Juniors played to win, says coach

Greg Taipari | 30th June 2010

Glenholme School hockey coach Marilyn Downey says a hunger to win and have fun was the winning recipe for her team taking out the local primary schools tournament two years in a row.

 The combined Glenholme School and Malfroy School boys team, dubbed Glenfroy, won the 2010 Mary Berge Tournament Maxi.

The Rotorua Junior Hockey tournament, held at Smallbone Park on Saturday, attracted teams from schools around the city.

Mrs Downey said it was a fantastic result for the team she co-coached with Malfroy hockey coach Jenni McLaren. She said their similar coaching styles made it easier to combine the two teams.

"[The team] were hungry to win and they were also having fun. It's all about playing nicely and they played as a team.

"We have a couple of the boys from both schools who have played rep hockey together and of course the Glenholme boys play well together regularly."

Mrs Downey said it was too hard to single out any one player who stood out.

"They all played well. The boys with hardly any experience were the ones I was most impressed with."

The team won all four of their games in the boys' division with Lynmore coming runner-up. The girls' division was won by Selwyn Gold with Ngongotaha the runner-up.

The Jenni Fitzgerald Mini Tournament, which is a mixed teams division, played after the Maxi tournament, was won by Kawaha Point Gold with Ruamata runner-up.

Rotorua Junior Hockey Tournament co-ordinator Fiona MacGregor said the tournament had been a huge success with some fantastic hockey on display.

The Mary Berge Intermediate Tournament last Friday night was won by John Paul College 1 in the boys' division while Ruamata took out the girls' division.