Eight schools sent 15 teams made of students from year 5- 8 to take part in the FN Primary Schools Mini Hockey field day which was held Taipa in sunny conditions earlier this month.
The Shackletons Unichem Pharmacy tournament participation day took place on Friday, August 8, and organised bySport Northland in association with the Far North Primary Schools Principals Association. On behalf of the organisers, Sport Northland's Lesley Wallace noted hockey has developed from being played on a grass field over to the much faster artificial surface used by the sport today.
"Unfortunately for our Far North schools the closest hockey facility is in Kaikohe meaning there is no club hockey north of the Mangamukas. So this event provided the opportunity for kids to once again pick up a hockey stick and play and, with all schools having invested in lessons before the event, the children were well drilled on the basics.
"Being a fun event that was all about participation, there was no scores officially taken but the teams seem to know how well they did at the end of the day."
Wallace thanked all of the school staff and parent helpers who assisted on the day by committing to refereeing the games and to Rawinia Delemare (Taipa Area School sport co-ordinator) for her help in setting up the fields. The next FN Primary Schools Sports event will be the cross-country finals at Peria Primary School on September 5.
