Clareville Classic promised to be 'bigger and better'

Organiser Jesse Workman is promising the Clareville Classic indoor hockey tournament will be even "bigger and better" next year.
Workman, the Wairarapa Hockey Association's regional development officer, was delighted with the response to the inaugural event held at Clareville last weekend when four men's teams were involved.
But he already has plans in place for both men's and women's sections to be staged in 2009 with up to six teams in each.
Workman said there was even a suggestion from some of these taking part in last weekend's action that not one but three or four such tourneys should be held each year.
"Everybody seemed rapt with the way things went, we should have no trouble building it into something big," Workman said.
Overall honours in the initial event went to the powerful Hutt Valley-Wellington side which had four Wellington national league players, including one New Zealand representative, in their lineup.
They played the previously unbeaten Wairarapa squad in the final with Wairarapa returning what was their worst performance of the day in losing 6-3 after being down 5-1 at one stage.
That result was a reversal of the result when the same two sides met in the first of the round-robin games, Wairarapa recovering from a 5-4 deficit to win 7-5 on that occasion. Wairarapa then went on to beat Barbarians 9-3 before guaranteeing their spot in the final by defeating a Manawatu side which included four Central Districts NHL players and one national indoor hockey rep 7-4.
Joel Baker from Hutt Valley-Wellington was named most valuable player at the tourney while players to stand out for Wairarapa were Rowan Yeo, Shane Hodgkiss , Tobin Yeo and Cody Linton. Jeff Workman himself was the leading goal scorer.
Meanwhile, 14 of Wairarapa's most promising hockey players are taking part in a player pathways programme aimed at identifying and developing the district's outstanding talent, and including an intensified and highly specialised coaching schedule.
Not only will they be given expert tuition in actual playing skills but also in biomechanics, fitness and nutrition, and goal setting.
Jeff Workman, who initiated the programme, said its objectives were four fold; to prepare and train exceptional athletes (men and women) from within the Wairarapa hockey community to a level that justifies their selection into a New Zealand or NHL squad, to ensure these athletes have a structured pathway over several seasons to achieve that goal, to provide them with a challenging and rewarding training environment and to give them the opportunity to learn from both the established and up and coming coaches in New Zealand sport.
Players selected to participate in the pathways programme are Dane Lett, Thomas Annear, Megan Parker, Tara Hall, Trent Lett, Aaron Oakley, Ben van Woerkom, Nicholas Finlayson, Jesse Lucas, Felicity Reidy, Emma Warrem Shane Hodgkiss, Charlotte Meo and Libby Noema.