Tourney prospects look good

Hockey Wairarapa will host the Hatch Cup national primary schoolboys tournament from October 16 to 22.

It will be the first time the tourney, which is open to the top 24 provincial sides in the country, has been held at Clareville.

A special organising committee has been established to ensure all bases are covered.

"Everything is running smoothly at this stage and falling into place," regional development officer Jesse Workman said.

He believed the strong parental support normally given to the age group would have huge spin-offs for the Wairarapa business community.

Workman was also confident the Wairarapa team, coached by Grant Brewster and Kerry Hare, would give a powerful account of themselves. He based that judgment on the fact they had gone seven warm-up games without defeat, including a 6-3 beating of perennial "hotshots" Canterbury.

Brewster and Hare make an impressive coaching unit. Both of them earned many caps for the Wairarapa senior men's team in their playing days and were in the side coached by Frazer Mailman that placed third in the country in the 1980s.

Each has coached numerous rep and school sides with success, Brewster taking the Wairarapa under-15 girls' team to fourth place at their national tourney last year.