Jack Clayton has been coaching hockey for 35 years at all community levels. His focus in the past 15 years has been in the youth space. In previous roles as the Development Officer at Waikato Hockey and the National Youth Manager at Hockey New Zealand, Jack has had the opportunity to influence the lives of many young people. Jack started coaching at HGHS in 2015, when our Premier Hockey side finished a credible 6th at NZSS Nationals in 2019! Three players from that HGHS team have just been named in the Junior Black Sticks - Mary Ieremia-Allan, Ella Leighton and Leah Hodges. That's impressive! Jack's coaching philosophy is "Sport provides many opportunities for young people to develop life skills and the way I coach must provide coaching moments that can be used to develop these skills in a supportive environment." 

Jack uses an athlete centered coaching approach which means that all his players have multiple opportunities to have input into how the team is run on and off the field.

We are excited by his leadership, knowledge and experience, and can't wait to see Hockey grow and develop under his guidance. 

Welcome Jack!