New Zealand U-18 Women inducts five Wairarapa players for the first time – Hockey News
In an unprecedented move, New Zealand’s U-18 hockey squad has picked up five players from Wairarapa for the first time in the history. Previously not more than three players from Wairarapa had gotten place in the junior line-up at the same time.
However, the trend has been changed in the current year when five Wairarapa players were picked up in the Black Sticks U-18 women squad namely Katherine Van Woerkom, Felicity Reidy, Morgan Percy, Jenna Anderson and Megan Hull.
The decision to induct five names from Wairarapa was taken by the selectors after reviewing the performance of players in the U-18 Development Tourneys and Premier Tournament. Unluckily, the Wairarapa team finished the Premier Tournament at the third place.
The final line-up for the 20-member squad will be picked up after the last training camp to be held in the month of October before leaving for Australia.
Hockey New Zealand is offering a strong and powerful programme to train the youngsters up to the modern era. Furthermore, the players were asked to give extra-time to the practice apart from the club routine.
Jesse Workman – the Regional Development Officer of Hockey Wairarapa while speaking to the media in this regard stated that all the five girls meticulously deserve their selections in the Black Sticks junior squad and he was putting all efforts to prepare
them for the Australian tourney.
He said, “They all had outstanding national tourneys and were easily among the best players in their positions in the country this year. They've all got a great work ethic and a lot of drive and are always looking to improve their knowledge of the game,
their fitness and their technical skills.”
Below is a brief introduction of the five players selected for the Black Sticks junior team.
The first name in the list is Jenna Anderson who is considered one of the top strikers in the Wairarapa team. In the national event, Wairarapa depends mostly on the attackers who manipulate the ball from inverse side and convert it into the chances. She
was a considered a major menace in the defence line of the opposite team.
Owing to her brilliant stick-work, she has the ability to break the defence line of any team. She was highest goal-scorer of the year from Wairarapa with fifteen notches in only twelve games.
Morgan Percy is the second name in the list that plays at the central-half position. It seems that she is made for this position, as her eye-catching vision and dribbling skills are outstanding. She is tremendous in getting the ball under her stick after
the intercepts and created chances for the attackers.
The third name of the U-18 Black Sticks squad is Megan Hull who is just fifteen-years-old. She is the youngest girl in the U-18 team who play mostly in the mid-field position. She also dons the colours sometimes at the defensive positions. She has wonderful
ball possession skills and eye-catching in the following of the ball.
Katherine Van Woerkom is considered one of the best defending girls of Wairarapa who rendered dazzling performances and made the victories possible for her team. She also led the team on many occasions and was at the second place highest scorer after Jenna
Anderson.
Felicity Reidy is another player who got the inclusion in the national U-18 squad. She has had superb stick-work and notched some fine goals for her team in the recently concluded tournaments.
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