Territory Trio recognised for hockey talent in Australian Futures Squads

A Territory hockey trio has been recognised as future stars of the game after being named in an important junior squad.

A trio of Territorians has been selected to take part in this year’s Australian Futures Squads, which will put them one step closer to potentially playing for the national sides in the future.

Amy Stripling, Macenzee Dixon and Tobias Jenner were selected in the 32 player squads alongside some of the best emerging stars in the country.

The squads highlight a group of players who will be in their prime come the 2032 Brisbane Olympics with many likely to be Hockeyroos or Kookaburras stars by that time.

Striping, 17, is the captain of the under-18s NT side which competed at the championships in Hobart, and fared well in a tournament dominated by Queensland.

Macenzee Dixon was selected in the national under-18s futures squad.

Locally she plays for the Banks Hockey Club in the Darwin Hockey League and was named the 2023 NT Junior Sportsperson of the Year.

She will be joined by 16-year-old Dixon who plays for Commerce Pints Hockey Club in the local league and first played in A-Grade in 2022.

Dixon won the 2022 A-Grade best and fairest award and was a finalist at the 2023 NT Sports Awards in the Local Performance of the Year category.

Jenner competed in the men’s squad in the under-18 national championships where he took on strong teams from Tasmania and Queensland.

He reached the A-Grade grand final of the Darwin Hockey League in 2022 with his East Darwin Storm Hockey Club.

“We are extremely proud of all of the hard work and effort these athletes have put into their hockey development,” Butcher said.

“We look forward to them representing the Territory on the National stage with pride.”

Tobias Jenner was selected in the national under-18s futures squad.

Hockey NT chief executive Jason Butcher said it was great to have three Territorians in the futures squad.

“We are extremely proud of all of the hard work and effort these athletes have put into their hockey development,” Butcher said.

“We look forward to them representing the Territory on the National stage with pride.”

Over the course of the next 12 months, the selected athletes will be part of a program that includes individual athlete performance planning and online technical and tactical sessions.

They will learn about dual careers, mental health and wellbeing, while there will also be two training camps held.

Amy Stripling was selected in the national under-18s futures squad.

Former Kookaburra and national pathway program technical lead Mark Hager said the talent across the country was overall better than last year.

“The overall standard was better than last year and despite some of the more lopsided results, there were a lot of really competitive matches,” said Hager.

“These players have been identified as potential Hockeyroos of the future. They will be the next crop coming through over the next decade with an eye to Brisbane in 2032.

“While they have performed well to be selected in this squad, the hard work and dedication goes up another level from here.

“We look forward to helping these players become the best hockey players and people they can be.”