Awards salute Rotorua hockey stalwarts

Donna Keaney, pictured when she was coach of the Midlands women's team, is one of four Rotorua residents to have been given service awards by Hockey New Zealand. Photo/Ben Fraser

Four Rotorua residents have received service awards from Hockey New Zealand.

Sadly, former senior Bay of Plenty men's team member Govan Hari died before the awards were made, but his three sons attended the awards ceremony in Auckland.

Hari was a member of the men's team from 1975 until 1990 and then coached various boys' and girls' Bay of Plenty representative teams, and for 16 years the girls hockey team at Western Heights High School.

Marilyn Downey, who also attended the awards ceremony, coached at Glenholme Primary School from 1986 to 2012, but her major contributions to hockey have come as an administrator and manager, including being the manager of a variety of representative teams since 1996.

She has also been a member of the Bay of Plenty management committee, including a stint as vice-president, been the junior management president and was part of the committee that restructured hockey administration in the Bay of Plenty.

Donna Keaney is a Midlands board member and has coached a range of teams from primary and intermediate school teams right up to Bay of Plenty and Rotorua Aces women's teams.

In 2013 she coached the Midlands Women's team to gold at the national championship and was also the assistant coach of the gold medal-winning Midlands boys under 18. She coached the Midland boys under-18 team to gold in 2016.

Neil Watson has represented New Zealand at a Masters level as well as playing for the Bay of Plenty and Midland men's teams.

He has coached at virtually every level from primary school to senior men's teams and with Keaney and Downey was heavily involved in securing funding for Rotorua's first water turf.