A well-known figure in both the local and national hockey community has been recognised as part of the Queen's Birthday 2018 Honours List.

Tauranga Hockey Association president Gill Gemming has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to hockey.

Like other honourees, she found out she had been nominated a few weeks ago.

'I was overwhelmed. Certainly it's never one of the reasons you start volunteering, but I felt very proud.”

Gill started playing hockey at school, before continuing onto Canterbury University and later playing in Auckland. However, an injury soon prompted her to move into a coaching role.

'As a secondary school teacher in the 1970s, we were asked how we would like to give back to the school, so I held my hand up to coach hockey.”

She says she was fortunate enough to be the first hockey coach to go through the BayTrust CoachForce programme administered by Sport Bay of Plenty, all the way back in 1997.

'It's a magnificent programme, still running today. It's all about raising the number of coaches relative to players, and ensuring the latter have the support they need.”

As continental development officer for the Oceania Hockey Federation, Gill has also been responsible for delivering the grassroots planning, administration systems, as well as the initial coaching of volunteers to grow the sport in smaller Pacific countries.

'It's about giving them the opportunity to participate. You find kids there who don't have the things we take for granted, like shoes. So we have a programme here in Tauranga where players provide uniforms, shoes, sticks – anything we need, that we take to the islands.”

With more than 90 new coaches starting out in Tauranga alone this year, Gill says the most important role former players and coaches can assume is that of mentoring the next generation.

'If you can inspire others to give back and volunteer as well, that makes it all worthwhile.”