3 days ago
Hockey in the blood for silver fern family
Having one player in a senior national squad is some accomplishment.
Having three brothers all wearing the silver fern over June and July is more than some effort — it is a rarity in top-level sport.
The three Ward brothers, who hail from Warrington and went to King's High School, have made national senior hockey squads.
Middle brother Finn made his Black Sticks debut at a tournament in Malaysia last week while his younger brother Patrick was a reserve for the team. After illness hit members of the squad he was called into the team, playing key games at the end. He made his Black Sticks debut a couple of years ago.
Older brother Jordan was watching on from the stands in Malaysia. He has been named in the New Zealand A squad.
Jordan, who has been close to making national squads in the past, was selected for the Hulunbuir (Moqi) Invitational Trophy, played late next month, in the far north of China, close to Mongolia. The A team is part of a new NZ Hockey strategy to expose a wider group of athletes to international match play and grow the depth of the Black Sticks men's programme.
Jordan, an electrician, is living and playing in Melbourne; Finn is in Wellington, working as a teacher while Patrick is a surveying student at the University of Otago. They also have a younger sister, Zara, who is studying architecture at Otago Polytechnic.
But they all hail from Otago and bleed blue and gold.
Their success comes from hard work, talent, making the most of opportunities and support from their parents and friends.
Patrick Ward said before the tournament started he had just followed his two older brothers, picked up a stick and got into it. Finn Ward said they had been around a hockey stick since they were little, either playing or watching.
They paid tribute to their parents who helped them massively financially and got them to where they had to be in terms of trainings and games.
Otago Hockey pathways manager Hymie Gill said the Ward boys were given a good schooling of hockey at King's High School through coach Dave Ross, laying the foundations.
''They are pretty much hockey rats. Just been down at the turf all the time. And they have that drive to want to be better than everyone else,'' Gill said.
''Their parents are athletic, they have a couple of uncles involved in athletics so they have the genetics thing.''
Technically they were very good and athletically were strong. They were good at multiple sports but all choose hockey.
''They were always practising their skills — doing that extra work after practice that has to be done when you are younger if you want to make it.''
He said it was something of a surprise that the youngest brother Patrick was the first to make his national senior debut but Finn had now made it and hopefully Jordan would eventually get there too.
Parents Blair and Liz Ward were on the sideline in Malaysia last week and were extremely proud of their sons.
Blair and Jordan were invited to see Finn's jersey presentation and a proud dad presented the shirt to his son.
''It brought a tear to my eye. All the work they have done to get there. And having Jordan there was pretty important. He was the one who really set the standards, set the work ethic, the love of playing the game. And the other boys just went from there,'' Blair said.
''They just carried it on. Finn is a talent and just wanted to to emulate Jordan. Then Patrick came along and he is just so competitive. They all love team sports. King's, Tuataras, Otago — they still keep in contact with so many of the guys they have played with.
''Jordy started it, out at Warrington, working with Wendy, who is Kane Russell's mum. Kane was the superstar they all looked up to.''
He said his sons were all incredibly driven and motivated and seeing them playing together at the higher level was a massive buzz.
''We just get out of their road, really — let them do what they can. In the final the two of them were interchanging each other so I thought they might not be on the field at the same time. But they were in the second half so that was great.''— APL
