Helping hands for Jaimee

Anyone from outside of a provincial centre will tell how tough it can be to play representative sport in New Zealand.

It requires dedication, outstanding talent and plenty of travelling - and if you're only 12 years old you need parents willing to put the time in to chauffeur you around.

Young Jaimee Whittaker loves hockey. For the past two years, she has been slogging around Northland playing her heart out and has finally secured her goal of making the Northland Collier U13 girls team - the only kid from outside Whangarei to do so.

The Okaihau College player will go away with the Northland side next week but it has taken some fundraising by the entire family.

"It's taken a big family effort," her mum Sarah said.

"Last holidays she was selling pinecones to raise money - with her younger brothers Leo and Keene gathering the pinecones," she added.

With everyone in the family and friends all chipping in, it was a thrill for the youngster to pick up her first "corporate sponsor" - in the form of local cafe owners, Bill Frearson and Mary Goodhue of The Village Cafe, in Okaihau.

The cafe owners made a generous offer of sponsorship to help defray the costs of Whittaker's upcoming trip to Wellington for the Collier tournament next week.

The Northland team has played warm-up representative matches at Mount Maunganui, Whangarei and most recently last weekend in Hamilton, where they drew their first match against the hosts 1-1 and then hammered Counties-Manukau 6-0 in their final dress rehearsal.

Whittaker plays as a defender in the team but also plays as a half in her 2013 club team, Maunu. She began playing hockey at Okaihau Primary School in 2006 and has been selected to play for the Bay of Island representative team for the past four seasons.