Hockey phenom backed with school scholarship

WHILE staff and students at Teesdale Primary School gathered for their regular Friday afternoon assembly last week, the occasion was anything but typical for one grade 6 pupil.

With his school community watching, hockey prodigy Lachlan Flett was presented with a sports scholarship to attend North Geelong Secondary College next year.

Flett was given the certificate by North Geelong principal Nick Adamou, and his mother Kate said he was blown away by the presentation.

“He was very humbled by it,” she said.

“He’s a bit nervous about starting high school at this point but he’s excited and thinks the school might be very supportive of him going overseas to play and things like that.

“That’s the main thing we were concerned about was him falling behind with high school but they have a program to help kids keep up or catch up.

“The sport scholarship wasn’t something we were thinking about for him. They actually got in touch with us and asked us to submit one.”

The scholarship is valued at around $4500 for a two-year period.

Flett recently took part in the Inline Hockey State Championships in Queensland, where he captained the Victorian under 11s team and was named the highest points scorer for the event.

Following the tournament, Flett now has a home league through the Lilydale Rats Inline Hockey Club after years as an unaffiliated player.

Having exceeded his age bracket at other clubs, he said it’s great to be playing with his peers.

“It’s really good because now I’m not versing adults, and it’s heaps more fun to go against kids my own age,” he said.

As well as high school next year, Flett will potentially return to the US to compete in the State Wars Hockey tournament and nationals, which he was involved in last year.