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A total of five Mahurangi College students have been selected for national underwater hockey teams and will represent NZ in October.
Mackenzie Buick, Rowan Buick and Julianna Panui-Leth were picked for the New Zealand U18 Womens underwater hockey sides last year, while Ryan O’Connor and Sam Twhigg made the NZ U18 Mens B team.
They made the squads after a strong showing with their school teams at regionals.
“We all have the ambition of making the New Zealand Elite one day, which is the underwater hockey equivalent of the All Blacks,” Twhigg says.
“It would be a big achievement as both our men’s and women’s elite teams are current world champions,” Mackenzie says. The students will first need to prove themselves in the U18 grade with the Age Group Trans Tasmans Championships in Rotorua from October 7 to 10.
“After that we will be re-trialling for the teams to represent New Zealand at the Underwater Hockey World Championships in Sheffield next year,” Twhigg says.
All the players started playing at college and have enjoyed a lot of success in recent years, winning multiple national competitions.
The school has also produced other NZ players such as Forrest Axford, Sarah Wilson and Elliot Snedden.
Rowan Buick is the youngest player in her NZ team and Twhigg was the youngest player to win the secondary schools’ national event in 2015.
All five players will represent Mahurangi at the NZ Secondary Schools Championships in Rotorua from September 6 to 9, after the junior girls, senior girls and senior open teams qualified at regionals in June.
