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Speaker 1: Now a real change of pace right now because we're

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Speaker 1: heading across to focus on sport. There is so much

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Speaker 1: going on in NT hockey and the Territory Stingers are

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Speaker 1: set to compete in the prestigious Malaysian Hockey League next year,

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Speaker 1: and there's also a special program being delivered in Alice

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Speaker 1: Springs with an Olympian and hockey room visiting local schools.

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Speaker 1: Joining us on the line to tell us a bit more.

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Speaker 1: Is NT Hockey CEO Jason Butcher. Good morning to you, Jason.

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Speaker 2: Hi Katie, how are you?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, really good, Thanks so much for your time this morning. Mate,

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Speaker 1: tell me about first off, what's going on in Alice Springs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I just flew back late last night. So there's

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Speaker 2: an having an amazing week down there. So we've got

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Speaker 2: the Australian Olympic Committee and Hockey Australia and their program

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Speaker 2: Olympians Unleashed and obviously local boy made Good Tom Wickham

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Speaker 2: is there and as you said, Hockey Roo Renee Taylor.

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Speaker 2: Also the Indigenous AOC scholarship holders and we have two

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Speaker 2: of those, Travis Carroll and Shanna Casimiro. So they're down

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Speaker 2: there delivering programs as schools. There's a coaching workshop a

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Speaker 2: couple of nights ago where we had a massive turnout

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Speaker 2: from the local community and just getting out and about

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Speaker 2: the community doing a whole range of things. It's very

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Speaker 2: cool and I.

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Speaker 1: Would imagine there is plenty of talent in Alice Springs

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Speaker 1: as well when it comes to hockey. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: One of the I actually got back on the tools

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Speaker 2: on Monday and help run some clinics, which is good

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Speaker 2: for the soul. But yeah, it's amazing when you go

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Speaker 2: to these remote communities and Alice Springs always had such

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Speaker 2: great heritage with this there there is amazing talent. The

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Speaker 2: kids pick it up quickly and they love it. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: that's going to feed into all the work we've been

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Speaker 2: investing in to get junior hockey back in a formalized

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Speaker 2: way in Alice Springs next year.

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Speaker 1: There's definitely talent and it is really good stuff. I

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Speaker 1: just think sport for our young people is incredible. But

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Speaker 1: seeing that in Alice Springs is a great thing. Now,

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Speaker 1: tell me, I know that the territory Stingers, well there's

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Speaker 1: set to compete in the prestigious Malaysian Hockey League next year.

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Speaker 1: What's going on there?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, as we discussed over the journey we've tried

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Speaker 2: to get back into Hockey one. Didn't get much joy there.

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Speaker 2: We weren't really happy about the response. Instead of griping

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Speaker 2: about it, we've pivoted and to our knowledge, will become

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Speaker 2: the first Australian sporting franchise to defect from Australia and

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Speaker 2: play in another country's international league. So I'm flying there

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Speaker 2: next week to finalize our schedule and arrange things. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: we'll be playing in the league. I think the first

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Speaker 2: game is the fourteenth of February, so lots to do

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Speaker 2: in a short amount of time.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds like that. Sounds quite incredible. How come

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Speaker 1: we are sort of going across and competing overseas well.

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Speaker 2: We need that aspirational piece for our community, but also

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Speaker 2: that competition pathway so we can keep getting better. So

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Speaker 2: we need to find a home. We're still working towards

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Speaker 2: getting back into Hockey one, but the way this has

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Speaker 2: panned out is actually exponentially better for everyone. We think

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Speaker 2: it's a massive opportunity for the territory as a whole

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Speaker 2: and also for other territory sports potentially going forward. And

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Speaker 2: obviously the territory government whether it's tourism, economic benefits, infrastructure,

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Speaker 2: relationships through sports, diplomacy. But we think it's a space

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Speaker 2: that opens up the door for everybody. So we're really

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Speaker 2: excited about finding a new home in another country which

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Speaker 2: is essentially across the river.

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Speaker 1: It actually it sounds really cool and it does sound

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Speaker 1: like it could potentially create some great pathways as well,

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Speaker 1: even for our junior hockey players, like we were discussing earlier.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, you know, the Malaysia or top ten country

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Speaker 2: in the world, so the league is strong, but it's

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Speaker 2: also probably not as strong as the Hockey One League

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Speaker 2: in terms of where Australia is at. So for our

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Speaker 2: young groups, it's going to be a really sweet spot

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Speaker 2: to have a really good competition that's at the level

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Speaker 2: we're at. And we're also build a relationship with Malaysia

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Speaker 2: and also Singapore and other and other countries around sort

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Speaker 2: of becoming part of a collective if you like, to

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Speaker 2: make this region stronger above the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: Hey, onto, I guess something else that's happening with hockey

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Speaker 1: in the end as well, because it does sound like

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Speaker 1: this so much happening. I understand that one Stingers player

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Speaker 1: has gone on to play in the English Premier League,

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Speaker 1: Is that right? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: For Zach Rackis is over there now. I think he's

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Speaker 2: player's first game this weekend at a club called Bouton

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Speaker 2: which has just been promoted back into the Premier League,

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Speaker 2: so he's part of them, you know, re getting back

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Speaker 2: after being relegated a couple of years ago, so that's

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Speaker 2: going to be exciting opportunity for him. And we've had

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Speaker 2: a number of our athletes Calvin for Millow, Nathan Hoffman,

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Speaker 2: Karl Hofman to name a few that have done this

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Speaker 2: in the last probably twelve eight en months and it's

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Speaker 2: a byproduct of not having that hockey one pathway, So

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Speaker 2: our kids are finding new ways to get experience and exposure,

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Speaker 2: just like when they go to the Perth Premier League,

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Speaker 2: or like Noah Faye Who's and Hayden Peters are in

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Speaker 2: the Brisbane Player squad playing in the Brisbane competition. This

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Speaker 2: is an unfortunate thing that our kids have had to do.

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Speaker 2: So getting this team into Malaysia and rebuilding that space,

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Speaker 2: we're really hopeful that kids are going to stay here

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Speaker 2: and other kids are going to be attracted to come

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Speaker 2: back to Darwin and you know that feeds the whole

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Speaker 2: thing as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good stuff full. Jason Butcher, CEO of NT Hockey.

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Speaker 1: Really good to catch up with you this morning, mate.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate your time and keeping us up to date

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Speaker 1: with what's going on when it comes to hockey.

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Speaker 2: Brilliant Katie. I really appreciate it as well. Thanks mate,

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Speaker 2: love it.

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Speaker 1: Thank you,