In 2017 James Coughlan was appointed Director of Coaching at ABC, and quickly established a new Player and Coaching Pathway to develop our players.
Under James' guidance, we have re-established our premier men's squad and created two new men's Division 1 and Division 2 teams, with the women's section adding a new Division 3 side to cater for the increasing number of new players wanting to join the Club.
This growth means ABC is well represented across each grade from social to high-performance, and can now provide excellent opportunities and progression for individual players to reach their full potential.
Having a robust Youth to Masters programme has meant our players can develop at an appropriate and managed pace. The success of this strategy is seen by the high numbers of ABC players now representing New Zealand, North Harbour and other provinces.
In total, we have 17 New Zealand players and 70 Provincial Reps and 5 coaches (U13s to Over 65s grades) playing at the Club.
In 2019 the NZ U21 women had four players from ABC, and the men had two U21 and two U18 players.
Altogether we had 26 players from U13 to U18 playing for North Harbour which highlights the importance of developing 'homegrown' youth players.
Dom Dixon, Holly Pearson and Olivia Shannon were Black Sticks in 2019, and we look forward to seeing others progressing to the pinnacle of New Zealand Hockey.
Main picture top left Holly Pearson, top right Hope Ralph, bottom left Olivia Shannon, bottom right Casey Crowley
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