Northern Tasmania's hockey purists will have a chance to air their concerns as Hockey Tasmania hosts a community forum on the region's issues.
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The body's chief executive Damian Smith said the August 9 event to be held at the Northern Hockey Centre is a golden opportunity for the sport's Northern members.
"We always like to take a collaborative approach to anything we are dealing with," Smith said.
"I don't have all the answers so I need our membership to assist us to create better outcomes and how we want the sport to be in the future.
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"It's a fantastic opportunity to contribute in a constructive manner to how people want to see the competitions and facilities moving forward."
Planned before comments to The Examiner regarding problems surrounding the future of hockey in the North, the forum's announcement follows social media outcry from people heavily involved in the Greater Northern League.
With the divide between the North and South of the state within the sport one of the main issues, Smith said he understood why people see it that way but doesn't believe it to be a major problem.
"I certainly don't see that. I appreciate it is there and I can't do much about that but at the end of the day, I and the board - we have seven members, three from the North and North-West - are all committed to addressing the challenges we have.
"These challenges have been there for some time, they are not something that has just appeared. They are things that we need to work on and there is no one fix for this, it's going to take time to address and is a priority moving forward."
Smith hopes the forum can help reconnect with old players.
He believes that the governing body and Northern competitions committee has got a better structure in place for the region than previously applied.
"What I'd really like to see this do is re-engage people who have stepped away from the sport and have them come back into it.
"I really want to try and attract more people back into the sport that we have lost in some respects."
Having previously played hockey in Launceston throughout the 90s, Smith describes the community as a "vibrant" one despite the criticism it may receive.
"We need to re-invest in Launceston, there's no doubt about that in terms of facility.
"I don't have all the answers so I need our membership to assist us to create better outcomes and how we want the sport to be in the future.
- Hockey Tasmania CEO, Damian Smith
"What I've found in the last 20 years is that we've had a volunteer base who are extremely important to our sport but we've had too few doing too much for too long."
As the future of the Greater Northern League will be a key feature of discussion within the forum, Smith keenly anticipates the conversation.
"We've got committees in place for a collaborative approach for any changes.
"We really need to have a good sit-down between the North and North-West and the committee structures that are in place to have some robust discussions about the future of that competition and how we want it to be."
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