Four locals shine in Under-18 hockey team – August 2024

Martinborough and Pirinoa were well represented in the Wairarapa Women’s U18 hockey team, that competed in the National Under 18 tournament in Christchurch last month. Melinda Marshal, Neve Bruce, Amanda Jephson and Ella Kirkup  were selected and came together in the team after playing for Martinborough as juniors almost 10 years ago. 

Now all are playing for their respective school 1st XI’s _ Melinda for Kurinui College, Neave and Amanda for Wairarapa College, and Ella for St Matthews.

Through the years playing in various Wairarapa age grade representative hockey teams they’ve had great support from team manager Carolyn Jephson, and in the last few years been coached by Ana-May Gudsell, who is off to the Masters Hockey World Cup in South Africa later this year.

The team did exceedingly well at the tournament to make it into the top 8 of all the regions in the country, considering the small pool of schools and players Wairarapa draws from in comparison to the much larger regions. Wairarapa was in a pool of three with Canterbury B and Auckland B, and after a narrow loss to Canterbury B, the team clicked into gear and put in a great performance against a strong Auckland B side to advance to the round of 16.

There they came up against Northland and put in their performance of the tournament to win 2-0, with great connection between the backs, midfield and strikers, much to the delight of the coaches. This got them through to the top 8 where they lost to eventual tournament winners North Harbour in the quarter final. 

All the local girls had fantastic tournaments. Melinda and Ella were always a menace up the front in the striking positions, Neve was immense in the midfield particularly in the win over Northland, and Amanda was a wall throughout the tournament on defence.

Thanks to all the local businesses who have supported the Wairarapa age grade representative teams. Its an important step in the development of these local players to be able to test themselves on the national stage.

Caption: (From left): Melinda Marshal, Neve Bruce, Amanda Jephson, Ella Kirkup, team manager Carolyn Jephson.

Harbour got out to an early 3-0 lead through their fast-paced attack. But Wairarapa adapted and held them scoreless in the second half, which was a great effort against the tournament’s eventual winners. That result meant that the Wairarapa were playing for 5 th -8 th and through a twist of tournament fate, again came up against the strong Canterbury B side. They put in another strong performance but again came up just short, which meant they played Tauranga who they drew with 1-1 in normal time, and eventually went down to in a penalty shootout.

 All of the girls have grown so much as players since running around together in the Martinborough hockey team as juniors. A lot of this is thanks to expert coaching over the years from the likes of Ana-May and her sister Janeen Bruce, both from the Playle family of Wairarapa hockey legends.