FIH Pro League presents last chance for Hockeyroos Olympic hopefuls to impress coach Katrina Powell before Paris
With 22 of Australia’s best fighting for 16 Olympic berths, there’s an unspoken reality that ends in heartbreaking agony for the six Hockeyroos ‘sisters’ coach Katrina Powell axes ahead of Paris.
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Hockeyroos coach Katrina Powell is dealing with a good problem ahead of Paris.
The legendary two-time Olympic gold medallist (1996, 2000) is charged with selecting the 16 players who will give Australia the best chance to win a medal at the Paris Olympics — from a 22-woman squad brimming with the world’s best hockey talent.
Each faces an unspoken reality: your teammates, your sisters, the girls you go into battle with in training and games every day, are fighting for your spot on the plane to Paris.
Powell’s glad she’s on the other side of it, now.
“In a team sport, selection feels like it’s your whole world and being a teammate for someone that you’re also competing against for a position is something that’s really strange,” Powell said.
“We’ve had a number of sisters who have played in our team, I’m one of them (sister Lisa Carruthers, nee Powell, was Katrina’s teammate on both of those gold-medal winning Hockeyroos’ squads).
“So you’re also competing, sometimes, against family members. Your teammates end up feeling like they are your sisters, they are your best friends, you do want the best for them but you have your own dreams, too.
“You also want to put the team first and it’s a really interesting melting pot of ‘how are we going to get this dream done as a squad, what is our purpose?’.
“For the Hockeyroos, it’s to finish on the podium in Paris and every single player wants that.”
That melting pot can make for some hairy moments between teammates, striker Grace Stewart said, but it’s nothing a “tough conversation” can’t solve.
“If you’ve had a run in or if something needs to be said, we have those tough conversations, but it’s really an unsaid thing that everyone kind of knows what’s going on in the background,” Stewart said.
“It’s definitely a funny environment to be in where you’re wanting the best for the team, wanting the best for yourself and wanting the best for all your friends, so selection day is very tough.
“You spend every day with these girls so you’re excited for half the team and then some girls you know they’re going through the toughest days of their life when they aren’t selected.”
Fellow striker — and best pal — Rosie Malone said that yin yang of selection elation and disappointment impacted every squad member.
“You’re with these people every single day, you have close bonds with them and great friendships and it’s really hard because, even though we’re competing, we’re also some of each others’ biggest support networks,” Malone said.
“It kind of all comes around full circle and there’s moments where you’re going to need your teammates and they’re going to need you.
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Powell knows first-hand the exhilaration — and pressure — of an Olympic campaign and says the off-field mental game is just as important as the on-field process.
“An Olympics can be so exciting — it’s exciting now, preparing to go to Paris and playing Pro League in Europe,” she said.
“But you can lose sight of the purpose if you don’t stick to the job that you’ve got.
“People deal with different things in different ways. Some people draw energy from that pressure, some people get overwhelmed, so it’s about understanding who you are, how you’re likely to respond in those situations.
“That information, that knowledge can really help you control when to use some of that (energy) and when to keep a lid on it.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s OK to enjoy it and feel part of it and take it all in but you can’t lose sight of what you’re actually there to do.
“Perform, be the best we can be, and hopefully that can put us on the podium.”
■ Everythng you need to know about the Hockeyroos in Paris
HOCKEYROOS FIH PRO LEAGUE SQUAD
Alice Arnott, Jocelyn Bartram (gk), Maddison Brooks, Jane Claxton, Claire Colwill, Rebecca Greiner, Greta Hayes, Stephanie Kershaw, Amy Lawton, Rosie Malone, Kaitlin Nobbs, Brooke Peris, Aleisha Power (gk), Hattie Shand, Lucy Sharman, Karri Somerville, Penny Squibb, Grace Stewart, Tatum Stewart, Renee Taylor, Mariah Williams, Grace Young
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