Johnstone wanted to make the moment special and invited former Parkes hockey juniors, and state and national reps Kurt Lovett and Jack Elliott to take part.

“It’s quite an honour and privilege to play for Parkes,” Johnstone told the 12 juniors present on Thursday night.

He spoke about how Lovett and Elliott – and even three-time Olympian and 2016 Hockey Australia Hall of Fame inductee from Parkes, Stephen Davies – all began where these teenagers are today.

He said they could all make a career out of hockey one day if they wanted to.

He also told them to work hard for each other this weekend, have fun and to aim big.

READ MORE: Best under 15s on show in Parkes

“We’ve been very proud of your training,” Johnstone said, before turning to Lovett and Elliott to say a few words.

Lovett has been a member of the Australian Under 21 Burras team and just last week was selected for the Opens NSW team, the Waratahs, for a third time to play in the Men’s Australian Hockey League against other states.

He, and Elliott, repeated Johnstone’s message.

“Having fun is a big thing – you’ll be playing with your mates so it’s always going to be fun,” Lovett said.

“And you need to work hard for your mates.”

Elliott added it was also important to have a go and not to give up.

Following the pep talk, Johnstone asked Lovett and Elliott to present the players with their Parkes shirts they’ll be wearing at the state titles, that began this morning and run until Sunday.

“We wanted to do this...it makes the moment special for them,” Johnstone said.

“It’s quite a big honour to wear these black and white shirts.”

Parkes is fielding two teams in the state titles – Parkes 1 in Division 2 and Parkes 2 in Division 3.

Parkes coaches Johnstone, Ian Westcott and Dan Wilson hosted trials to select players for the teams, which involved eight to nine weeks of training.

The Parkes 2 team were presented their shirts this morning.