Hockey Hawke's Bay claims national medal for growing the sport

Hawke's Bay Hockey community manager Andi Cullen with a plaque to acknowledge the bronze membership award in association participation growth numbers. Photo / Warren Buckland

Hockey Hawke's Bay has got on the podium for a medal in the numbers game in the country.

Its community manager, Andi Cullen, received the bronze membership award for the third largest association-based participation growth in New Zealand.

Cullen received the award at Hockey New Zealand's annual prizegiving ceremony staged at the Ibis Hotel, Auckland, on Friday last week.

Counties Manukau claimed gold while Invercargill took silver for the participation numbers pertaining to the last winter season, from April to August.

The Bay had registered 2879 5-year-olds to senior club members compared to 2496 in 2016, a growth of 15 per cent.

Females had a slight upper hand in a 55 per cent to 45 per cent split over males last year.

Cullen attributes several factors for the growth but a primary/intermediate schools' programme, Small Sticks, in conjunction with the national body and Sport Hawke's Bay is an ideal platform to spur growth.

"In 2017 we delivered the programme to 4013 children in Hawke's Bay, involving 27 schools."

Cullen, who is in her third year of her position, says the international Festival of Hockey staged at the HB Regional Sports Park in Hastings also spread the gospel quite effectively.

The Hawke's Bay Cup, which the Black Sticks women vie for with other invitational international sides, was not played for last month because it clashed with the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games commitments.

"With that [international] exposure of hockey with the local one in Hawke's Bay drives the enthusiasm as well as interest in the sport which has helped us along."

She says hosting age-group nationals here at other times of the year also contributed to the "hype", such as the tier one Federation Cup and tier two Marie Fry schoolgirls' tournaments late last September.

This year, the annual Big Save Small Sticks Festival (Year 3-6) from July 19-21, the tier-four secondary schoolgirls' event, the Mary Clinton Cup from September 3-7 and the New Zealand under-15 premier girls' from October 1-6 will keep stoking that fire.

"We've actually increased our numbers again this year, which is still to be finalised, but we're sitting at 3160 playing numbers for 2018," she says.

Cullen says the Commonwealth Games also became a timely platform through the gold medal-winning Black Sticks women for the exposure in this province.

Fast forward to this time next year, the spin-off from the women internationals will be even bigger as crowds flock to watch them play at the HB Regional Sports Park.

Coaches, managers, volunteers, fans and major sponsors (Big save, Cape Physio, Just Hockey, Lotto) also have played a pivotal role as catalysts in the growth.

Hawke's Bay businesses have sponsored the international men and women's teams to marquee global events as a province in the past.

She was not aware if the Bay had won the national participation award previously.