Northland's finest inline hockey players set to take on the world

Northland's inline hockey stars have their game faces on From back left: Chay Edwards, 14, Aaron Riddell, 12, Emily Freakley, 12. Front: Zane Cooper, 13. Photo / Supplied

The dream of representing New Zealand at an Olympic event will become a reality for four Northland teens.

Chay Edwards, 14, Zane Cooper, 13, Aaron Riddell, 12, Emily Freakley, 12 will all fly to Hawaii in July to compete in the Inline Hockey Junior Olympics in the 14-and-under and 12-and-under grades. Sixteen-year-old Sydney Bavastro will also compete in the junior men's grade at World Roller Games in Barcelona in July.

Inline hockey, a byproduct of ice hockey, is played on plastic-tiled rink atop a concrete floor which allows the puck to glide along the surface. Teams of five, including a goaltender, play each other in what is a high-paced and competitive sport.

All five of Northland's prodigies had competed at national club championships in their age grade, as well as having represented the northern region in their age grade at inter-regional championships.

Sydney Bavastro, 16, will compete in the junior men's grade at World Roller Games in Barcelona in July. Photo / Supplied

The eldest of the five, Bavastro had already represented New Zealand in tournaments around the world but the national selection would be an exciting start for the other four.

"I'm pretty nervous because I haven't been there before but it's all pretty exciting," Zane said.

Zane, who played as a goaltender, needed to qualify against nine other goalies to be selected for the national side. He put his success down to starting earlier and focusing on training.

"I started when I was about seven and I think that probably helped. It's taken a lot of training, we do it about three times a week."

He hoped all his preparation would help them compete against formidable teams from countries like the United States, Mexico, Canada and Australia.

Zane's father and captain of Northland inline hockey club, the Stingrays, Carl Cooper said he was ecstatic when he found out some of the club's members would be attending global tournaments.

Once a big sport in the 1990s, Carl said inline hockey had faded up until the last five years when the game took on a huge growth in numbers.

"It has always been a minority sport so for these guys to be selected out of about 1000 registered players in New Zealand, it's pretty good."

Apart a rink in Kerikeri, there were five other locations where club members often travelled for tournaments. Trips as far down as New Plymouth and Wellington were a regular occurrence for the Northland club which was quickly building in numbers.

"When we joined about five years ago, there was about half-a-dozen kids and now we have over 50 members, but it is a big time and cost commitment when you get to the higher levels."

Safety gear for a goalie could be as expensive as $5000, but Carl said the Northland club had done what they can to reduce costs by supplying all of safety gear to every junior until they wanted buy own.

"I think that's the main reason why we've got such a big growth in the club because we've been putting all the funds straight back into gear for junior development."

It seemed Northlanders had a skill for inline hockey with past members of the club having represented New Zealand in the junior and senior women's team as well as under-21 sides. Carl said this new crop of players had the ability to go far in what was a burgeoning sport.

"We do find it attracts a lot of kids that don't fit into other mainstream sports but it's great because you need to have not only a lot of skating skill but you also need to fit in as a team."

Those interested in getting involved, the club does skate skills sessions from 4.30pm to 5.30pm and social skating from 6pm to 8.30pm on Friday during school terms.