Teams head to Taranaki
Over the next few days, players on quad rollerskates will make heavy, small, black balls fly off the ground at East End Skate Ring in New Plymouth.
As part of the 2024 ANZAC Taranaki Invitational tournament, 13 rink hockey teams from Australia and one from Macau, China, will compete against each other.
Rink Hockey New Zealand president Rohan Singh said it would be the first time in 25 years that a rink hockey team from China had visited New Zealand.
On top of the international teams, there will be 27 New Zealand teams from Auckland, Hastings, Motueka, New Plymouth and Whanganui.
Rink hockey was similar to inline hockey, except that players wear rollerquads and use a ball instead of a puck.
Singh, who would also play for the Taranaki Rink Hockey Club, said East End Skate Ring was one of the best venues for playing rink hockey in New Zealand.
He said he started playing rink hockey when he was 11 years old.
“I did artistic skating to begin with and one day the training sort of overlapped. I saw the rink hockey guys playing and I was like: ‘OK, that’s for me’,” he said.
The next week he started playing rink hockey – and has never stopped.
At the tournament, he will represent the Taranaki team in the Masters division, a mixed category for players over 40 years old, and captain the Premier division team. He will also be the coach for the Taranaki women’s team and the under-19 team.
The 47-year-old said the ANZAC Invitational tournament was held once every five years in New Plymouth, as Auckland, Hastings, Motueka, and Whanganui also took their turn as host.
Nanda Kishore Ram Kosuru will play in the under-15 category for the Taranaki team. The 13-year-old said the players have been practising the whole year.
“Our focus right now is box defence, getting perfect shots and then goalies are trying to improve their skills,” he said.
Australia men’s team coach Stephen Hoey said the competition would prepare the team for the world championship in Italy later this year. He said about 15 people from Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and New South Wales would travel to New Zealand today. The Australian team will play against all the premier New Zealand club teams and have one match against the New Zealand national team.
António Adriano da Silva Aguiar said it was the first time the Macau under-19 team would participate. Aguiar, the chairperson of World Skate Rink Hockey for Asia and Oceania, said 12 players, a coach, a manager and an assistant have travelled to New Plymouth.
New Plymouth will host this year’s ANZAC Invitational rink hockey tournament, starting tomorrow.