The squad will compete in the National Championships to be held in Hobart, Tasmania, in April.

The selection is a tremendous achievement for any teenage player, but especially thrilling for a regional player from the Far South Coast competition. 

“I could not believe I made it!” Turi said.

Unfortunately, local competitors are at a disadvantage with no immediate access to artificial turf fields for play, or practice. 

Turi said he would be expected to travel to keep in touch with the artificial surface. 

 “The closet turf hockey field is in Canberra and I really have to train on turf now that I have reached this level,” he said.  

However, the young player has taken some pointers from the likes of Hockey Masters players Leigh Rogers and Michael Collins to overcome the problem. 

In a truly ingenious move, local athletes have taken to training on tennis courts as it provides a similar surface to the artificial turf hockey fields. 

Turi has taken to working on the Pambula tennis courts, with his only other options being Canberra or weekly training sessions in Goulburn, which he said were too difficult to reach each week. 

Proud mum Suzie said Turi’s commitment and passion for hockey was evident in his training schedule. 

“He has trained through the off-season summer period over the last two years to get to a level where selectors would see his talent,” she said. 

And the selection is a just reward for the family, that has had to travel up to 800 kilometres for two-hour training sessions in Wollongong and Goulburn. 

Suzie said the trips were long, but it was the level of support needed for Turi to reach the elite level. 

More hard work is still to come. 

Not only will Hides be training long hours independently, but he will also need to travel regularly to important training sessions and competitive meets. 

The family said the costs of attending the competition will exceed $2500 and trips for training are racking up a tremendous fuel bill. 

As part of the tournament, Turi will be required to buy his own uniform and pay for all travel and accomodation, as well as training trips to Sydney. 

The family is hoping local businesses will get behind this talented teenager and future national athlete with sponsorship to get him to the Nationals. 

In return for your support, Hockey NSW is able to acknowledge your sponsor’s logo (with links to their website) on the Hockey NSW website alongside the sponsored players’ team listing. 

Hockey NSW will also provide a certificate of recognition that can be displayed at the company’s workplace.  

NSW Hockey sponsorship forms can be obtained from suziehides@icloud.com.

Suzie said that any amount of financial assistance will help Turi to achieve his goals.