KEY POINTS:
In the foyer at Kamo Intermediate School last year, they had a display which proudly proclaimed "Enthusiasm for activity runs deep in the school".
This year, and particularly in the last week or so, they have been contemplating something more along the lines of "Breeding place for [future] Black Sticks".
In a remarkable effort, seven former pupils of the school, just north of Whangarei, have been named in the national women's hockey squad to play Korea next month.
Just as remarkably, eight former Kamo kids have been named in Junior Black Sticks train-on squads.
Many of these youngsters went on to play in the Whangarei GHS first XI who have won the Federation Cup - the symbol of national schoolgirl supremacy - for the past two years.
Just as many former Kamo Intermediate girls were in the Kamo High School team which this year reached the semifinals at the same tournament.
In all, 22 former Kamo Intermediate pupils were in action in the Federation Cup semifinals.
From the mid-1990s, and even a little before that when international Karen Sydall played at the school, it has been a breeding ground for kids with a stick who play with attitude.
Laura Douglas and Jan Rowsell, KIS students in 1995-96, soon stepped on to the big stage, followed by the current crop. These include Black Sticks regular (and goal-grabbing striker) Charlotte Harrison, Kelsey Dunn (daughter of former All Black Ian Dunn) and Jasmine McQuinn, all members of the Federation Cup-winning Whangarei GHS team.
They are joined in the Black Sticks squad by Douglas, Stacey Michelsen, Alana Millington and Anna Thorpe, with Dunn, Harrison, McQuinn, Michelsen and Millington joined by Ella Gunson and Carli Michelsen (Stacey's sister) in the junior squad.
Hockey in the north remains very much a family affair.
McQuinn's sister Jessie, who played in last season's national league before heading to England, was on the staff at Kamo Intermediate last year.
The Michelsens' mum Barbara works in the resource department at the school and coached most of these youngsters in their very early days in the sport. Tania Crene, another on last year's staff, played in the NHL.
"We have five hockey teams at the school this year," said proud deputy principal Peter Nicholson. For the first time since the 1970s, that total included a boys' team. They won the boys A grade in the local club competition.
Another former pupil, Michael Delaney, who plays his club hockey for ABC in the North Harbour competition and was in the winning North Harbour NHL team, has been named in the boys Junior Black Sticks squad.
In their Labour Day special newsletter, the school, modestly, says: "Kamo Intermediate takes no credit for the hockey expertise of the new Black Sticks group as few played for school teams in the junior grades. However, maybe some of their winning attitude comes from their intermediate school."
Who would dare challenge that?
