Plans are for the Clareville Classic men's indoor hockey tournament to become an annual event.
The inaugural tourney is being held at Clareville Stadium on Sunday and organiser Jesse Workman, the Wairarapa Hockey Association's regional development officer and a national league player for Manawatu, is determined it won't fall into the
"oncer" category.
"We see it becoming a regular feature of the Wairarapa hockey calendar," Workman said of what will be the first representative tourney of its kind to be played here.
"We're starting off with four teams but we believe it will become a lot bigger in years to come."
Contesting Sunday's event will be Manawatu, Hutt Valley-Wellington combined, Wairarapa and a Barbarians team consisting of players from all three of those regions and Hawke's Bay.
Each team will play at least three games of 13 minutes each way duration with the top points getters then moving through to the grand final and the two remaining teams playing off for third and fourth. Five players, including a goalkeeper, are on the pitch at any one time.
Workman himself is part of what he considers to be a "hugely competitive" Wairarapa squad although he concedes that the speed and skills levels required for the indoor game means that nothing can taken for granted
"Quite honestly all four teams are strong, all of them are in with a winning chance," he said. "Obviously I think we have the side to do the business but I also know one poor game could spoil everything."
The full Wairarapa squad is:
Jesse Workman, Dane Lett, Mark Scully, Rowan Yeo, Tobyn Yeo, Shane Hodgkiss, Thomas Annear, Robin Smith, Cody Linton, Orin Lockyer.
Wairarapa will open the tourney with a match against Hutt Valley-Wellington starting at 12 noon and then they will play, in order, Manawatu and Barbarians.
