General News
9 August, 2026
Ready to roll in China
THE shearing pavilion at the Warrnambool Showgrounds has become somewhat of a second ‘home’ for two of our district’s most talented hockey players on wheels.
Thomas Dark and Tim Edwards, both members of the Warrnambool Roller Hockey Club, are currently competing at the Asia-Oceania Clubs Champions Cup in China.
Speaking with the Warrnambool Weekly late last week (before they flew out on Sunday night) the pair said they were eager to test their skills against players from other countries.
“It’s pretty exciting to be heading overseas to play,” Thomas said.
“It’s my first time overseas. We have a pretty full-on program so I’m not sure how much sight seeing we’ll get to do, there’s quite a lot of game time and training sessions.”
In order to qualify for the Asia-Oceania Cup, the team needed to win the Australian Club Championships.
“Our Warrnambool club didn’t have enough players to compete in the Australian Club Championships in Brisbane last October so Thomas and I joined with players from the Mordialloc club to make a team,” Tim said.
“We won that tournament which qualified us for the next level in China. The winner of that will head to the World Club Championships.”
Roller hockey, while classified as a non-contact sport, can be quite physical and Thomas and Tim train regularly to keep themselves fit.
“Teams have four floor players out there at any one time plus a goal keeper,” they explained.
“We wear quad skates and yes, the ball is quite hard and can hurt if you get hit, but it’s all part of the challenge of the game.
“We were both raised around the sport, with family members involved when we were kids, so it was a natural progression really.
“We love it and it’s great to be able to play our sport at quite a high level.”
Thomas and Tim will fly home this weekend.
And for Tim the international experience will continue in October when he represents Australia at the World Skate Games in Asuncion, Paraguay from October 10-18.
“I went to a training camp in Melbourne in January with absolutely no expectations whatsoever,” he said.
“When I was told I’d made the Australian team I was pretty surprised to be honest but it will be an amazing experience.”
Tim will be one of more than 10,000 athletes at the games, representing over 100 countries in 12 sports.
In the intercontinental group draw (group B), Australia’s men’s team will take on Colombia, Brazil, Egypt and South Africa.
Group A includes Switzerland, Austria, the United States, India and Mexico.
