Indoor hockey on the Border continues to go from strength to strength.
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An open men’s team will travel to Melbourne to contest the Hockey Victoria open men’s Indoor Club Championships for the first time – held across two weekends at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
Following the success of the junior indoor representative program in recent years, plenty of interest was shown to get an open men’s team together.
Players were selected from the Border Indoor Hockey Premier League competition.
The Border outfit will play three of its six pool matches on Saturday against Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School (PEGS), Camberwell and Knox-Box Hill, before returning the following Sunday for clashes with Toorak-East Malvern, Waverley and Powerhouse-St Kilda.
Coach Ben Martin is hoping for a competitive showing from the side.
“We’ve got the individual skills, it’s just a matter of putting it all together,” Martin said.
“A lot of us have either played together or against each other in the past, so we’re pretty familiar with each other.
“Most of the guys are playing for the Spitfires and we’ll play other top clubs in Melbourne.
“I think we’ve got a pretty good bunch of guys that are pretty keen to give it a red hot go.
“It’s going to be a good challenge based on what we’ve learned from the juniors going down there.”
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Indoor hockey is vastly different to outdoor, with only six players per side.
Matches are played on a basketball court with sideboards used so the ball doesn’t go out of bounds.
However, players aren’t permitted to lift the ball at any stage.
“You’ve got to take a lot more care when trapping and passing the ball,” Martin said.
“It really improves your trapping skills.
“It’s a good way to keep in touch with your hockey skills for outdoor.
“We’re starting to overlap a bit with pre-season training, especially with the Capital League guys.
“It’s good fitness and it keeps those skills going.”
The Border Indoor Hockey squad is: Ben Martin, Jeremy Payne, Oscar Smart, Dom Wild, Dion Wright, Joe Forster, Noah Erdeljac, Charley Wallace and Brayden Mulrooney.
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