26 Mahurangi Matters March 18, 2015 hockeyfeature

turftastic FEATURE

For the first time in over two decades, Mahurangi hockey players will be able to play on their home turf this season.The $1.7 million turf will open at the Warkworth Showgrounds site on State Highway 1, on March 22, just in time for the start of the hockey season. The Minister for Sport and Recreation Dr Jonathan Coleman will open the turf at 11am, followed by a series of short games featuring Mahurangi teams.The Hockey Fields Trust chairman Brett Illingworth says it has taken more than five years and thousands of hours of volunteer time, but the end result is fantastic.“It’s been an arduous task. It’s consumed my life. Some volunteers have put in hundreds of hours,” Mr Illingworth says.“The turf is already booked five nights a week and we are trying to start a local hockey league. “We are trying to get teams started from as far as Tomarata and Tapora. There used to be dozens of teams in small rural towns in Rodney, but since the game moved to turfs in the early 1990s a lot of them have disappeared.“We’ve also had lots of interest from people who don’t want to travel to North Harbour to play or who have never played hockey before. It’s great the turf is reinvigorating interest in the game.”

Hockey turf opening heralds strong future

The future of Mahurangi hockey is looking stronger now that Warkworth has a home turf.

The turf is using an online booking system and can cater for most ball sports, provided players wear the correct footwear.“We designed it as a multi-sport facility that everyone can use.”While Auckland Council contributed $700,000 for the turf foundation, the balance was raised by the trust which received a $300,000 grant from the ASB Community Trust, a $355,000 grant from Lottery, and donations from the community.“In order to apply for an ASB grant you first have to raise one-third of the money you are applying for.

One person, who wishes to remain anonymous, pledged $100,000 at an early stage. If it hadn’t been for him, we wouldn’t have got off the ground.“The Mahurangi Junior Hockey Club gave about $15,000 and Sky City contributed $10,000. Regular raffles, events and comedy nights then got the project over the line.”Junior Hockey Club president John Bettridge says the new turf will see more young people get into the sport.The club has about 170 primary school players in the region who have been playing on fields at Shoesmith Domain and an old netball court at

Mahurangi College.“It means they can play on an international-quality surface in all weather,” Mr Bettridge says.“They won’t have to worry about mud and can develop their turf skills from an early age.“Having a wide range of ages playing on the same turf will also provide inspiration and motivation for the younger players.”Mahurangi Hockey Club has about 120 members and president Graham Buchs says he expects numbers to grow. The trust plans to build a second turf within the next 10 years.

Mark Illingworth can finally jump for joy after five years of planning and fundraising for the hockey turf.

27 March 18, 2015 Mahurangi Matters

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At last the hockey players of Mahurangi Hockey Club have their own international facility on their doorstep; an important step in developing hockey in the region.

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The Warkworth hockey turf has become a showcase for the future of sports field lighting with a new LED system sparking interest nationally.Davco Electrical director David Morrison says Warkworth is the first sports field in Australasia to be lit with the modern LED lights, which last longer than traditional metal-halide lights, use a fraction of the electricity and reduce light pollution.At first, David admits he was sceptical about using LEDs, but Hockey Turf Charitable Trust chair Brett Illingworth was adamant it was the way to go.“I didn’t think it could be done, but Brett kept hounding me,” he says.“I did some research and found the only company that produces suitable lights, AAA-Lux, is based in Holland and wouldn’t sell them to NZ.”However, last year David found the company had started trading in Australia and he flew over to investigate the lights.“They have started using them on tennis courts over there and they are working really well.”The lights cost about twice the price of traditional lights, but last about 20 times longer.“They’ve got a minimum lifespan of

50,000 hours, or about 20 years.”They also use half the amount of electricity, costing about $10 an hour, and can be run at half-power for junior games and training.The low energy use means the turf won’t be charged commercial electricity rates, saving thousands of dollars each year.Each light uses a lens which focuses each LED onto the turf, reducing the amount of light pollution around the turf and in the sky.The system is also far more flexible than conventional lighting.“The lights don’t need any warm-up or stand-down time. We can also control every light using a smartphone and the power usage of each light is constantly monitored.”Auckland Council is investigating using the lights for the new Warkworth netball courts.“We’ve been flooded with calls from councils and consultants,” David says. “It’s the future of lighting sports fields in NZ. We are the sole distributor for the lights here and there’s nothing else like it.”Dave is also pitching the idea to be used at Ports of Auckland. The lights are currently used at the Port of Amsterdam.

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28 Mahurangi Matters March 18, 2015 hockeyfeature

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Mark Carrell (wearing a poppy) joined a Rodney College hockey team on

a visit to Les Quesnoy Memorial in France last year. The town

was liberated by New Zealand soldiers in 1918. Streets have been given

NZ placenames and a primary school bears the

name of a Kiwi soldier. The memorial was

designed by Dunedin sculpture A.R Fraser.

After coaching hockey at Rodney College for a decade, and taking a team to a World War I memorial tournament in France, Mark Carrell has won the Sport Northland Sport Maker award.Mark started coaching hockey while his son, Calem, was at the school. Calem now plays professionally in France, but Mark says he has stayed with coaching because of his passion for the game. A former policeman, he firmly believes in the transformative power sport can have on youth. “Kids in sport stay out of court,” Mark says. “My guys don’t cause hassles at school and I think that’s a direct result of sport. Hockey is particularly beneficial, because you have to use your brain a lot.”But the biggest transformation came after the team was invited to represent NZ at the inaugural International Youth Hockey Tournament in France to commemorate WWI.

The players visited memorial sites throughout France and Belgium, playing tournaments near battle sites in the Somme and Passchendaele.“My grandfather fought right through there and three or four of the students had relatives buried there. We found the graves and made sure they had a poppy put on them.“We really got an appreciation for how bad things had been for those soldiers. The students were very thoughtful when they came back.”The team has been invited back to the tournament next year and plans are forming for a French hockey and rugby team to visit Rodney.The Rodney College teams currently play in the Northland competition based in Whangarei but with the completion of the Warkworth hockey turf, that is being reassessed.The teams are also looking at practising at the Warkworth turf rather than at the sand turf in Mangawhai.

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29 March 18, 2015 Mahurangi Matters hockeyfeature

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WARKWORTH SHOWGROUNDS

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K:\TLAs\Auckland Council\Rodney\1_1039_501\Landscape\03 GRAPHICS\Warkworth Showgrounds Concept Plan_18 Mar 2014

EXISTING STREAMSIDE TREES

The development of the Warkworth Showgrounds is picking up pace, but the construction of a multisport complex on the site is still years away.About $2.7 million has been spent on the showgrounds in the past six months while over $4 million is earmarked for projects in the near future.New netball courts, including facilities for basketball and tennis, were completed in October, costing $400,000. There are five full sized courts, one doubling as a multi-use court which caters for basketball.“They are beautiful. It’s a real move forward for the club,” Warkworth Netball Club secretary Toni Broughton-Johnson says.Initially, the courts will be used for training, but there are plans for tournaments in the near future. The club used to train at courts at Mahurangi College.“The competition we are in has a lot of teams from north of Wellsford, so it makes sense for our games to remain at the Wellsford courts.”The courts will be opened at a ceremony on March 21, at 10.30am, with a powhiri and speeches from Rodney Local Board members. There will be two rugby games between Wellsford and Mahurangi teams in the annual Clash of the Dome challenge, a Mahurangi Gym Sports Club demonstration and netball and soccer trials.New public toilets were completed in January, costing $480,000 while a $15,000 wastewater treatment study to determine potential treatment

CompletedNetball courts - $400,000Public toilets - $480,000Waster treatment and disposal study - $15,000Landscaping and plantings - $100,000Hockey turf - $1.7 million

Under developmentPlayground - $90,000Lighting for netball courts and rugby fields - $400,000

Allocated in 2015-17*Multisport complex - $1.4 millionWastewater feasibility study and construction - $320,000Landscaping, planting, fencing, the entrance & signage - $269,000Multisport complex earthworks, carpark upgrade and walkways - $1.9 million*Budgets subject to confirmation in Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan

Showground development accelerates

options was completed in December. Stage one of a three stage landscaping and plantings programme was completed in October for $100,000.The $1.7 million Warkworth hockey turf will be completed this month and a new $90,000 playground is expected to be completed in April.Later this year, floodlights will be installed for the netball courts and sports fields, costing $400,000.A new on-site wastewater treatment will cost $320,000, and around $270,000 will be spent on landscaping, planting, fencing, the entrance and signage.Budgets are subject to confirmation in Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan.The much-awaited multisport complex is not expected to be completed for about another five years.The Mahurangi Sports Collective, a joint initiative between hockey, rugby, netball, soccer and gym sports clubs,

has put the breaks on the development.A feasibility study completed last year found the complex would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in ongoing maintenance costs and the collective is focusing on boosting memberships to make the development viable.“It scared everyone,” Mahurangi Rugby Club vice president Bernie Kose says. “It made us all take a step back.”But Sports Collective chair Mark Illingworth says the netball and hockey clubs are expected to grow substantially.“After a year we will have a better idea of our membership base and whether the multisport complex is feasible,” Mr Illingworth says.Currently, the clubs have a combined membership of about 1000 people.As a first step forward, the clubs have decided to test the waters and share facilities. The Mahurangi Rugby Club is renaming as the Mahurangi Rugby and Sports Club and will share facilities with the netball and hockey clubs.The clubrooms are being refurbished, including women’s changing rooms and a new roof.The multisport complex is expected to cost between $5 to $8 million depending on the size, design and function of the building. Council has earmarked $1.4 million for design and construction, with a further $1.9 million towards earthworks, upgrading sealing and lighting the carpark, and forming walking tracks and boardwalks.

viewonline localmatters.co.nzSee the concept plan for the Warkworth Showgrounds.

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