Sport
13 February, 2026
Youngsters urge to ‘come and try’ hockey
CAIRNS Hockey Association (CHA) is running a five-week ‘junior come and try’ series this month, offering children the chance to try hockey for free every Friday afternoon throughout February.
The initiative, known as Free Fridays in Feb, started on 6 February through to 27 February, with a bonus session on Friday 6 March.
CHA operations manager Jodie Dennis said the program was designed to be simple and welcoming for families.
“We are doing a come and try series for five weeks. They start in February and we just call it free Fridays in February,” Ms Dennis said.
“It’s basically just turn up at 4pm and we run heaps of fun activities for kids on the turf for 45 minutes.”
The sessions will be held from 4pm to 4.45 pm at Reef Turf, with all equipment provided.
“We’ve got everything here, sticks everything. They just need to bring a hat and a water bottle,” Ms Dennis said.
She said families did not need to register in advance.
“There is a registration link, like a QR code on the flyer, but honestly, they can just turn up.”
She said registration was mainly used to contact families if sessions were affected by the weather.
“If they do register, it’s just for us to contact them if there’s a storm or we can’t get on the turf or something.”
A season sign-on day will also be held on Friday 20 February, from 4pm to 6pm at the main entrance in the Lily Street car park.
Ms Dennis said hockey offered long-term opportunities for families in Cairns.
“We have a really nice community here. It’s very family-based, and we run programs where the little kids can actually play with their parents,” she said.
“It’s like a whole family sport that you can play right up until you’re really old. We’ve got players out here who are in their 80s.”
