Four teams from Australia and New Zealand will take part in the 2017 Marist Hockey Club tournament.

Club vice-president Paul Fraser said it was important to have overseas competitions to help improve the performance of local players.

Fraser believes more overseas games and the right skills taught to young hockey players will help lift the profile of the sport.

“Next year we will be bringing in four overseas teams from Australia and New Zealand for the first time,” Fraser said.

“The skill set and the mindset that these overseas teams bring into each game is something we can learn from a lot.

“These overseas teams pick up these basics in junior hockey and we play on so much passion but that alone cannot help us develop and improve.

“That is why having overseas teams here is a huge advantage for hockey in Fiji.”

Fraser said Marist Hockey has had a successful year despite a few challenges but they are looking forward to 2017.

“We try to encourage our women to be at the same level as us, they are getting there but only half their team,” he said.

“The challenge is the training, half the time we do not get the full core team.

“We are looking forward to next year, it will be an interesting and busy one. One thing we are going to target is the league.”

“It has been a very successful year for us and we would like to thank our sponsor Geotech as they made it very easy for us to deal with and came up with all the finances and everything.”

Edited by Osea Bola

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