2007 NZ U18 nterzone Champships-Results

Dropping the ball, ha thanka Liam, the central girls were just lulling everyone in to a false sense of security, coming back in spectacular fashion to win the final... swim swim swim DESTROY. how ever i cant speak for central boys, i guess they are just nicer than the girls wanting to share the medals round the zones.

Good to see the US isn't the only screwed up ones when naming regions. We have Chicago zoned as the Midwest yet it is distinctly on the east side of our country. With Top of South designation, wouldn't that make Central the Bottom of North?

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Just in case you weren't sure, it's official -- CMAS sucks.
Oh yeah, and now they're broke.

it would duck... but wellington is the capital and therefore the center of the country

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it's more polite on the grating than on the subs bench

Nah nah nah nah nah. I'm with Duck, I hereby propose Central is renamed 'Bottom of the North'!

Mu ha ha haaa!

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It's not whether you win or lose - but whether I win or lose.

bum of the north?

then auckland is really toppish of the north and tauranga/hamilton/vegas is middle of the north.

confusing... but change is good.

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it's more polite on the grating than on the subs bench

I do not dispute that the quality of organisation plays a major part in who plays in the zone competition etc. Yes, organisation plays a major part why the southern three zones were not represented. Mid Northern is lucky that they have a very dedicated core team who can devote the time/effort to the U18 zone teams.

The strenght of Northern and Central (aka Bottom of the North for Duck and Co) is their sheer numbers, in players, coaches, managers etc. This does not happen overnight. Congratulations to those who helped these two centres become what they are. Bearing this in mind, these two centres are also the two largest population centres in NZ, another factor in their favour.

If organised correctly, you get the effect you have now, where it is seen as an honour to be selected for your team as you have had to beat 100 other players to make the team. In the smaller centres, if you wait long enough, you will make the team by default, due to that you, as a 17 year old are bigger, better and stronger than some of the 15 year olds trailing for the team.

One thing I was suprised by when I recently visited my old club in Christchurch was that the City looked like it was on its way back down to a one club town. The same problem it suffered from 15 years ago.

Maybe this is the wrong place (discussion thread) to be discussing this. Maybe we should be discussing this in a thread called 'how to increase the number of UWH players through good organisation'. Then we also need to look at how to prevent burnout with the volunteers we have, how larger centres can support the smaller ones rather than conitually beating them in competitons.

The three southern zones have struggled in the interzone competitions to long, the reasons are many and varied. I am not sure that the current geographical method of splitting up the zones is correct.

Thats my one penny in this discussion for today.

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Those who say it's only a game don't understand the situation.

Edwin,

Why is Christchurch schools player numbers so low?

Christchurch has more registered adult players than both Auckland and Wellington and also Christchurch's (384k) population is only a little less than the Greater Wellington region and 80k more when you just consider Wellington (Pop 181k) and Hutt City Council (120k) areas and ignore Upper Hutt(80k) and Porirua (90k).

The zones aren't the problem its the organisation or lack of it.

Similar trends are also showing up in Hobart were a group built up an awesome league and the group moves on and other members take it for granted and things wind down which is similar to Auckland and Wellington.

The same question could be asked of Dunedin as they have been the best orgasnised club in NZ as well as the largest for many years.

Edwin, Thanks for your input but don't tell me things need to change please insted tell me what your solution is to the issue as you know I have the statistics recorded to prove issues what I need is solutions.

Yes you need a new thread for this issue.

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Tristan Reynard
Schools/Chair
Underwater Hockey NZ
www.underwaterhockey.org.nz

edwin your assertion that because there are larger playing numbers in wgtn and auck there must be 100+ kids trialling for those rep teams is completely false.

i've coached rep teams at that age grade in both centers and i can tell you that the actual numbers of guys aiming to make that team is still just the keen kids... not every kid that plays.

most i ever had trialling was just over 20... i'd expect that to be normally a little less, if player numbers are growing perhaps you might get up to 30 now.

just because 40 kids may be named in the squad, does not mean all 40 are keen enough to trial and put in the effort and commitment to be part of the squad or team.

this is why regions like mid-north can still do so well, and why mid-south could also do the same... their numbers of players, while small, can still provide the same number of KEEN KIDS willing to put the time and effort into playing for their region.

this can only happen with strong organisation and committed, knowledgeable coaching. if the southern zone can manage to get a keen group of kids together in the next few years i expect to see their results lift markedly, as they have strong organisers in their clubs and good coaches in the area.

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it's more polite on the grating than on the subs bench