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Hockey 2nd XI

The team was again managed by Mr Michael Garbes and coached by Mr Bill Hilton who has again given up his time and approached his task with great enthusiasm. 

The team consisted of players mainly from years’  9 and 10 with plenty of leadership given by Jordan Mckay – Gaston, Matt Wilton and Quentin Hook.  This mix of students did not prevent the team from working well together.  The older students lead well on and off the field and the younger students were able gain an appreciation of the merits and values installed, by the older players, in playing for the school.  Also attributing to the team’s success once again was the coaching by Mr Bill Hilton.  His efforts to make the players concentrate on developing the skill base and knowledge of the game certainly helped to improve the performance of the team.  Mr Hilton has helped the boys in training and during games and has complimented the work the Year 9 and Year 10 Hockey Academies have been doing.  We must at this point give Quentin Hook a special thanks for all his effort and dedication to the second eleven hockey team over the years.  He has provided much support and leadership on and off the field to all of our players and next year he will be sorely missed.

The first part of the season in the Boys Division 3 this year was more or less a grading competition.  The first phase of the season is used to place teams into the Division 3 Premier (A) competition and the Division 3 Championship competition.  Hastings Boys' 2nd XI have been more than competitive all season.  Finishings top in the first or grading round we approached the finals with high expectations.

We went into the penultimate game of the season with our main Wairoa 1st XI with good wins over Taradale and William Collenso behind us.  A tight game saw goals going either way.  Wairoa were a physically bigger team due to the numerous Year 9's and Year 10's in our team.  Hastings Boys' however had technically more advanced players.  With not long to go some excellent passing saw Josh Wray slot an excellent goal to draw the game 3-3.

The final game of the season saw HBHS taking on Lindisfarne 4th XI and Wairoa taking on a reasonably competitive William Colenso 1st XI.  On paper HBHS had the easier task... However if both HBHS and Wairoa won the title would be decided on goal difference and then goals scored.  Unfortunatly for us Wairoa incredibly scored 6 goals and we scored 4 goals meaning that both teams were even on points and goald difference.  Wairoa just pipped us to the Division 3 Premiership title by scoring 1 more goal than us. 

Lots of credit to the senior players that helped our very young team become competitive.  There also needs to be special recognition of the support that a lot of parents gave to the team by turning up and cheering the team on every game, Thank you everyone involved for an enjoyable season.

Mr. M Garbes (Manager)