Presidents Report Jan 2025
Presidents Report
It is my pleasure to extend a very warm welcome to you all for 2025, hope you all had a good break and enjoyed the festive season.
The year has started in full swing with our cricketers recently involved in the NZISA cricket tournament held at Waikaraka Park. It was great to see teams from our other sporting associations from Christchurch, Waikato, and North Harbour attend the tournament this year. Also was great to see ex-Black Cap Jeet Raval, Roni Hir, and first-class players Bharat Popli and Sandeep Patel, playing and inspiring our up-and-coming youth cricketers.
The hockey season is approaching quickly and recently we had the pleasure of welcoming two NZ Black Sticks players Blair Tarrant and Benji Culhane who will be joining our Premier Team for the 2025 season.
Blair Tarrant who is currently in the NZ Black Sticks team comes to us with a wealth of experience, having played at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, and for club teams in Germany. Benji Culhane, a current member of the Black Sticks and former U21 Captain played at the Junior Hockey World Cup. We are excited about the signing of these two players and will bring further depth and experience to our Premier Squad.
We are also pleased to announce the naming of our Under 23 men’s squad who will play at the NZISA hockey tournament in Rotorua in early February. We wish the team the very best.
2025 AISC U23 Men’s Squad:
Shakeel Kanji
Aarun Patel
Rahul Naiker
Jayden Dahya
Jayan Patel
Akeel Patel
Miheer Patel
Yash Kushal
Armani Punga
Ranik Patel
Hamesh Govind
Jaishaan Dayal
Jayman Bhana
Yash Patel
Anesh Jeram
Arjun Pancha
Coach: Deelan Patel
Manager: Priya Kanji
We also have some key dates coming up with our 2025 Junior Hockey Muster and the start of the Premier/Reserve Teams Hockey Trials;
Premier / Reserve Hockey Team Trials – Wednesday 12th February 2025 at Avondale College at 6.30 pm onwards
2025 Junior Hockey Muster – Sunday 16th February 2025 at Avondale College from 2 to 4 pm
Our recently newly appointed Executive Team is diligently working on our new improved structure and strategic plan and updating our Constitution to align with the new Incorporated Societies Act.
We are still on the hunt for a Junior Umpire Coordinator for the Jump umpire mentoring program at Avondale Turf.
If you or know of someone who may be interested or would like more information, please reach out to Sanjai Soma our Hockey Director at juniorhockey@aisc.org.nz
This year’s KBT Tournament is being held in Hamilton, please start thinking about this and if you would like to be involved.
That's all from me looking forward to seeing you around the turf.
Regards,
Raj Pancha
President