6th June 6am Urgent Update:
Richard takes Casey Henwood's place. Casey broke his hand in training on Wednesday.

WEB EDITOR
5th June

Waikato hockey stalwart, Vicki Petherick advises that her son, Richard has received the call to join the Black Sticks in Europe on their road to the Beijing Olympics.

" Its make or break for him I guess, but good news anyway." said Vicki.

The team, under Shane McLeod, who recently finished third in the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament with a 2-1 win over Pakistan, left for a European tour today.
They will play Germany, Argentina, Spain, Britain, Canada and Belgium with some club games mixed in before heading to Beijing.

The highlight of Richard's Black Stick career was in June 2006 in their match against Argentina. With 10 minutes to go, Richard, was successful with a drag flick at a penalty corner to put New Zealand up 3-2 and win their match after being down 0-2 at half time.

Richard Petherick is an Old Boy of HBHS 1stXI and has played for Old Boys and Fraser-Tech Clubs.

His first International was against Pakistan on his home turf where he got aculates from his Waikato supporters when showing his high flick, circle to circle with pinpoint accuracy.

When time allows, Richard can often be seen helping even younger players to reach their potential.