Bathurst's Luke Abbott named 2021 Hockey NSW Community Young coach of the Year

Held in Newcastle, Abbott was one of a number of individuals recognised.

Abbott said the award was a huge honour.

"It's a bit of an honour, really," he said.

"It's pretty cool with some of the people that were coming up to me, congratulating me. I messaged mum and dad straight away when I got it."

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Abbott originally found out he'd been named a finalist for the award a number of weeks ago and being nominated was a shock enough for him, let alone winning the award.

The 18-year-old has been involved in hockey since he was about five years old, but got involved coaching and umpiring juniors about five years ago.

"I've been playing hockey since I was about five or six. I use to play at Lithgow, but I finished playing there was I was under 11s," he said.

"I then moved to Bathurst and I've played here ever since. It's where I got involved in the coaching and umpiring and all that, which was about four or five years ago.

"I use to play but then I got too old. I wasn't really doing anything on Friday and I liked going down there, so I started going down talking to people and I got involved in doing it more."

Abbott believes it's important to get involved with junior men's hockey because he wants to help keep the youngsters playing the sport for as long as possible.

"I just want to help keep Bathurst hockey alive, really. To keep the young juniors playing, especially the young boys," he said.

"As they get older they start playing footy and all that but you can't really play footy when you're 50 years old.

"I'm just trying to keep them involved and liking it as they get older.

"Some of the kids now I see around the streets and they come running up to me saying, 'Hey Luke'."

While he no longer plays junior hockey, Abbott regularly wears the blue and white of St Pat's during the local Bathurst Hockey Association grade competition, a club he has been playing with since he came to Bathurst.

Orange CYMS also took out the Hockey NSW's Community Club of the Year.

The green and golds were praised by state officials for - among other things - developing a strong junior base and keeping kids interested in the sport.

One way they did this was by developing a futures team which acts as an understudy to the Premier League Hockey side.

"We weren't confident at all. It was a big shock to win," club president Janeen Toner-Wasil said.

"We're not just resting on our laurels with the team we've got now, we're trying to produce into that team so we can stay on top."

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