My Account
Kids at Warkworth Educare preschool are taking their first swing at hockey, thanks to brand new miniature Kookaburra sticks donated by Colin Chester.
Colin and his brother Grant bought 1000 hockey sticks and have distributed roughly half of them to schools and clubs in need around the country, via Hockey NZ.
Warkworth’s Educare kids are the first preschooler age recipients of sticks from the programme, thanks to teacher and hockey player Helen Travers.
“Helen got in contact and asked if we might have gear for the little kids of Warkworth, and I said of course,” Colin says.
“These kids will go home and tell their parents they love hockey and they might buy some gear and pick it up themselves. Unless we had given them the opportunity, they might never have played the game.”
Colin also has a programme recycling secondhand gear, which he picks up from North Harbour Hockey and reconditions with paint and new grips.
“My wife came home one day and suddenly found our garage full of gear.”
Colin has played hockey internationally at masters level and was selected for the New Zealand team to compete in South Korea in 2006.
He is inspired by his father who loved playing hockey in Mt Roskill before he died at the age of 57.
“My wife said he’d be very proud of what us boys are doing, and I hope she’s right,” he says.
Colin says he has gear for any school or club that wants to grow the game and requests can be made to Hockey NZ, hockeynz.co.nz.
