In March this year, Taranaki Hockey hosted the inaugural Taranaki Lightning 5s tournament, modelled off the Fast 5s concept seen at the Nanjing Youth Olympics earlier in 2014.
The inaugural event was a huge success, with 66 games played by 19 teams from around New Zealand, and more than 700goals scored.
In 2016 the Taranaki Lightning 5s event will be held at the TET Multisports Centre, Stratford from Friday, March 11 to Sunday, March 13. The event will kick off with "Fantastic Friday", a welcoming ceremony for all the teams who will travel from near and far. Games start on Saturday 8am and the finals will be played mid-afternoon Sunday.
The event will also include "Social Saturday" which is an opportunity for more socialisation and networking among the hockey community. There will be medals for the winners, and plenty of other awards and prizes through the event.
Taranaki Hockey's executive officer Reachelle Beasley says next year's event will be bigger and better.
"We are very excited about the tournament, we expect to have a full complement of 12 men and 12 women's teams, playing seven games of high-intensity hockey over the weekend."
Taranaki Lightning 5s is more than just a hockey tournament; it's also a social opportunity for friends. "This is a great opportunity for friends to get together and make a team. There are no association boundaries for this tournament. We also have interests internationally with a club in Singapore keen to enter the tournament."
Registrations are now open and due to the limited spaces, teams who participated in 2015 will be given priority if they register prior to December 18.
