Hockey: Show time for top college athletes

HBTCaryn Paewai, former New Zealand hockey player pictured during a Hockey acadamy at the Legends hockey stadium at Park Island in Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor

Hockey legends Caryn Paewai and Emily Naylor will be the guest speakers at the Hawke's Bay Secondary Schools Sports Awards function in Napier on Monday night.

Dannevirke-born Paewai, who retired from international play in 2008 after a 148-test career which began in 1999, is also a finalist and hot favourite for the coach award at the Westpac-sponsored awards to be staged in the Museum Theatre Gallery. Paewai, 39, coached the New Zealand girls to fifth place at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing in August.

Kereru-based Naylor, 28, holds the Black Sticks women's record for most tests, with 250. She is two months into a 12-month sabbatical from international play.

Naylor decided to have the spell after returning home from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games with her bronze medal. Her hockey CV also includes a silver from the 2010 Commonwealth Games, two bronzes from world championships and a fourth placing at the London Olympics.

Paewai played at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 and Beijing in 2008 and the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. She was inducted into the Hawke's Bay Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

In addition to her international coaching commitments Paewai coached the Woodford House 1st XI this year.

After her spell Naylor will decide whether she has the necessary hunger to have a crack at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Sport Hawke's Bay's Education Team Leader Junior Armstrong said he was thrilled to secure the pair's services.

He pointed out the awards have been revamped to include the honouring of the top male and female athletes from the top 10 participated codes in the province. "We sorted out the top 10 by using census data completed by all schools and the codes involved judged their own categories," Armstrong said.

The 10 codes this year are rugby, netball, football, volleyball, hockey, basketball, cricket, athletics, touch and tennis.

In recent years the function has been hosted at the Hawke's Bay Opera House and Napier's Municipal Theatre.

However because both venues are not available on Monday night the awards ceremony returns to the original venue which means seating will be limited to 330 this year.

While Armstrong has yet to release the male and female finalists it will be a major surprise if last year's winner of the supreme award, Central Hawke's Bay College cyclist Regan Gough doesn't retain his male and supreme awards.

Gough returned home from the August junior world championships in Korea with two golds, one silver and one bronze.

Napier Girls High School swimmer Bobbi Gichard must be considered a favourite for the female award after winning a bronze medal at the Youth Olympics.

Her school's swimming team is among the finalists for the team award after winning their nationals for the second consecutive year.

Napier Boys' High School's under-19 coxed four rowing crew and orienteering team, Napier Girls' High School's orienteering team and Taradale High School's Hillary Challenge team are other finalists in this hotly contested category.

Regular winner of the coach award, Napier Boys' High School and Napier Girls' High School orienteering guru Derek Morrison, is again a finalist in this category and in the service section where he and Havelock North High School's national title-winning girls cricket coach Peter Hensman are both automatic winners.

Another first for the awards will see the province's best secondary schools disabled sportsperson honoured.