A total of 221 young hockey players took to the field to participate in the inaugural Taranaki Youth Hockey Festival over the Queen's Birthday weekend.
They payed 65 games of modified hockey with teams scoring a total of 242 goals over the weekend. The festival included the Pennington Cup for children in Years 6-8 (141 participants), and the TET Junior Cup for Years 3-5 (80 participants).
Umpires and officials were supported throughout the event with 18 young aspiring umpires gaining some mentoring and coaching from Taranaki experienced 5s and club level umpires.
Jackson Taylor from Stratford High School was appointed as the Tournament umpires manager and he enjoyed mentoring the younger umpires.
"It's so great to see all the young umpires keen to learn and wanting to become an umpire."