\u201cHe\u2019s been the foundation on which so many teams and players have been built.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat makes this nomination truly special is that the students themselves initiated it. That speaks volumes: Warren\u2019s presence, encouragement, and guidance have been inspirational.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a rare and lovely thing when the beneficiaries of service step up to honour their benefactor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Litchfield said it was \u201cincredibly kind and thoughtful\u201d of the students to nominate him. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe nomination sort of shows what I\u2019m doing is important to them,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve truly embraced the team-first culture we\u2019ve worked hard to build together. I\u2019m humbled by the recognition and deeply grateful to all the players, wh\u0101nau, and supporters who\u2019ve stood behind WBHS hockey \u2013 and me \u2013 over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Litchfield said what he loved most about the role was creating opportunities for the boys. <\/p>\n
That included venturing out of Northland to other schools like Auckland Grammar School, Westlake Boys\u2019 High School, and even schools in the South Island.<\/p>\n
During most of his involvement in WBHS hockey, his sons have also been part of teams, which has been an additional sense of purpose for him. <\/p>\n
Among the many opportunities afforded to students was a development trip to Malaysia and Singapore in 2026. <\/p>\n
Students from the 1st XI and other teams will head over there to play six games while enjoying the culture that many of them had not experienced. <\/p>\n
Principal Alec Solomon said Litchfield had built not just a successful programme but a brotherhood. <\/p>\n
\u201cHis passion, humility, and selflessness exemplify what it means to serve others through sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHe\u2019s been the foundation on which so many teams and players have been built.\u201d \u201cWhat makes this nomination…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2346,1848,6965,2959,43779,13489,76034,7570,51611,3556,111,139,69,90,31340,4062,2022,213,7574,223,810,6656,1869,6202],"class_list":["post-105050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-award","tag-boys","tag-contributions","tag-high","tag-hockey","tag-leader","tag-litchfield","tag-longserving","tag-mentor","tag-national","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-recognition","tag-school","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-teacher","tag-the","tag-up","tag-warren","tag-whangrei","tag-wins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}