A player retention and growth workshop was held on Wednesday 14 Feb 2007, facilitated by Mark McLaughlin – Sport Development Officer, Clubs, Sport Waikato. Topics for discussion included lines of communication, competition structure and club structure. As our senior player numbers decline this was a great opportunity to share ideas on player retention and growth within the senior side of Waikato Hockey.
This was followed by Strategic Planning Workshop on Sunday 19th February, facilitated by Dr Robyn Hill.
The WHA Executive acknowledge and greatly appreciate their voluntary contribution to our Association.

Chairperson of the SMB, Rob Crozier, resigned after two years of leadership to move south, farming in the King Country. His service to WHA is also acknowledged and appreciated. Unfortunately, despite the previous workshops, no Club Committee player put their hand up to replace Rob and the position remained vacant throughout the season. This has had ramifications in the Club numbers and the reconsideration of Trust Waikato grant funding to the SMB for the 2008 season.

The leadership of the Mini , JMB and Umpires Committees, however, continues to gather strength and the WHA Executive has rewarded them with substantial development grant monies for 2008. The WHA Executive thank the Board of the Trust Waikato for their donation of $35,000 and assures that the Trust’s policies will be adhered to.

After consultation, the WHA Executive has awarded a $16,000 Research Contract as part of the Strategic Plan, to University of Waikato. This research will start in February 2008, and report back later in the year.

Hopefully it will provide some answers to player retention and why young leaders are not emerging for administration of the game.

Fears that the high cost of affiliation fees of the game of hockey for players has, in my opinion, been “blown out the window”, as it emerges that young players have paid over $150,000 in a three week summer training camps conducted by Midlands Inc. with quality High Performance players.

Midlands Inc has gathered strength and momentum in 2007 as Directors, Geoff Balme and Jon Tanner, develop strategies to provide High Performance Hockey. Recent appointments have been former Black Stick’s Captain, Darren Smith(220 caps) and current Black Stick, Casey Henwood as Executive Officer. In January 2008, Midlands launched it own website, independent of Waikato Hockey which has supported it for the last two years with over 1GB of photos, game reports and information.

Our congratulations go to Jon Tanner who was appointed to the Board of New Zealand Hockey in June.

Midlands players had another excellent season finishing 4th in the NHL with the assistance of Dutch junior internationals Kiki Collot d’Escury and Fluer van Dooren. An improved player balance of Black Stick and Young Black Stick players contributed to many fine performances.

A special event for the WHA was the highly successful double-header in late September when Midland Men defeated Wellington and then Central. Di Weavers(NZ183 caps) was accredited with stand-out performances for Midlands women. Contributing to the weekends success was the contribution of the Waikato Clubs providing a number of services, including excellent catering to players and VIP’s, under the direction of Waikato Hockey stalwart Neil Thistlethwaite.

In January, Debbie Balme was appointed New Zealand Womens Manager.
Black Sticks appointed at beginning of year – Former University Club player, Casey Henwood who had gained valuable overseas experience playing for Eindhoven in the Netherlands.

In September at the Annual General Meeting of the NZHF, John Wood, President of Waipa Hockey Assoc. 1976-1992 was awarded a New Zealand Service Award, along with Graeme Haste (25 years coaching and administration to WHA) and Bruce Rosemergy (Life Member of WHA)
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After fighting prostate cancer for over a year, Waikato Hockey stalwart Gary Rae died in early December. Over 500 turned out for his funeral to honour his contribution to hockey and the Old Boys Club. Throughout the season, Old Boys players doubled their efforts both on and off the field as a sign of respect in the last season of their coach and mentor. He will be sadly missed.

This February sees the retirement of Bruce Rosemergy from the position of Sportsforce Hockey Development Manager after 12 years of service. Bruce, a Life Member of the WHA was awarded a New Zealand Service Award, in September and a Perry Foundation Waikato Regional Sports Award of “Service to Sport” in December. We wish Bruce and Jan a happy retirement.

The WHA Executive appreciate Bruce’s assistance in recent weeks with the changeover, after the appointment of Mr Jack Clayton as his replacement.

Jack comes to the position after an International field of applications. 50% of the appointments board represented SportWaikato and NZHF. We wish Jack well in footsteps hard to follow. Jack has been involved with the Fraser/Tech Academy in recent years.

In the renegotiation of the SportsForce/NZHF/WHA Contract, Jack is now employed by Waikato Hockey, but will retain offices at SportWaikato.

In the National Secondary Schools Hockey Tournaments, affiliated Waikato schools performed with credit, with an outstanding Waikato Diocesan side winning the second tier Marie Fry on home ground at their first attempt. St Peters Girls won the fourth tier Eveline Hankers Trophy in Palmerston North.
All together 29 regional 1stXI’s went to tournaments. It is disappointing that some schools are looking to drop participation in tournaments because they are run adjacent to school exam time.
Thank you to Mr Truman Wee for Chairing the JMB for another year, and for his voluntary services as Solicitor & Legal Advisor.

Mini Open Day was again a well organised and attended event, thanks to Sharyn Kerr and her Committee. Sharyn and husband Alaister both received the WHA 10 Year Service Award and the combined services of all their family to Waikato Hockey is very much appreciated.

A special thanks to all coaches and parents who put themselves forward to take on responsibilities at a variety of levels. We have over 50 Committee members on the five Boards. Without your assistance, it simply would not happen for our youth. Also thanks to our volunteer score-keepers, Joe and Raewyn Eade for their continued service.

2007 Perry Foundation Waikato Regional Sports Awards were held at the Mystery Creek Convention Centre.
HOCKEY NOMINATION FINALISTS
Sportswoman of the Year
• Kate Mahon - Midlands Hockey Inc
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Team of the Year
• The Cook University Premier Waikato University Hockey Club

Manager of the Year
• Debbie Balme -Waikato Hockey Association Hockey

Debbie won the prestigious "Manager of the Year" Award against a strong field from Netball, Water Sking, Kickboxing, and Golf.

Retiring Hockey Regional Development Manager Bruce Rosemergy won a prestigious "Service to Sport" Award along with seven(7) other recipients dedicated to their sports.

WHA Volunteers Night saw another 5 identities acknowledged for their leadership over the past 10 years. Awardees where…
• Alistair Kerr
• Sharyn Kerr
• Greg Middleton
• Maggie Vickers
• Arthur Whitehead

The umpires had a good year, with many opportunities to both educate younger members, and receive advice from the top.

At the New Zealand Annual General Meeting, Seddon Polglase was again appointed as Vice-President of New Zealand Hockey.

We continue to receive good financial backing for our representative teams, through Grants applications coordinated by Hockey Manager, Denise Hill. These sponsors are Waikato Trust, Lion Foundation, Perry Foundation, Fountain City Sports, Oxford Trust, and Pub Charity. These organisations also help with staff wages and our web-site publicity, which has become an essential tool in communicating who we are to the world. Over 280,000 web hits have been received, with 441 email subscribers to our weekly highlights. A reminder that the Managers laptop is linked directly to the web site so that callers booking turf time can see their booking immediately online; others can see bookings for meetings and practice times.

I would like to acknowledge all those people who emailed a report or photos for publication on our web site. Particular mention should be made of the reporting of Vaughan Hilton, who gets around the North Island to most Tournaments. Thanks also to the Waikato Times. Vaughan’s sons are both knocking on the door of Black Stick selection.

Denise Hill continues to do a commanding job as Hockey Manager. We all appreciate that Denise has attended many evenings of sub-committee meetings. Her advice is also in demand by New Zealand Hockey and other Associations.

Thank you to Kirsten Brinkworth for her work as Finance Officer and reporting monthly to the Finance Committee chaired by myself.

Maryellen Bezant continues working on computerising the Russ Brennan software for Draws, and secretarial minutes for sub-committees. The area of draws has been exhausting for both players and administrators as access to playing turf is under pressure. I implore schools, in particular, to get their season organised and not to keep changing the draws by default.

Burglary and theft from the pavilion break-ins have increased (over $3,000) and I recommend to the Hockey Trust Planning Committee that “design measures” be taken to both protect access and damage from vandalism and graffiti to the new complex to be announced tonight by Chairperson and WHA Life Member, Mr Des Meads.

As I conclude my long term as President, I am concerned that the numbers playing senior hockey, both men and women, has stayed the same for 10 years. Even more concerning that average age of club members has risen by 10 years. There needs to be more Club initiative to get young people into the clubs and to hand over the leadership role to them.

In reflection, as President of Waikato Hockey over the last six years, I can look back on the growth and achievements of our work together…
• the extensions to the pavilion
• two new turf replacements
• the permanent appointment of Denise Hill as Manager
• the appointment of a Finance Officer for WHA and TRUST accounts
• the development of a computerised office and draw structure
• the success of the Finance Committee structure
• the growth in grants to assist our young players
• the support of volunteers for the National Tournaments we have hosted.
• a NZ recognised Umpires Association.
• the institution of the Service Awards to long serving committee members
• the success of the marketing of Waikato Hockey through its web-site
• and the loyalty shown to me by the WHA Committee members and employees

I now retire, and recommend to this Association, the appointment of my successor Mr Seddon Polglase, Vice-President of New Zealand Hockey.