THREE of the most important figures in NSW Hockey were at Dubbo on Wednesday night to help ensure the sport continued to thrive in regional areas.
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Dubbo has been enjoying a golden period in local hockey, with a number of players going on to play at the highest level while men's and women's Premier League Hockey (PLH) sides have been mixing it with the best in the central west.
Hockey NSW general manager David Thompson, who visited Dubbo along with chief executive officer Tony Mestrov and president Michael Tentomas, want to ensure that continues.
"We met with them to discuss any issues they might have and try to help them with those," Thompson said of the meeting.
"And those issues are very natural to all sports.
"Kids have a go at all sports then when they're about 15 or 16 they make a choice and how we hold on to those kids is as important as getting new kids to play."
Thompson, Mestrov and Tentomas met with the local board as well as other members and players involved with Dubbo Hockey.
While impressed with local volunteer and player numbers, Thompson said the aim was always on increasing those figures.
"The most important thing is growing the game and getting kids to try it," he said.
"That's the key message we're putting on across - how do we get into primary schools and get kids to try it."
Primary schools have been a real area of focus for Hockey NSW and Thompson, who is visiting Parkes, Orange and Bathurst as part of his regional tour, was delighted to reveal numbers have been increasing there.
"We had about 5 per cent growth in registrations last year and positive growth in primary schools, and we're really looking into that and ensuring people know it's a great family game," he said.
"You can go right through to the Masters and we have people playing up until they're 65 so it really is a game for life."
One of Dubbo's brightest hockey prospects, Emma Corcoran, was in attendance on Wednesday night and Thompson was well aware of her talents.
As someone who has represented Australian Country and NSW numerous times, she is exactly the type of player Hockey NSW wants to keep producing in rural areas.
"One of the great things is we leave kids at home and bring the coaches to them, sending coaches to country areas," Thompson said.
"They work with athletes at all levels and we don't drag them to Sydney like other sports so it's possible for a person in the country to play for NSW and even further and 80 per cent of our representative players are from the country.
"Emma is one of our talented under-18s and has represented NSW eight times, I think, and she's about to go into camp with some of our under-18s in Tamworth and (former Australian coach) Rick Charlesworth will be in attendance and that's a wonderful opportunity to learn from one of the best."