Sticking up for hockey

Amy Carruthers removes her ballet flats and laces up her new hockey boots. As the 16-year-old bounds on to the pitch, coach Chris Earl points to the shoes lying on the sideline.

"When I started coaching them, that's what they were wearing. No one could afford proper footwear."

The 22-year-old is pulling hockey up by the bootlaces at his former school, One Tree Hill College.

Chris has been playing the game since he was 4. When he reached high school, there was no team for him to join. So he rounded up friends and formed a squad.

"I was a player and a coach. When I finished school they asked me to stay on as a coach," says Chris, who plays premier men's grade for the Southern Districts club, based in Papatoetoe.

One Tree Hill students were always interested in taking up the sport, but cost was a barrier.

"It's a low socio-economic area. Money doesn't grow on trees. Hockey sticks are around $200, then there's the shoes. I think that deterred a lot of people," Chris says.

"They struggled to get them to commit, to attend practice and to turn up for games. Hockey was always seen as secondary to other sports."

So last year Chris came up with the idea of developing a hockey academy, where students join a team and are given gear bought from fundraising.

"You look at top-level sport, where people are contracted. We're not legally binding them, but it's a similar idea. It means we can try to reduce the costs as much as possible. And the players get that sense of belonging to something," he says.

The college now has boys' and girls' First XIs and a mixed team.

"We have 25 to 30 players at every training. They keep coming back, asking 'When's the next practice?"'

Amy says without Chris involved, she probably wouldn't be playing.

"My mum played for Auckland so I'd always wanted to play, but I didn't know about getting into clubs. I don't think hockey would exist at the college if it wasn't for Chris."

Chris has also been introducing players to club hockey by bringing six boys into the Southern Districts club.

"It seems to be a common thing in New Zealand that people stop playing sport after they leave school."

It's a full-on schedule for Chris, who is in his final semester of a sports and exercise science degree at Auckland University, but "it's about giving back. I do it for the love of the kids and the game".

GIVING BACK

One Tree Hill College's academy has received support from Sports First, Mt Eden, which has helped fund gear and allowed the school to hold fundraiser sausage sizzles outside the shop.

Owner Manesh Patel, a long-time hockey player and supporter, knows how tough funding can be and is impressed by Chris' efforts. "I know it's a low-decile school. I'm from South Auckland myself. I used to play hockey for Otahuhu College. Our gear was 15 to 20 years old. I know how hard it was. Chris is a really nice guy who's giving back. I think he's doing something really special for his school."

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