The 2011 Black Sticks National and Development Squads for men and women were announced today by Hockey New Zealand.
Black Sticks Women's Coach Mark Hager and Men's Coach Shane McLeod have kept their respective teams relatively unchanged as they continue their build up to the London 2012 Olympics.
ÔÇ£With three major competitions this year for both teams, it has been a big year of hockey and we have had great results including the teams bringing home medals from the Commonwealth Games.
ÔÇ£With 18 months till the London Olympics, our focus is to add depth to the talent base, develop the player's skills and continue to provide international test experience for both teams,ÔÇØ says Hockey New Zealand Chief Executive Hilary Poole.
Auckland player Marcus Child (19) and Cantabrian Amelia Gibson (19) have moved from their respective Development Squads to the National Squads.
Gibson is a Goalkeeper who played for Canterbury in this year's National Hockey League (NHL) and with only a year's experience in the Development Squad she is thrilled to have been offered a spot and can't wait to start training with the team.
Midfielder Marcus Child joins his older brother Simon (22) in the National Squad. Marcus played in the Four Nations tournament earlier this year when Simon was injured, and he was also in the U21 Squad that played in the 2009 Junior World Cup.
A ÔÇÿSummer of Hockey' international test series, which will be hosted throughout New Zealand in February, will start the season before the teams head offshore in May for further competition. The summer series will include 11 matches over two weeks.
ÔÇ£I'm keen to give developing players the opportunity to play in this summer series, but I will be looking to take a more senior team to Europe in June before the Oceania Cup in October. We will be treating our Europe competition as a dress rehearsal for the Olympics,ÔÇØ says Black Sticks Men's Coach Shane McLeod.
Black Sticks Women's Coach Mark Hager has named a National Squad of 22 players with the remaining two or three players to be finalised after a team camp early in the year and the summer series in February.
ÔÇ£We are knocking at the door of the top six, and the hockey community have been pleased with our recent results, so we just need to continue to work on our skills and get as much international game time as possible,ÔÇØ says Mark.
DOWNLOAD THE 2011 NATIONAL SQUAD LISTS HERE
Hockey New Zealand Media release
