Hockey is truly a game for all ages, with Rugby and League, and to a lesser extent Football and Netball, there comes an age where your body just won’t let you tackle, dive, jump, or slide, without the risk of a follow-up trip to the physio or chiropractor. With hockey though if you can trap, pass, and run into space, you can still play a decent game. To be fair it all starts to happen at a slower pace, and Masters players tend to have developed the stick check and the shirt pull as vital skills, but the fundamentals of a good game don’t really have to change.  

  

This can be a bit of a curse in some ways because you can keep playing hockey there is less of an incentive to take up coaching, managing, and mentoring roles than in some of the other common New Zealand team sports. That said there is a huge upside, and it is a thriving Masters hockey community that keeps players active and engaged with the sport throughout their lives. Split over Wednesday and Friday nights in summer there are nearly 30 men’s and women’s club Masters and Presidents (ages 34+) teams out playing hockey, and then just as importantly, catching up with friends for a couple of quiets after the game. With three different grades there is opportunity for all to find a team that fits.

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For those that like to take it a little more seriously (but not so seriously as to interfere with after games beverages) there is the National Masters tournament once a year involving more than 70 men’s and women’s provincial teams from around the country. Basically, imagine your most enjoyable school tournament but double the size and you get to go out with your mates to the pub in the evenings and tell stories about how good you were 20 years ago.

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If any of this sounds like you then contact us to join a team.  

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