For the first time in its history, all four of Kiama Hockey Club’s women’s teams played in grand finals over the weekend - with two of them walking away as premiers.

Held at the Illawarra Hockey Centre in Unanderra, the day began bright and early with fifth grade hitting off at 8:50am - and setting the tone for a strong showing.

“We had a big crowd turn up,” said Kiama Hockey Club committee member Emily Wright. 

“The fifth grade women kicked off at 8.50 and that was a pretty tight game.

“They came away with a 1–0 win, so that was a pretty good way to start the day.”

Next up was fourth grade, who were down 1-0 for most of their match. A short corner in the final moments gave them a last chance, but they were unable to convert and went down 1-0.

“We won the third grade game after that quite convincingly. That was a 5-0 win - a great result,” said Wright.

“The girls celebrated with cartwheels at the end of that game - everyone was so pumped and excited.”

The final Kiama match of the day was second grade, and it was a thriller. Kiama jumped out to a 2-0 lead before their opponents clawed it back to 2-2. 

A penalty stroke gave Kiama the lead again, but Uni hit back to level at 3-3. Then, in the final three minutes, Uni scored again to take a dramatic 4-3 win.

Despite the close losses, Kiama walked away from the day proud - with two premierships and two tight matches.

“Everyone’s just really stoked,” said Wright. “It’s just rewards for all the effort that’s been put in throughout the year.”

Kiama's second grade team - who went down in a tightly fought match. Photo: Brian Scott

“It also allows us to look at how we can continue to grow the club in the future - and maybe attract more players.”

Wright said the success of 2025 is the result of years of planning and investment in local talent.

“This was a vision we had probably 10 years ago when we started to grow our juniors, knowing that one day they’d feed into our senior teams.

"Now we’ve got a really strong senior comp.”

“Kiama is quite unique in that we’ve got a lot of girls coming through. Our junior girls and women’s teams are really strong across the association.”

Looking ahead, the club has its sights set on strengthening its men’s sides and finally fielding a first grade women’s team in 2026.

“We’ve always aimed to have a first grade team - that’s the pinnacle - and we’re getting close. Considering how well our second and third grade teams went this year, we’re hopeful we’ll be there soon.”

The teams wrapped up their big day with a celebration at Kiama Bowling Club, which Wright thanked for its ongoing support of the club.