HOCKEY - Chance remark hands hockey boss new role

Northland Hockey CEO Grant McLeod will be wearing a different hat this week when he watches the action at the national under-21 tournament in Christchurch.
McLeod will be attending the tournament as the recently appointed national under-21 women's coach, who along with coach Chris Leslie has been charged with preparing the squad for the next year's junior world cup.
The appointment came from a chance conversation between McLeod and the national under-21 coach Chris Leslie, who was in Whangarei last year at the national under-18 tournament.
"Chris and I played together for many years for New Zealand and played against each other at the provincial level and he made an offhand offer and I thought about it for a couple of months and then offered my services," he said.
The job means working closely with Leslie to get the best out of the players for the Junior World Cup in 2009, with the venue still to be confirmed but expected to be in North America.
"Boston in the good old US of A was the venue last time I heard and I even heard a rumour that it would be held at Harvard University, but until that's confirmed no one's really sure," McLeod said.
At the moment there are 24 players in the extended squad and McLeod, after two training sessions with them, has discovered that many of the squad are already well known to him.
"I think there's around nine Northlanders in the enlarged squad, but we might have to say there are nine ex-Northlanders, because all of them are gone, moved off to Auckland or Harbour - there's actually no one currently from Northland in the squad.
This week he will assessing the current squad members progress and scouting for new prospects for the team.
"Chris and I and the other selectors will be watching at the tournament to see if there are other players within the age group who are putting their hands up for selection into the squad, given that some of the players in the current squad won't be available for Boston because they won't be eligible in 2009.
"Six months can be quite a long time for players of this age, they develop very rapidly and conversely there could be people in the squad, who haven't done the work they need to, to remain in the squad," he said.
The squad will have another training camp in October before attending the Australian Youth Olympics early next year, which will provide valuable international experience for the team ahead of the world cup.
McLeod left for Christchurch this morning and will arrive in time to watch the Northern under-21s match with Midlands, their second match of the day after playing their catch-up match against Central in the morning.
The Northern squad is a combination of Northland and North Harbour and they started their tournament yesterday against hosts Canterbury. Their first scheduled match on Saturday against Central was washed out after the turf flooded and they had the bye on Sunday.
The team is: Hannah Duley, Kelsey Dunn, Lauren Emirali, Natasha Fitzsimons, Kushla Glauser, Genevieve Halliwell, Charlotte Harrison, Nicky Howes, Jacinda McLeod, Stacey Michelsen, Alana Millington, Vanessa Rhind, Kate Savoury, Verity Sharland, Erin Weber, Petrea Webster, Anna Weir.