Wairarapa College and St Matthew's Collegiate should be among the front-runners at the Federation Cup national secondary schoolgirls hockey tournament being held in Albany next week.
A quarterfinal spot seems very much a possibility for both sides and it would be no surprise to see them advance further. Wairarapa College, which placed fifth last year, does have the stronger pool of the two. They will come up against Palmerston North Girls' High, Kristin School and St Cuthbert's College, but with four members of the extended national under-21 squad in their line-up - Felicity Reidy, Megan Hull, Morgan Percy and Katherine Van Woerkom - they should be equal to the task. St Matthew's Collegiate have Diocesan School, Villa Maria College and Hillcrest High in their pool. They will be led by the Anderson sisters Jenna, who is also in the national under-21 squad, and Kristy.
The Wairarapa College 1st XI boys' team will contest the Rankin Cup tourney in Invercargill next week and they too will have a top-eight placing in their sights. They do have a tough pool though with Christchurch Boys' High, Christ's College and Mt Albert Grammar as their opponents.
On the local front the Dalefield senior men's team resume their Wellington premier division campaign this weekend with a difficult double header, playing Indians in Wellington tomorrow and Northern United at Clareville on Sunday. Player-coach Willie Schaefer admits the build-up for Dalefield has been less than ideal with numbers at training not being as good as he would have liked and he is not prepared to predict the likely outcome of either game. "I do worry that some of the guys might be lacking motivation after the school holiday break ... it'll be interesting to see what happens."
Dalefield should be at full strength for the Indians match but will be missing Schaefer, who coaches the Wairarapa College girls' team, Hugh Taylor, Joseph Robertson and Mitchwell Blackwood for Sunday's game.
