INCOMING Sunraysia Hockey Association president Kyle Curtis remembers growing up playing the sport he loves in a tight-knit community.
Curtis made his start at Waratahs Hockey Club, where he developed a passion for the game, splitting his duties between playing, coaching and umpiring.
After high school, he moved to Ballarat, where he undertook multiple roles at Hockey Ballarat which including Vice President, Junior Development Coordinator and Participation Officer, among other ventures.
Curtis also spent time in Melbourne where he played for the Greensborough Hockey Club.
Now, with a much stronger resume than when he left, Curtis said in a message to the association that he would do everything he could to grow the sport in his home region.
“As your new president, I hope to bring all of my experience, knowledge and passion for field hockey to grow and develop this wonderful association that my family has been a part of over the last 25 years,” he said.
Close to 15 years ago, the association boasted four grass fields, which as well as club rooms, they shared with Mildura West Cricket Club.
At the time, it was decided that a new turf field would be constructed for the club, also gaining its own club rooms and space.
While it was a decision that made sense on many levels, Curtis believed that since then, the association’s viability has slowly declined.
“We’ve gone down from four fields to one field, which has sort of spread out our community,” Curtis said.
“Going from all the games being played on a Saturday to being over Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday, we sort of lost that family orientated connection.
“So I’m really trying to to push that overall family culture back into the association.
“We’d love to gain a grant for a second pitch, but we also badly need an upgrade to the 14-year-old pitch as well.”
Curtis also wants to increase the club’s public profile and stage more events.
“More social events, hopefully just trying to boost general morale,” he said.
“Really, I think it’s an overall culture issue that we have, that everybody’s been divided over three days and I think that division has led to some prolonged issues over the last 14 years, so we need to come together a bit more.”
Curtis encouraged anyone to get involved with the association.
“A strong family community is what we had on the grass,” he said.
“We do still have elements of that here and I think we just need to come back to that a little bit more.
“I’m the second oldest of eight siblings and all of them have played hockey here … there’s multiple families and definitely a sense of belonging.”
