Heartened by the medal-winning deeds of the Black Sticks at last year's Commonwealth Games, Hockey NZ bosses have rattled the tin to ensure their men's and women's teams have the best possible lead-up to next year's London Olympics.
Next month's summer series pits both teams against international opposition in double-headers
in Auckland, Whangarei, Hamilton, Tauranga and North Harbour.
Determined to broaden the player base, there will also be matches for New Zealand A teams with men's coach Shane McLeod expecting about seven or eight of his players to quit after London.
"The focus this year is on the Black Sticks and we are determined to give them as much top-quality international hockey as possible in our build-up to the Olympics," said Hockey NZ chief executive Hilary Poole. "As well as the summer series we have other exciting games to look forward to with the Japanese and world No1 Argentinian women coming in March."
There is an added twist to the men's three-match series against Belgium as Europe chase an extra Olympic spot - at Oceania's expense.
The Belgians, ranked six places below seventh-ranked New Zealand, are leading the charge. Should Germany (ranked 2nd), the Netherlands (3rd) and Spain (5th) join Great Britain (4th) as automatic qualifiers, Belgium (13th) would be the next best European nation.
A win for McLeod's team would strengthen their argument. McLeod will not have a full-strength team for these tests with Ryan Archibald, Dean Couzins, Phil Burrows, Kyle Pontifex, Brad Shaw, Hayden Shaw and Blair Hopping missing.
