Whakapapa

Whakapapa includes the genealogies and stories of descendants and their connection to whenua (land) for all cultures. It acknowledges our shared histories and the impact of foundation in Aotearoa. Acknowledging the whakapapa allows people, in their own way and in their own time, to explore how these histories influence their lives right now. You are supported to embrace the journey to find your tūrangawaewae, your place to stand.  

Honours Board

We're incredibly lucky here in Tauranga with the quality and quantity of our officials. Many of our Tauranga volunteers have officiated at high levels and held important posts both nationally and internationally. We will honour those we hear about. Please send in any current or historical appointments to Rachel: gds@tgahockey.co.nz. Let's celebrate officials and their important contribution to our amazing game!

International Honours

The Tauranga connection...

Kelly Hudson
Kelly began umpiring via school umpiring duty, part of being a 1st XI player. Seeking a different 'perspective' on the game, and hoping to become a better player as a result, Kelly committed to a full season of the umpiring duty, and was fortunate to have quality tutelage from the outset of her umpiring career from Craig Gribble, (who was the 1st XI coach). Kelly attended her first National U13 Collier Trophy Tournament at the end of a year of practicing umpiring, and never looked back.

After progressing through the National Umpire Pathway, Kelly was succesful in gaining her International Badge in 2005. Kelly's first International Tournament didn't come until 2009, and since that time, Kelly has steadily progressed her umpiring career and has experienced many highs and lows. Committed to a philosophy of continual improvement and always curious to learn more from every perspective - Kelly is now among the best umpires in world hockey and has been appointed to Olympics - London 2012 & Rio 2016, the 2010 and 2018 World Cup, Champions Trophies, World League and Continental events; 2019 and 2020 ProLeague, as well as being a regular contributor on the local and national scene. Kelly was due to umpire at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that were affected by Covid-19. Kelly is also passionate about giving back to the game and has been Umpire Manager at national age group events over the past 15 years.

Sarah Garnett
Sarah Garnett is a former International umpire from Tauranga. Garnett was named New Zealand's Female Umpire of the Year for 2006. She umpired the Semi Final at the 2002 World Cup in Perth, Australia and then in 2006 umpired the World Cup Final, held in Madrid, Spain. Sarah umpired the Final of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. 

Sarah Garnett also umpired at the Athens Olympics 2004 and umpired the Semi Final at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 where she retired as an International Umpire.

Sarah has now moved into the role of International Umpire Manager, and has received appointments such as 2010 Commonwealth Games in India, London 2012 Olympics and the 2014 World Cup in Holland since her retirement from umpiring at the highest level. Sarah remains one of the premier female Umpire Managers in world hockey, recently guiding the umpire panel at the Junior Women's World Cup in Chile in 2016, and the Hockey World Series in Malaysia 2019.

Gill Gemming
Gill is well known for her commitment to Coach and Player Development within Tauranga and New Zealand, having volunteered selflessly for Tauranga Hockey and Tauranga Boys' College for many years. Gill also held the role of Coaching & Development Officer at Hockey New Zealand and has continued a 'whole of sport' development approach in her current role as FIH Oceania Hockey Continental Development Officer. This all encompassing role includes delivery of Umpire Courses and Technical Official upskilling throughout the Member Nations of the Oceania region. Gill is a qualified and experienced Technical Official, holding roles throughout New Zealand as Technical Director, overseeing the smooth running of events. Gill is also conversant with the current online officiating reporting system - and has led courses and upskilling sessions on this online programme locally and nationally. Often involved with International Series this is an aspect of officiating we are hopeful to see develop further in the region. 

Peter Turner

Peter first started playing hockey on grass at Pemberton Park for Welcome Bay Primary School. His playing days continued up to his last year at secondary school. Peter went on to train as a chef at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic and continued at Waiariki Institute of Technology and then Auckland University of Technology. After many years of working in the hospitality industry. He retrained as a teacher and completed two postgraduate degrees at Waikato University.

Peters first introduction to umpiring was in the early 1990’s when he was attending Tauranga Boys College. He has since gone on to officiate countless representative matches and continues to officiate at all levels of the game for our association.

The game of hockey has also been enjoyed by Peter’s son Henry who has competed against an Australian representative side as a player. He also represented Tauranga as a representative player, like his father and got the opportunity to play for Bay of Plenty. 

Peter holds a Sports Coaching certificate gain from Southern Institute of Technology along with World Rugby’s Level 2 Coaching certificate gained through the Crusaders High Performance Unit in Canterbury. He is currently the teacher in charge of Volleyball at Rotorua Boys High School. This being a sport that his daughter Simone excelled at in school. Winning two national titles and going onto represent New Zealand at the World Secondary Schools Cup in France. He currently enjoys supporting his grandchildren’s sporting ambitions in the pool and possibly on the hockey pitch someday.

Rachel Williams

Rachel is originally from a small village in England and started her umpiring journey in her early teens. Having become an international umpire for England over various years with naitonal league exposure and euro hockey leagues and frameworks to develop within, Rachel umpired the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022 and made her ProLeague debut with a men's game no1 vs no4 in the world rankings. A testiment to her resillience and determination, Rachel was the first female to umpire a men's world cup game and went on to become the first female to umpire a men's world cup final in Pretoria, South Africa in 2023. Rachel has moved across to Tauranga for her studies and continues to give back to the hockey community. Never one to shy away from hard work, Rachel often umpires 3 games on a Saturday in our club space and offers support to any umpire wherever they may be on their journey. 

Joanne Cumming
Jo Cumming grew up and commenced umpiring in Tauranga. Joanne attended the University of Waikato, and now lives in Gisborne. Jo was appointed to the FIH international umpires list in 2015.  This Hockey NZ article  details her achievement. A family affair for Jo, her dad Geoff Lowry played rep hockey for Tauranga and her mother was also involved in hockey, Jo's brother Ashley also played as goalkeeper and progressed to national age group honours. Most recently, Jo represented New Zealand as a Neutral Umpire at the World League Round II Tournament in Malaysia at the beginning of 2017, and the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia.

Caroline Bigham
Caroline Bigham is a former International umpire who lead the way for the development of officials within the Tauranga area. During her career Caroline officiated at numerous Oceania Tournaments and International Test series. After retiring from umpiring at the top level, Caroline shared her vast knowledge with the next generation of umpires within Tauranga and also throughout NZ as an Umpire Coach, and also as a Technical Official. Caroline also held posts as a Technical Official at international level. Still based in Tauranga, Carolines continued contribution to Officiating in the area is second to none, and greatly appreciated by the wider hockey community. Caroline received a Hockey New Zealand Service to Hockey Award in 2014, and was made a Life Member of Tauranga Hockey in 1999.
Caroline received the Hockey NZ Administrator of the year for 2016. A recognition at the highest level of the hard work and volunteer hours poured in by Caroline. Congratulations!

Craig Gribble
Craig grew up here in in the Bay of Plenty and attended Tauranga Boys' College. Holding an interest in umpiring from a young age Craig progressed through the national tournament pathway and became an International Umpire, umpiring at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester among other tournaments. Craig took his career skills in teaching and presentation to contribute significantly to Umpire Coaching, developing a number of officiating educational resources before becoming the Umpire Development Manager at Hockey New Zealand, later re-named as the Hockey NZ Technical Manager, it is in this role where the Hockey NZ Pathways, and Officiating panels have been well established and supported. Parallel to this, Craig honed his skills as a wolrd class Umpire Manager, being named in this position at the past two Olympics, the last World Cup, and a large majority of FIH World Level events - such is the value of his contribution to the role. In late 2016 Craig was appointed as FIH Officiating Manager, a role he held for 2 years which included an overhaul of the 'pathways' a fresh approach to umpire reporting, feedback and development and the groundwork for the inaugural FIH Pro-League Competition.


Achievements

We have asked all our officials who have been involved at national and international levels to advise us of their appointments so we can celebrate them here. 

    2024 Achievements

    International

    Caroline Bigham

    • Masters World Cup - Cape Town, SA - Auckalnd NZ (TO)

    Sarah Garnett

    • XXXIII Olympic Games - Paris (UM)

    Helen Travers

    • Olympic Qualifier - Ranchi, India (TO)
    • Masters World Cup - Auckland, NZ (Umpire)

    Peter Turner

    • Masters World Cup - Auckland, NZ 

    Kelly Hudson

    • Olympic Qualifier - Valencia, Spain
    • ProLeague Umpire - Bhubanshwar, India
    • Indoor World Cup Qualifier - Canberra, Australia

    Rachel Williams

    • 50 International Senior Caps (Outdoor)
    • XXXIII Olympic Games - Paris
    • Olympic Qualifier - Valencia, Spain
    • EuroHockey Championships, Monchengladbach, Germany
    • ProLeague Umpire - Utrecht, Netherlands​​​​​​​

    National

    National Hockey Championships

    • Luisa Balsom
    • Sarah Garnett (UM)
    • Kelly Hudson
    • Hugh Lees
    • Helen Travers (TO)
    • Rachel Williams 

    Premier Hockey League

    • Sarah Garnett (UM)
    • Kelly Hudson
    • Rachel Williams

    National Indoor Championships

    • Kelly Hudson
    • Rachel Williams

    2023 Achievements

    International

    Sarah Garnett 

    • ProLeague - Hobart, Australia (UM)

    Kelly Hudson

    • ProLeague - Sydney, Australia

      Peter Turner

      • Masters Asian Intercontinental Championships – Hong Kong, China

      Rachel Williams

      • ProLeague - Hobart, Australia
      • ProLeague - Wellington, NZ
      • EuroHockey Olympic Qualifier - Monchengladbach, Germany
      • Mens and Womens Indoor World Cup - Pretoria, South Africa 
        • ​​​​​​​Of note, Rachel was the first female to umpire a men's world cup and subsequently the first female to umpire a men's world cup final.

      National

      National Masters - Tauranga

      • Peter Turner

      National Hockey Championships

      • Luisa Balsom
      • Sarah Garnett (UM)
      • Kelly Hudson
      • Helen Travers (TO)
      • Rachel Williams 

      National Indoor Championships

      • Kelly Hudson
      • Rachel Williams

      2022 Achievements

      International

      Kelly Hudson

      • World Cup - Amsterdam, Netherlands

      Rachel Williams

      • EuroHockey Qualifier - Dunkirk, France
      • EuroHockey League - Hamburg, Germany
      • FIH Hockey5s - Lausanne, Switzerland
      • Commonwealth Games - Birmingham, England
      • ProLeague - Mendoza, Argentina 

      National

      National Hockey Championships

      • Sarah Garnett (UM)
      • Kelly Hudson
      • ​​​​​​​Tom Rutherford
      • Helen Travers (TO)
      • Rachel Williams 

      2021 Achievements

      International

      National

      2020 Achievements

      International

      National

      Peter Turner

      • National Masters - Christchurch

      2019 Achievements

      International

      National

      National Masters - Hamilton

      • Peter Turner

      2018 Achievements

      International

      Peter Turner

      • Masters World Cup - Barcelona, Spain 

      National

      Peter Turner

      • National Masters - Wellington

      2017 Achievements

      Kelly Hudson

      International

      • NZ v India Test Series
      • FIH Golden Whistle - 100 official senior matches
      • FIH World League Semi-Final - Brussells, Belgium
      • FIH World League Semi-Final - Johannesburg, South Africa

      National

      Peter Turner

      • National Masters - Auckland

      ​​​​​​​2016 Achievements

      International

      Kelly Hudson

      • International Test Series - Canada v NZ
      • Junior World Cup Qualifier - Aus v NZ
      • FIH World Panel
      • Champions Trophy
      • Rio Olympic Games

      National

      Peter Turner

      • National Masters - Nelson

      ​​​​​​​2015 Achievements

      International

      Peter Turner

      • Masters Trans-Tasman Challenge - Melbourne, Australia

      National

      Hockey NZ Umpire Council Certificates of Achievement 2015

      Kelly Hudson

      • NHL Most Valuable Umpire
      • NHL final - Women​​​​​​​

      2014 Hockey NZ Service Awards
      Gold Service (25 years service)

      • Caroline Bigham
      • Bill Webb
      • Alan Galletly
      • Rob Leslie

      Tauranga Hockey thanks these four for their many years of service.