Coach Nick Hacking has taken a holistic approach to Tauranga's tilt at winning their first boys' Hatch Cup hockey title in almost a decade. Tauranga hosts the national tournament, which starts tomorrow and lasts for a week, bringing together 24 teams from throughout New Zealand. It's the first time Tauranga has hostedthe event, which started in 1920, although teams from the area won the prized trophy in 1996 and 1998. Two players from that '98 team, Andy Hayward and Stephen Graham, made their Black Sticks debut this year. Hacking has brought together a 15-player Year 7 and 8 squad from seven schools _ Pongakawa, Oropi, Rudolf Steiner, Te Puke, Tauranga and Otumoetai Intermediates and Bethlehem College _ and had achieved solid pre-tournament success on the back of constant player rotation. "Everything we've done till now has been on developing 15 players _ I see little point in having a starting XI and `others'," said Hacking, who is also Tauranga Hockey's executive officer. Tauranga's Hatch Cup side won a pre-season tournament involving Poverty Bay, Bay of Plenty and Central Bay on grass in Gisborne and had also scored solid wins over powerhouse Auckland and Thames Valley. "There's only one team we've come up against _ North Harbour _ that has demonstrated awesome hockey and they're the benchmark for the week." Hacking said the Tauranga players, who begin on Sunday against Nelson at 12.20pm, were a joy to coach. "It's a great age. They've graduated from eight-a-side, where they tend to bunch around the ball, to a full 11, they've discovered competitiveness, they'll absorb information but they're also capable of working things out for themselves." The tournament opens with an official parade and swapping of team ribbons. Tauranga Hatch Cup team: Adam Gorinski, Joseph Lyons, Hayden Bruin, David Seidel, Matt McLaughlin, Justin Sargent-Clarke, Thomas Lock, Samuel Hodder, Samuel Limmer, Chase Raleigh, John Preece, Seth Aandewiel, Matthew Tingey, Tiaan John, Tim Longley. Coach: Nick Hacking. Manager: Kirsty McLaughlin.
