The NZ Polocrosse Board in conjunction with the coaching panel recently announced a Development Team to travel to Toowoomba Australia in July to Challenge for the Cooper Family Trophy.

This trophy was donated by Gilbert Cooper and family and has always been contested between a NZ team of any grade and a comparable team from Queensland. The trophy is held by the wining team and travels with the team and has been held in both Queensland and NZ over the years.

The competition will consist of 1 test each day at the Oakey Show grounds, the home of the Toowoomba Polocrosse Club who will be hosting the event. The Queensland players are to nominate 2 horses and the horses will be put into 2 pools of equal ability.

On arrival, Thursday 17th July, the team will draw for a pool of horses and then both teams will be granted 1 hour to ride the horses and then again for 1 hour on Friday.

Now let’s meet the team and management!

Coach is Tony Schrafft. Tony is a sole charge policeman at PioPio and has been playing international polocrosse since 1987. The pinnacle of his career has been captaining both World Cups in 2003 and 2007.Tony is also a NZ Polocrosse Board member. He plays for Putaruru Tirau in the Central Plateau Association. Tony has a seven year old daughter Jessica.

Manager Julinda Marshall farms with husband Stephen on their Wanganui property.
They have 4 children and the family are heavily involved in all aspects of polocrosse. Stephen is on the NZ Polocrosse Board umpires panel and Julinda is treasurer and secretary of her home club Kakatahi and also provincial secretary for Wanganui Waimarino.

Stephen Watson from Putaruru Tirau club has been playing polocrosse for about 15 years. His preferred position is No 3 and his first national cap was in 2001 in the NZ Men’s team. Steve was selected in the 2007 NZ World Cup squad and also in the 2008 Sponsors tournament where he was named best horse and rider with Benji. He is a builder and is married to Donna and they have two sons.

Dwayne McKay started playing polocrosse at age 10, in Victoria Australia and competed in polocrosse, camp drafting, show jumping and pony club up till 18.He gave it all up to go to university and on completion of university started playing polocrosse again in 2000.He played for 2 years in Victoria then travelled to Ireland to coach and play for a season. He then returned to Victoria for a couple of years before moving to NZ to start playing with Putaruru Tirau. Dwayne was selected in the 2007 NZ World Cup extended squad and also played in the 2008 Sponsors tournament. He and partner Marnie and they have recently moved from Nelson in the South Island to Bay of Plenty.

Daryel Mouat Plays for the Putaruru Tirau Club in the Central Plateau Association. His first international cap was in 2002 when he competed in the NZ Junior team against Australia. Daryel has been playing at an international level since then and has had one season in Ireland playing for a club called Horetown.

James Marshall plays for the Kakatahi Club in the Wanganui Waimarino Association. His first international cap was in 2002 when he captained the NZ Juniors against an Australian Junior Team. He has also competed at an international level since then and was named in the 2007 World Cup extended squad. He and partner Jess are shepherding near Wanganui and are proud parents of one year old Ashdyn.

Savanah Larsen Church is 18 years old and is studying to become a Vet at Massey University in Palmerston North. She has been an active member of The Turangi Pony Club for the last nine years and competes in Rodeo, Show jumping and Eventing .Savanah is in her third season of polocrosse and she plays for the Tuwharetoa Team in the King Country Association.

Laura Demptser plays for the TeMata Club in the Waikato Association. Her first international cap was at age 14 when she played in the 2005 NZ Junior Team that played in the Junior Quadrangular Polocrosse Series in Australia.Laura has been playing competitively since a very early age and at age 16 years was named in the NZ World Cup Squad. She is currently at Waikato University studying civil engineering.
Older sister Nadine Dempster also plays for the TeMata Club in the Waikato Association and has been playing international polocrosse since 2002 when she was named in the NZ Junior team. She was named in the NZ World Cup extended squad in 2006 and played in the sponsor’s tournament earlier this year.

Nicky Schrafft is a Detective in the NZ Police Force and is based in Tauranga. She has been playing polocrosse for about 22 years and plays for the Putaruru Tirau club in the Central Plateau Association. Her first national cap was when she played in the NZ Ladies team against Australia in 1995.She is a current netball representative and has two daughters.

WE WISH THEM ALL THE BEST AND BRING HOME THE TROPHY!!