For some players, just taking part is in itself a staggering achievement. Will Pratten races by in his motorised wheelchair; the 18-year-old has an undiagnosed condition affecting his muscle tone, which means a standard hockey stick would be too difficult for him to lift.
“I think we’re on design number seven now,” says his dad Alan, who built Will his own custom stick.
“The last one he had used an old fishing rod with a plastic head at the end. The current design uses a knee brace that straps a wooden pole to his lower arm and then at the bottom we’ve taped on some old halves of plastic bottles so he can scoop up the ball.”
Flyerz Hockey’s inclusivity is its greatest strength, with coaches happy to give specialised training to suit every player’s needs.
“Nobody’s ever picked last here. For Will, putting on the team kit is so crucial,” adds Alan. “For a lot of the players, if they didn’t have these sessions, they’d be so isolated.”
It’s a similar story for 10-year-old Samuel Wilson who receives some one-on-one coaching in a secluded corner.
Samuel has autism as well as coordination issues. But, since training with Flyerz, his concentration has improved.
“Last Christmas, I took the family to play mini golf,” says his dad Will. “We’d never had him attend for the whole course before. He was suddenly trying to hockey it around the golf course.
“He has a little brother, who now plays hockey, and anything they can do together, if there’s a game to play, as a parent, it’s great.”
