Last Saturday, Novemebr 29th, at the Kiama Seaside Festival, Unicycle Hockey
teams from Sydney, Wollongong and Canberra met for a hockey tournament.
After some discussions, (and some apologies to the Melbourne team, who were 800
km away) it was declared to be the Australian Unicycle Hockey Championships.
The Canberra team, with their team name, UNICC, emblazoned across their matching
t-shirts, put on a good show, just beating both Sydney (who came second) and
Wollongong (who were the reigning State champions from last year’s tournament).
James Gifford, from the Canberra team, provided an excellent trophy, hand-made
from an old unicycle seat and a couple of worn hockey sticks. Unfortunately for
my team, it was awarded straight back to him. We’ll wrest it from him next time
- which is likely to be in Canberra in March.
Thanks to all the players who turned up - I had a great time, playing against
different players, and going out for pizza afterwards.
Also thanks to the Kiama Seaside Festival Organisers, who provided a blocked-off
section of the main street of Kiama, a large audience, and even a donation,
which should buy us some new goals!
Hopefully, some Australian (and NZ??) unicyclists will be inspired to practice
their hockey and get their teams together ready for the next championships.
If there are any hockey players in Australia looking for a team, drop me an
email. I’ll put you in contact with any locals I know about.
Julian Orbach Chief Publicist, Sydney Unicycle Hockey Team.