The 2006 Global Youth Hockey Marathon will be held this weekend, with national associations encouraged to join in the spirit of this year's theme, ÔÇ£Hockey, a sport for EverybodyÔÇØ.

As an incentive, the three National Associations judged to have organised the best event on 13 or 14 May for a minority group within their hockey population, will be awarded a TK equipment kit consisting of 75 sticks and 75 balls.

The jury consists of members of the Working Group Youth and the FIH Youth Panel. Prize winners will be announced on the FIH website on 12 June, 2006.

The theme of this year's Marathon is ÔÇ£Hockey, a Sport for EverybodyÔÇØ, coinciding with the launch of the promotional DVD, carrying the same title.

Hockey is a sport for the whole family. To make hockey a real ÔÇ£sport for allÔÇØ National Associations are invited to create an event for those groups that are still a minority within their national hockey organisation.

NAs that have only girls playing hockey, are encouraged to organise an event to attract boys. Those who have only seniors are invited to organise something for youth, and during this year's Marathon, we also want to draw special attention to hockey for people with a disability.

A supporting Booklet with Best Practices is available to download.

For more information, contact FIH Development Manager Gabrielle van Doorn, fihdevelopment@planet.nl.

Reports of this year's Global Youth Hockey Marathon will be able to view on the WorldHockey website.