Tauranga Hockey Association is excited to be hosting the Rankin Cup and India Shield which is Hockey New Zealand’s top-tier secondary school boys’ tournament.

“We have 32 teams from across NZ including last year’s winners of the Rankin Cup, Timaru Boy’s High School, and Rongotai College took out the India Shield and are no doubt aiming for back-to-back titles,” said Tauranga Hockey Association general manager Megan Cleverley.

Cleverley said the local teams competing are Tauranga Boys’ College and Bethlehem College.

“The talent here is incredible with many players already representing their region in the recent U18 Men’s tournament in Napier.

“This tournament is another part of that journey to be future Black Sticks.

“Not only do we have the high calibre players but also deliver a quality tournament. We have 33 officials and umpires, Tauranga Hockey staff and many volunteers from within the community and without these people this tournament would not happen.

“Hosting such a top-level tournament here in Tauranga is exciting and we have had a great start with many old boys coming along to watch the games.”

While the boys gear up for their games in Tauranga, the top girls’ teams are heading to Hamilton to compete for the Fed Cup.

The tournament runs this week, from Monday until Saturday, September 7.

“We have two Tauranga players playing in secondary tournament with Grace Aldridge playing in Invercargill and Jett Chatfield playing here for Tauranga Boys’ College and both have been selected in the NZ Hockey U18 squad.”

Many of the tournament games from across the country will be livestreamed.

There are nearly 70-80 games streamed live each day, with a total of around 350 games across all tournaments.

For full list of pools and schedules, head here.

To watch the livestream throughout the week, head here.