YOUTH hockey in Hampshire is growing all the time, and the Games mirrored that view.

Mike Ward, the chairman of the Hampshire Hockey Association for 26 years, was having a great time at Aldershot.

Not only were the lots of youngsters playing the sport, but all the umpires were teenagers as well.

"This is a great way to bring on young players but also young umpires and administrators," he said.

"It's good to see local authorities getting involved in sport. Rushmoor have sent a hockey team, but there's no club called Rushmoor except in events like this.

"Junior hockey is going well. Go to one of the bigger clubs like Havant, Winchester or Southampton on a Sunday and you'll see over 100 youngsters.

"Hampshire are county champions in three age groups nationally and we're also the third biggest hockey playing county in the country if you include players at all levels."

Robin Glanfield, the president of the Hampshire HA, added: "It's marvellous to see all the children having such fun, and the skill levels are very good too. The enjoyment is undoubted.

"We have a duty to provide coaching and playing opportunities because there's only so much schools can do given their facilities. I went up to the club at Winchester the other day and there were loads of youngsters playing. There was a four-year-old playing in one team!

"Junior sport in Hampshire is very good. Look at the amount of junior football that's played.

"In hockey our pitch facilities are incredible. There's only two water-based pitches in the whole of the east of England, but we've got four in Hampshire - one at Southampton, US Portsmouth, Basingstoke and Havant and they're building one at Aldershot.

"Hockey is a great sport, and you've got good behaviour from the players and the parents - we don't allow bad behaviour."

Hockey uses a three-card disciplinary system of green for a warning, yellow for a five-minute 'sin-binning' and red for a sending off and a minimum 16-day ban. "I don't know why football doesn't employ a similar scheme," said Glanfield.

"I'm told the Channel Islands FA experimented with it once and they saw their disciplinary levels halved."