INLINE hockey players descended on the city over the Labour Day long weekend for the Bendigo Cup.<\/p>\n
Held at The Zone in East Bendigo, the comp ran from Wednesday, 8 to Monday, 13 March, and saw teams from most states take part with player numbers double on last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we first started it was us two and it was two days, last year it was three, and this year it\u2019s six days of hockey,\u201d said organiser and player Peter King.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got clubs from Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales, and SA all here.\u201d<\/p>\n
King said organisers are looking to branch out again next year to potentially include teams from Western Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n
The Bendigo Cup is a feeder competition for selection into the national team, the Aussie Roos.<\/p>\n
That squad will travel to America in July for the State Wars tournament, which involves about 300 teams from 11 countries and is set for Indiana.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the level of the Senior 1s, we\u2019ve got guys who play in pro leagues playing, we have a referee who\u2019s the head ref of Italy over, so it\u2019s dragging international exposure too,\u201d said Mr King.<\/p>\n
Bendigo player Darci Fitzpatrick currently gears up for the local division three Blaze 2 team and the women\u2019s Blaze 1 team, and won Silver in the senior\u2019s comp at the Bendigo Cup.<\/p>\n
She said the Cup is \u201cbigger than you\u2019d expect for Bendigo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eighteen-year-old Fitzpatrick has played internationally and said her goal for this season is \u201cjust trying to get better in general.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
INLINE hockey players descended on the city over the Labour Day long weekend for the Bendigo Cup. Held at The Zone in East Bendigo, the comp ran from Wednesday, 8 to Monday, 13 March, and saw teams from most states take part with player numbers double on last year. \u201cWhen we first started it was […]<\/p>\n