Dedication to hockey
Allister Thomas has given over 35 years to the Stratford Hockey Club and was one of the key people involved in fundraising for, and securing, the artificial hockey turf in Stratford.
That dedication and passion will be recognised in a couple of weeks, when Allister formally receives a 2018 Stratford District Citizen’s award in a formal ceremony at council chambers.
Mayor Neil Volzke says Allister’s dedication has been critical to the success of hockey in Stratford.
“I don’t think you’d find a person more committed to their sports code than Allister. He’s been totally committed for over 30 years and our community has benefited directly and indirectly from his passion.”
Allister says the news of his nomination, and subsequent selection as an award recipient was humbling. “It’s incredibly humbling that people think enough of you to nominate you for this.”
Allister says his involvement with hockey began at an early age.
“I think some of my earliest memories would be of Dad taking me to Victoria Park to watch the Stratford Men’s hockey team play.”
His brothers played hockey as well, he says, so he was surrounded by the sport from early on and unsurprisingly he started playing as well. His main position was full back or half, although he did play in the goalie position for a while.
As well as playing hockey, Allister has been involved in coaching and umpiring, coaches and mentors up and coming umpires in the sport and has taken on administration roles in the sport as well.
He says he moved into umpiring as he felt it gave him new opportunities.
“It gave me an ability to compete at a level I couldn’t play at.”
Allister’s commitment to getting the artificial turf in Stratford has brought many benefits for the community. Not only do players now have a fantastic place to play, with Allister saying the turf certainly changes the speed of the game, but it has also brought international games to the town.
“We have to be the luckiest province in the world to have this turf, we have had 52 international games played here over the past few years.”
With Allister involved in so many aspects of the sport, it is unsurprising he says his wife claims he spends more hours at the turf than at home.
In an average week, he will give 20 to 24 hours minimum to the sport in some way, be it umpiring, coaching or other duties connected to his role as chairman of the Taranaki Hockey Federation Board or as a trustee of the Taranaki Turf Trust.
Alister says he is happy to give so much time and effort to the sport and the community. “Stratford’s a great place to grow up in. Kids grow up here in a safe environment.”