Hockey: Young hopefuls impress Black Stick

COACH: Black Stick Simon Child (pictured) was in Rotorua yesterday for a training day with up-and-coming local hockey players.

Young Rotorua hockey player Te Manawanui MacPherson has high hopes of playing for the Black Sticks one day.

And according to current Black Stick Simon Child - he might just have the goods.

Brothers Simon and Marcus Child, who both represent the Black Sticks, were on hand yesterday at the hockey turfs at Smallbone Park.

They were holding a training camp for up-and-coming hockey players from the area.
About 26 local players aged between 10 and 17 took part in the training day, going through all kinds of different drills and techniques.

MacPherson, 12, who attends Rotorua Intermediate, said he was having a great time.
"It is cool having a Black Stick come through and teach us new skills," he said.

He said he had been playing hockey since he was 4 and really enjoyed the sport.

"I like how you can get used to the game and have fun and be competitive." He said he hoped to play for the Black Sticks when he was older, just like the Child brothers.

Simon was impressed with young MacPherson, and said he had plenty of potential to go far in the sport.

Simon said he felt there was a general lack of quality coaching for young hockey players in New Zealand, and it was good to hold the training day in Rotorua.

He said the best thing you encourage young hockey players to do was simply get a good hold on the basics of the game - activities like passing and receiving.

He said 90 per cent of what the top players do in a game was just the basics, and it was important to have a solid grounding.

The Child brothers held the session as part of Simon's coaching business, Hockey365 Coaching. Simon said he would like to hold another session in Rotorua in the future.