The North West has sent its first ever boy's team to compete in the Queensland state schools hockey competition.
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The tournament took place in Ipswich last week and over the weekend and North West team manager Chris Pocock said their presence was a long time coming.
"This is the first year they've got it up and running," Mr Pocock said.
"There has been a lot of work done by people behind the scenes to make it happen. The boys are having a great time."
Mr Pocock said the seven players trialled out to make the team coached by Cairns-based Queensland school coach Vicki Sparkes,
"We were a little bit unlucky, we had half the team coming from Mount Isa and half coming from Normanton but the Normanton guys were a little bit worried about the impact of the virus so they dropped out," he said.
"Instead we had seven players join us from other region."
It's an intensive competition with 10 games in four days and because it is the first time, results haven't quite gone the way they would have like but Mr Pocock said they would learn from the experience.
"We haven't won anything but we are being competitive, the boys are working for each other. It's a positive experience for them," he said.
"Some of these kids (in opposing sides) look like they are 15 or 16, and of course have a much bigger population to draw on."
Mr Pocock said they were also getting used to the astroturf surface.
"They've never played on turf before so there is lots to learn," he said.
"There's hope that next year we may be able to send the boys away again and maybe a girls team as well, which would be fantastic as every other team has a boys and a girls team."
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