Hockey Coach wins Service to Sport Award

See the Otago Daily Times article below:

When it comes to playing hockey, Murray Thompson is the first to admit he is "just a hack".

Yet the Logan Park High School head of science has managed to win a major sporting award — the School Sport New Zealand Service to Sport Award — for his 38-year contribution, mainly as a volunteer hockey coach.

"I played hockey for the Canterbury over 45s when I was 48. That’s the sum total of my regional and national representation. I’m just a hack, really.

"But the thing is, you don’t have to be a good player to be a good coach. With kids, it’s about making them enthusiastic."

Dr Thompson was most proud of the fact that Logan Park had up to five hockey teams, which meant about one in 10 pupils at the school played hockey.

"When you think of some schools of the same size that don’t have any hockey teams. That’s what I’m most proud of.

"For me, it’s always been about the kids and doing what I can to help the kids."

Somehow, he also finds time to manage a masters hockey team and do his main job — teach science.

The sports award is the second national teaching award he has won in less than six months.

Last September, he was awarded the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry sciPAD Denis Hogan Award for excellence in chemistry education.