New Zealand Qualifier
So Kiwi's we need to decide how we are going to do our qualification for the worlds in TIMARU 2016 (yipee). Timaru and Christchurch had a chat the other day and thought it might be a good idea to run Winter Whack as the qualifier (around early to mid-October). But if someone else wants to host it - all good and if people would prefer it in Timaru on their "awesome court" then they would be happy to host as well. The main reasons for ChCh were - easy access for all, Timaru will have quite a bit on with the worlds and ... it’s not a huge effort for us to host as we are pretty set up for it. But it would be on our low boards. Thoughts?
Andy Balcar CHC Mon 2 Mar 2015 8:28AM
Thats Great Alan - any details / thoughts - how do you put in an offical bid?
Alan [AKL] Mon 2 Mar 2015 8:32AM
No idea how this works.. We've never had two or more cities keen to host nats before? At this stage we're looking at possibly two courts on low boards, or potentially two courts at the cage, or a combination of full size boards and low boards. We should know in a couple of weeks what the outcome from the council is. I propose we set a date for cities to put their hands up by, say 1st April, then all NZ reps vote or something? Again, I have no idea how to do this, just relaying what the Auckland peeps are up to, and have been working on.
Brook [SYD] Wed 4 Mar 2015 11:37PM
Might be worth checking how many teams might be interested first. If you only have 8-12 who would be keen for a specific qualifier then wouldn't 1 court (even a pickup court) be enough?
Ollie BNE Wed 4 Mar 2015 11:44PM
Yeah, and rather than using low boards just collect heaps of pallets and use them as full hight boards. Its a simple free solution assuming you have somewhere to store the boards for free until the tourney, oh and a ute or two...
Sam TIM Fri 6 Mar 2015 1:38AM
Exactly. It's no trouble for the timmars guys to host, just whether people can make the trip here twice in 6 months
Alan [AKL] Fri 6 Mar 2015 1:50AM
I have asked Hawera, Wellington and Hamilton to let me know how many teams they might send to a tournament. I reckon Auckland will send at least 3 teams. I'm guessing about a total of 10 teams from Te Ika-a-Māui total.
Alan [AKL] Fri 6 Mar 2015 1:56AM
Hawera say 2-3 teams.
Doug [Hawera] Fri 6 Mar 2015 2:48AM
We would prefer Auckland only because it's closer. At this stage I would guess 2-3 teams would make the trip to Auckland and 1 maybe 2 teams would make the trip to Christchurch
Richard Brown Fri 6 Mar 2015 10:20AM
Timaru would be have 2-3 teams maybe more keen to travel? But players really would prefer to play on full height boards as it is the NZ Qualifier & would be expected at this level. Its a different style of game with low boards?
Alan [AKL] · Mon 2 Mar 2015 8:25AM
Auckland is also looking at hosting the NZ qualifier. We are in the process of talking with Auckland Transport and Auckland Council about funding and facilities before we put in an "official" bid.