Cricket and hockey are the two sporting loves of Scorpions’ new recruit Emma de Broughe
Emma de Broughe is only a teenager, but is already making waves in both cricket and hockey. After an impressive pre-season the new SA Scorpion recruit made her state cricket debut on Sunday
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No one likes running a 2km time trial on the first night of pre-season training.
Not even the supremely fit state cricketer Emma de Broughe.
But that didn’t stop her coming out in early June on the first day of pre-season for the SA Scorpions squad and absolutely blitzing it.
De Broughe ran the 2km Uni Loop in a time of seven minutes and 28 seconds, setting a new “Scorps” record. And those in the know except her to break that again: apparently she ran a faster time than that when training in the under-18s.
What’s impressive about the teenager (she turned 19 in early September) is that her supreme fitness is not only an indication of its elevated importance in women’s cricket, but the fact that she’s also a gun hockey player.
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“I do certainly enjoy the fitness aspect of both sports,” she muses.
“It’s pretty important in both. I guess through hockey it’s important to have a strong aerobic base … obviously when I came out here with cricket, I already had that aerobic base.
“I wouldn’t say I enjoy running and I certainly don’t enjoy testing, but I do enjoy going for a run every now and then.”
Earlier this year, at age 18, de Broughe was awarded her first state cricket contract for the upcoming 2019-20 season. And on Sunday made her debut in the bright red South Australian colours in the Scorpions’ six-wicket loss to NSW in the opening game of the WNCL.
It was the culmination of a couple of years of great form across both sports: she co-vice captained the SA under-18s team last summer (hitting an impressive 273 runs at the National Championships), while also being selected for the Australian under-18 hockey Futures Squad.
Last season the medium-pacer and middle-order batter helped Sturt in their title-winning campaign in the first grade competition.
“When I was a kid I played all the sports I could,” she says.
“Going through primary school I played pretty much everything … touch footy, basketball, soccer, AFL football.”
But she shone at both cricket and hockey, making the state representatives teams before she turned 12 and she still isn’t ready to choose between them.
“Obviously cricket being a summer sport and hockey being a winter sport it does work out quite well with actual competition times,” de Broughe says.
“There’s a lot of clash with pre-seasons and training and all that, but I’ve worked it out with the coaches really well they’re both really supportive from both environments, which helps a lot.
“We’ve set out pretty clear programs and we continually meet and it works out really well playing both. I think there’s a bit of crossover with both of the sports as well, I think the hand-eye coordination for both is one of the major things.
“Hockey’s a lot more fast-paced and shorter game and obviously cricket’s a lot longer. Both have a lot of skills involved. I guess that’s what I like about both of them: both very skilful sports.”
But de Broughe is not just juggling the two sports, she’s throwing part-time university studies in psychology in the mix too after finishing school last year.
“I like it, though, because doing a bit of study keeps me in balance, otherwise my life would be all sport.
“I would love to go to the Olympics in hockey, that would be the pinnacle and for cricket, reach Australian level.
“I will try and keep playing both sports for as long as I can and see how far I can get.”
* SA Scorpions v ACT Meteors, Tuesday, Karen Rolton Oval, 10am. Entry is free.