Hockey: Teen wonder foots it with older crew

NZ Maori Under-21 hockey goalkeeper Isaac Amaru, 14, in action against Queensland Under-21 at the Tauranga Hockey Centre. Photo / Joel Ford

A phenomenal youngster who made his debut in goal for the New Zealand Maori Under-21 hockey team will be eligible for the side until 2019.

Isaac Amaru, a 14-year-old from Aquinas College, was a late call-up to the side to contest a double-header against the touring Queensland Under-21s at the Tauranga Hockey Centre at the weekend.

He had plenty of work to do and did not look out of place between the pipes.

The teams split the matches. New Zealand Maori took the first 5-2 on Saturday before the tourists struck back 7-4 on Sunday.

Isaac, though, played three matches over the two days.

He turned out for the Tauranga under-15 team in Auckland before a dash back to the Mount. "It was on Friday night. I was asked to play right after my game up in Auckland.

"Our game was at 9.30am. I had to leave straight away to come down and play for these guys. Both days a lot of action came my way, so that was good."

There is every chance the young athlete's schedule will be similarly stacked in the coming years. The flyer has already had to turn his back on representative rugby with Bay of Plenty age-group teams and will soon switch to summer mode and scorching sub-12sec 100m times for Tauranga Ramblers and Waikato.

His personal best of 11.83sec is seriously quick and you get a sense talking to him that this may be just the beginning.

A day will likely come when Isaac will have to choose which sport he wants to pursue professionally, but if he has his way that day is still a long way of.

"I want to play every sport and just get out there."

As is often the case with such talents, Isaac's sporting pedigree runs deep. His father played rep footy, while numerous members of his family have represented New Zealand in softball.