Southern lures Kake from Hong Kong

Mark Kake.
Mark Kake.
Southern Hockey has a new mentor.

Former Black Sticks player Mark Kake has been appointed regional development coach for Southern Hockey.

Kake, who coaches the Hong Kong national men's team, has signed a one year deal and will return to New Zealand to take up the Dunedin-based position in late February.

The 51-year-old's main priority will be to develop training programmes for the region's coaches, Southern co-chairwoman Jenny McDonald said.

''Over the years in the Southern region we've actually had large increases in players ... but we haven't got the people to coach them,'' McDonald said.

''A lot of people who have children playing haven't played hockey themselves, so we are trying to build up that base of people who can coach.

''We just don't have people who know enough about the game to actually help them. When you only have two or three at the top doing everything, it means you haven't got the people coming through.''

Kake, who is originally from Auckland, represented his province from 1984 to 1995 and played for the Black Sticks from 1986 to 1990 and again from 1992 to 1995.

He coached the New Zealand Maori from 2005 to 2009, then led the Auckland under-18 team to a national title in 2009 before moving to Hong Kong.

Southern is determined to strengthen its coaching networks across the five associations which make up Southern and shoulder tapped Kake for the job.

Having a dedicated person of his calibre will have a positive impact on the quality of the region's coaches, McDonald said.

Kake's wife, former Black Stick Tina Bell-Kake, will join him in Dunedin in July and it would not be a surprise if she ended up coaching the Southern women's team.

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