The depth of promising women's hockey talent in the Wairarapa is evidenced by the naming of the Capital under-21 team to play in their national tournament at Tauranga., starting this Sunday and ending the following Saturday. The squad , which has Wairarapa's Lance Hare as coach, is drawn from all overthe Wellington region and of the 16 players no fewer than six come from this area??Ditte Van Vliet, Carla Burt, Sophie Wickens, Wendy Hull , Taasha Henson and Holly Gaskin. All but Gaskin are part of the Dalefield team which is currently leading the Wellington premier division inter-club competition, a competition in which play has been suspended for the next fortnight because of clashes with age group tourneys. With three wins and a draw from their five games Dalefield is sitting on 16 points, the same number as Indians, and they have the top spot on the basis of goal differential. They have scored 21 goals (four more than any other premier division side) and conceded 13 while Indians have totals of 17 and 11 respectively. Holding down third place in the women's competition with 11 points is Hutt, followed by Eastern Hutt and Victoria University on 10 and Harbour City-Tawa on two. The Dalefield men's team also has two weeks off in their Wellington premier division campaign for the same reasons as the women. They have yet to register a win and are at the bottom of the points table. Current standings are: Northern United 20, Hutt 13, Victoria University 12, Indians 10, Harbour City-Tawa nine and Dalefield none. A key player in the Dalefield line-up is Daniel Juno, and he has been selected in the Capital under-21 men's team for their national tourney, which will also be played in Tauranga from May 14 to 20. And while on the subject of age group hockey the Wairarapa under-15 boys team is contesting a regional event in Palmerston North this weekend.They will meet Hawke's Bay and Taranaki in pool games with coach Kim Henson expecting them to make a strong showing despite not having big hassles with his selection process. Only 17 players turned up for trials and with 15 being selected for the Palmerston North tourney the" turndown" rate was very low.
