How the Black Sticks are preparing for a Hockey World Cup like no one else
The New Zealand Black Sticks hockey teams are navigating a unique, decentralized preparation model for the 2026 World Cup due to funding cuts and a lack of centralized training facilities. Players are largely training independently while living and working across different countries, relying on individual ownership to maintain performance standards.
Why it matters
This highlights the challenges faced by amateur-status national sports programs in an era of increasingly professionalized global competition.
The world's leading hockey nations are preparing for the World Cup with full-time programmes, international test matches and daily access to teammates and coaches.
The reality for the Black Sticks looks very different. Intentionally so.
The combined impact of funding cuts , the women failing to qualify for the last Olympics and hockey dropping off the Commonwealth Games programme means the road to the 2026 World Cup has been a carefully laid pathway.
The men's and women's World Cups run co-currently this month, with the men based in the Netherlands and the women in Belgium.
At the last World Cup in 2023 the Black Sticks men achieved their equal best finish of seventh. The women's highest finish came in 1986 when they were fourth.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in