A BREED of new young hockey players in the Okehampton area is set to spring up following grant funding from the lottery to provide coaching.
Okehampton Columbines Ladies Hockey Club has received £577 from the lottery's Awards for All scheme to fund coaching sessions, culminating in a tournament for girls from local primary and secondary schools.
Hockey skills will be taught to girls aged 10-14 on the all-weather pitch in Okehampton and be advertised in outlying primary schools and local secondary schools.
The sessions will start in the New Year.
The money will also pay for young players to take a Level One hockey coaching course to boost youth hockey.
Columbines committee member Jane Jones said 10-14 year-olds were not really catered for at the moment.
'I found after doing some hockey coaching at my daughter's school in Hatherleigh that the kids were keen to keep it up but too young to come to the ladies' practice sessions,' she said.
'If we can encompass the year six pupils at primary school we can give them a taster before they join Okehampton College.'
Jane said the Columbines was only a small club and could not provide coaching without grant funding, as any club money was spent on hiring pitches and transport which was not cheap.
'Many of us are nearing retiring age for playing hockey and it is important we train the young ones on so the club can continue in the future,' she said.
'These sessions are for kids who want to have a go — they do not have to have any experience at all. The whole point is for them to enjoy themselves.'
The coaching sessions will start in the new year with a tournament planned for the Spring.