Dubbo has a proud tradition of developing top-level hockey players and Western’s Regional Coaching Coordinator, Kate Pulbrook, hopes the opportunity to play at a state-of-the-art facility helps create more elite talents.
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A healthy number of youngsters got their chance to run around on the newly-updated Pioneer Park on Friday, with students from Dubbo North Public School and Narromine Christian School attending a gal day.
Pulbrook helped develop basic skills in the morning and by the end of the day matches were being played out on the new turf.
“It’s always good having state-of-the-art turf, especially out in regional areas,” Pulbrook said.
“We don’t get the opportunity to go to Sydney as often as we probably need to or should. It’s great having new turf out here and it helps with exposure of the sport too.
“A lot of these kids had never been on turf before so it’s a great chance for them to give it a go and see if they like it.”
Pulbrook stated she was pleased with the talent and, more importantly, the application on show at the gala day.
With a number of other schools having athletics or swimming carnivals this time of year only the two schools made the trip to Pioneer, but Pulbrook was pleased to have the opportunity to work with new players.
“They’re going really, really well and having Narromine Christian School come in, they would train or play on grass so for them to come in to Dubbo and get exposure to the surface is really good,” she said.
“So many of these kids enjoy what they do and love coming to gala days like this.”
Dubbo-based players again made a number of representative sides across all age groups in 2017 and this year shapes as being no different.
“It’s really pleasing to see so many kids get to that level,” Pulbrook said.
“Often you’d think you need to live in Sydney to get to that level but you don’t these days, there’s so many opportunities around.
“There’s so many talented kids from Dubbo and right here, right now we could have a few future state representatives which is very exciting to see.”