Title: Hockey Academy Townsville. 

Aleisha: At Kirwan State High School we have a Sports Academy Program. We cover seven different sports, hockey being one of them. 
Our program currently consists of 24 students from years 8 to years 12, and each year they progress through the program learning 
new skills and they also represent the school in any school sport, including the Queensland All Schools in October. 

Carmel: At Pimlico our students learn hockey as part of our Physical Education Program. They also learn a lot of social skills 
around participating in teams, cooperating with other students, being respectful. Physical Education provides that avenue for 
them to do that. Students that want to progress further they have the opportunity to play for our school in inter-school hockey 
for both boys and girls. 

Aleisha: Our students have grown and showed a lot of improvement throughout the Hockey Academy Program. When you look at their 
development in a Townsville Hockey sense, they're quite often a lot of the fittest students in that program. They do a fitness 
program along with their skills components so it looks at both areas of their playing ability. 

Carmel: Students also have the opportunity to play hockey outside of school for a club team. And we have a 14 club competition 
here in Townsville. 

Aleisha: Townsville is an amazing place to be. It's early days of winter and we're standing here in shorts and shirts. So for 
anyone coming from Europe it's quite an incredible journey. Hockey is one of those sports for Europeans. It's quite common 
they've probably got some good understanding of it and it allows them to create a friendship group beyond school when they do 
come in and arrive at Townsville.