IAS graduate Mitch Hurry is keen to carry the experience of a whirlwind tour of Asia into his club’s Illawarra hockey premiership hunt. Hurry, 22, along with long-time friend and fellow IAS graduate Chris Whitehall have arrived back in Australia after spending two weeks representing the country overseas with the national Country squad. The Australian Country team played 10 games against various clubs and rep teams across Singapore and Malaysia. The pair were selected to represent the country after super impressive performances for NSW at last year’s Country Championships. They have played side-by-side for a decade, with both graduating from the IAS Southern Phone Hokey Program in 2010 and Hurry says he was honoured to share the experience with Whitehall. “I’ve played hockey since I was about four, but I’ve played with Chris since he started … when he was about 12,” Hurry said. “We’ve been playing together ever since.” Following a taste of representative hockey, Hurry is keen to go the next step. And that step would be to playing for NSW at the National Championships, as opposed to the Country Championships. The National Championships pit the best metropolitan players from each state against each other. Hurry and Whitehall have been playing for Sydney grade club Moorebank-Liverpool since under 17s and continue to travel north to the city every Saturday to play, as well as lining up in the Illawarra competition on Sundays. They typically line-up in reserve grade when playing in Sydney and Hurry knows it will be tough to crack into first grade, let alone be chosen to represent NSW. “The next step would probably be making the NSW team, not just Country, because you’re competing against players that are top of their grade in Sydney and other states,” he said. “Personally, that would be a goal for me. “I don’t know how realistic that is because you need to make a name for yourself, you need to be playing really well before being recognised. “Second grade in Sydney is close to first grade down here in terms of quality. But then first grade in Sydney is ridiculous – it’s a giant step up.” Hurry is in his final year of an electrical engineering degree at the IAS’s Education Partner the University of Wollongong while Whitehall has just started teaching at Holy Cross Primary in Helensburgh after graduating last year.
