never played indoor properly before the first game.
Indoor hockey is still new in New Zealand, with some open adult teams many years ago, but in the last year there has been a boost from people passionate about it.
The team, which featured exParaparaumu College hockey captain Bria Fitzgerald, knew that going to the tournament was all about learning.
“It was an unreal experience and it was a great bunch of girls, and I am grateful that I got this opportunity to play a sport I love differently and learn more than I could ever of thought,” Woodward said.
While the team did not win a game, they had quite a few close ones that rattled the Aussies a bit.
But overall the team was over the moon with their results and wanted to take back competitive indoor hockey back home.
So that is now the mission of Woodward and her teammates.
As a collective, they want to expand indoor hockey in New Zealand, and make it almost as mainstream as field hockey, as it is in Australia.
“I want indoor hockey to be promoted more, it is such a quick and fun game that everyone can enjoy not just field hockey players,” Woodward said.
“I will be advocating for indoor hockey to be played here in Wellington, potentially creating a school league over the summer terms.
“But nothing would make me happier than to see Kāpiti College getting involved in this developing sport.”
There will be plenty more opportunities in the coming year or two for this team to keep building and competing, potentially a shot at making the indoor junior world cup which would be incredible, she said. “But there is still plenty of learning to do before we get to that stage.”