Auckland Hockey Update to Stakeholders – Thursday 2nd September

We hope this update finds you all safe. Thank you also to those of you who completed our recent survey.

Given the Alert Level update provided by the government on Monday, we now know we are at Alert Level 4 for at least another 2 weeks. A scaling down in Alert Levels means it is likely at least 3-4 weeks before we are in Alert Level 2 with a very short Prepare to Play phase before the school holidays are upon us. Sport NZ has not yet released any changes to the Level 2 restrictions around sporting and recreational activities.

With so much uncertainty in our current environment we wanted to put a line in the sand and provide some clear dates and decisions for our groups of various stakeholders.

College Sport SuperCity Finals – Wed 29 and Thurs 30 September TBC (dependent on lockdown level).

Premier Semi Finals, Premier Reserve and all Senior Divisional Finals – TBC on Monday 6 Sept (teams involved being canvassed this week).

Youth Hockey – season ended. 

Junior Hockey – season ended. 

AKH Tri Series for U14 and U16 players – September 12 and September 19 – cancelled. September 26 TBC (dependent on lockdown level).

Grant McLeod U16 Tournament October 2-5 – TBC on Monday 6 September

NHC – now 14-20 November (players and coaches and management are being canvassed this week. A decision on entering teams will be made by 10 Sept by the Board and CEO)

We acknowledge and understand that some of the above decisions will be disappointing for some stakeholders but we have tried to balance a myriad of factors including alert levels, survey results, wellbeing of stakeholders, player and management welfare, preparation after a suspension in play, school holidays, summer sport, etc.

Upcoming Summer events and programmes that are on our website (or soon to be added) that we would encourage Hockey stakeholders to get involved with are:

Summer Hockey at LEP – Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays (registrations open soon)

Summer Masters Hockey – Mondays and Tuesdays (registrations open soon)

National Masters Hockey 2022

School of Hockey – yr 7-10 players – Sundays

RPC Junior – yr 7-10 players – Mondays and Wednesdays

RPC – yr 11 Players and 18-23 year olds – Monday, Wednesdays and Saturdays

AKH Inaugural Golf Day – 18 October Akarana Golf Course

AKH Competition Review Forum – Date TBC – likely late October

AKH Prizegiving – November –  Date TBC – Remuera Golf Club

AKH Q and A and Happy Hour with Shane McLeod – November – Date TBA

Finally, we are very grateful to have got in a near 100% season this year and thank all Presidents, Secretaries, Players, Coaches, Managers, Umpires and Officials, and spectators, for the part you played and the understanding you have shown in recent weeks.

The Team at Auckland Hockey