May 20, 2007 Update

New Zealand Masters Players

Its time to garner commitments to play in the World Champs in Durban in April/May 2008.

We have the depth of talent to produce a medal-winning team from New Zealand. In order to achieve success at this level it requires that some of our past open grade players a. make themselves available b. get fit enough to play in the Worlds.

I will be making inquiries over the next few weeks in order to see who we have who are keen and available to play.

As far as I’m concerned, the difference between the recent Southern Hemisphere Comp and the World Comp is like comparing 2nd and 1st division Rugby. My priority is to take a team to Durban that is a firm medal contender. For those of us who played in the SHC, such a NZ team would be as powerful over the SHC Aussies with Simon Talbot on board as they were against our team. This requires a talented and fit team.

I want to hear from any interested players ASAP. I also want to hear of any talented Masters who you know of who may be interested to play as well. Once I have received feedback and made the phone calls, I’ll report in and let you all know what our prospects look like.

It’s less that a year to this comp. Players will have to be working on their fitness now.

Lets Get Fired Up!

Terry Axford

Coach

terryaxford@hotmail.com

December 2006 Update

Hi All

NEW ZEALAND INTERZONE CHAMPIONSHIPS

In March 8,9,10 2007, the Regional UWH competition will take place in Wellington.

I’m putting the word out now so that each of you Masters players can start forming up teams in your respective regions before the Christmas break

I’d like to see 5 Masters Age Teams compete in the Regionals. I know the talent is here and Wellington is a great venue. If any Region is short of a full squad, I can assist them to apply to have quality players from another Region make up the numbers. I wrote to some of you earlier this month about looking at a 30+ competition. Judging from the response so far we should be able to form enough teams of Masters Aged Players. However, there is provision to make some changes to the age limits within teams if we don’t get the numbers fronting up and we all can agree on it.

SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE COMPETITION

Concerning the SHC, I want to get clear numbers of interested players by the end of December*. This is an international competition and I want to invite every Master player to consider backing himself to take part in it.

I have requested that we might enter more than one NZ Masters team into the comp. There will be 2 or 3 games played each comp day and the level of play will be very high. In saying that, we don’t have confirmations of participation from the Aussie Masters and will not have their confirmed entry until early February.

Per player costs of competing in the SHC are higher than a National competition. As host Nation, NZ teams are bound to cover the pool hire costs, medallions, pucks, first aid personnel and more on behalf of all the visiting teams from overseas. An UWHNZ memorandum advises that the costs of the Tournament are around $1800 per player for Uniform, Travel, Entry Fee etc. Quoting from a recent NZUWH recent memorandum: “As hosts we have to cover the costs of the tournament so having more teams means we can do things a lot better for less cost per player although the Mission of UWHNZ (actually Zoe) is to fund as much of the tournament costs as we can.”

NZ Masters Southern Hemisphere Trials at Regionals in Wellington

My conditional plan is to book the WRAC pool and a meeting room on Thursday the 8th of March before the bulk of the Regional Competition takes place, inviting those players to attend who -

a) want to compete in the Southern Hemisphere Competition(SHC) in Christchurch(CHC) in mid April 2007

b) or/and want to compete in the Worlds in South Africa in 2008.

Among other things, we will concentrate on working on positional play in the pool session. I want to brief the prospective players on our plans to make competing in the SHC a rewarding affair and the way forward as I see it to achieving success in South Africa. At the end of the Regional Competition, I will have had a look at all of the interested Masters Talent. Shortly thereafter the team or teams to compete in the SHC will be formally announced

DEALING WITH PRE-FITNESS TEST TRAUMA

-“Ha ha ha i dont need a test to tell me how unfit i am lol”

Just start. It isn’t as important what your times are on this first test as much as it matters that you begin. So here’s my advice to any of you who are daunted by this fitness test. 1. Read the 4 Exercises. Make sure you that understand what the exercises entail and how to record your times. If you don’t understand the exercise, ask someone in your Masters playing group if they have read the Fitness Test and understand it. If they haven’t read it, show it to them and see if then see if they understand it. If you both don’t get it, ask another Master player. Email them the fitness test if they don’t have a copy. I’m the final resort for explanations 2. If you’ve read the fitness test, and understand it and it is still daunting, that is, you have serious doubts about whether you can complete all four exercises….. choose one exercise and have a go. If you can complete one of the exercises, congratulations, you have completed your 1st fitness test. Record the results. Consider either improving on that one exercise or perhaps adding another . If you do add another exercise, do them in order. i.e. 1st before 3rd or 2nd before 4th.

And by the way Chris,What is a lol?

KEEPING OUR RECORDS STRAIGHT

Please e-mail me to obtain the MS Excel spreadsheet to do the fitness test. The purpose of the spreadsheet is so that you can fill in any missing personal details, record your fitness test results, and let me know if you are intending on being part of the NZ Masters Team for the Southern Hemisphere Comps or/and the Worlds. If you are a Masters Men’s player and haven’t received a Fitness Test, than drop me an email and I’ll send you the Test and the XL doc. Send me your best results from the fitness test and playing intentions by the end of December. I’m not only recording results here, I’m rating resolve.

My next Masters Update will be posted early in the New Year

There will be a new fitness test in January 2007.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and have Great Holiday.

Terry Axford

terryaxford@hotmail.com

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