About Us, The Wellington Hockey Association
The Wellington Hockey Association has a long and prestigous history and has been in existance for over 100 years.
During that time, the mens and womens associations were combined, umpires were incorporated and youth were established as a subcomittee. Many of our players represented their country in Olympic Games, World Championships and International Fixtures seemingly beyond count, while the region acquited itself with distinction in national competitions at all levels.
We continue this history of excellence by having the countries best womens team, the 2005 Wellington TeRenCo NHL Women's squad, the manager of the Black Sticks Men's team currently touring Malaysia in 2006, Peter Miskimmins, the Assistant Black Sticks Women's coach, Chris Leslie and the best Mens Under 21 Squad in the country in 2006, the Wellington Mens U21 team all calling Wellington home.
During the winter months, the Wellington Hockey Association comprises of youth, secondary and open grade competitions. The youth competition comprises of some 1500 players, the secondary competition consisting of aproximately 1350 players in 92 team covering 4 grades of competition for both boys and girls in the Wellington and Hutt Valley areas. The senior or open grade competition, comprises 3 premier and 3 reserve grades totalling 87 mens and womens teams, these teams have around 1400 competitors and competes at the National Hockey Stadium with it's 2 water based turf facility in Newtown (Wellington City) and the single sand based turf at the Fraser Park facility (Lower Hutt).
Over the summer, a range of competitions are run to satisfy the recreational and performance minded hockey player. These are run at both venues and the competitions are structured to ensure that even competitors that have never played previously can participate and enjoy our fantastic sport.
The Association is experiencing growth at the present, and will continue to do so but with a particular focus on the Northern Wellington Region and Porirua City areas due to the addition of a fourth turf being established over the summer of 2006 in readiness for the 2007 winter season.