Hockeyroos star Tatum Stewart hopes to one day represent Australia in Toowoomba

Tatum Stewart has already fulfilled her lifelong dream of representing Australia at the Olympics. However, as she continues to rehab from a serious knee injury, she revealed there is still another goal of hers she is yet to achieve.

Tatum Stewart of Team Australia celebrates scoring her team's second goal with teammates during the Quarter Final Women's match between Australia and People's Republic of China on day ten of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Photo: Luke Hales/Getty Images.

Toowoomba and Australian hockey star Tatum Stewart already boasts an incredible sporting resume having representing Australia at the Olympics and starred in the Hockey One League.

However, aside from winning an Olympic medal, there is one other major sporting dream which Stewart hopes to achieve in her career – playing for Australia in her hometown.

With the Toowoomba Hockey Association pushing for upgrades to their facilities, Stewart hopes it could lead to her dream coming true.

“I have spoken about it in passing to a couple of people about how much it would mean to me personally to be able to play an international, representing my country in my hometown, (it) would be up there with the Olympics for me, or even a Hockey One game (in Toowoomba) or something like that,” she said.

“It is really underestimated how much those things matter to athletes both at the top level and the junior level watching.

“If we were able to get the standard of facility to host those types of events I think it would be monumental for Toowoomba hockey.

“We are already thriving so much so if we could have that added benefit to the community it would be pretty special I think.

“I think for myself growing up, I was so lucky to have role models like Angie Lambert or Karen Smith, literally homegrown heroes who were out at hockey all the time.

Tatum Stewart as a child with then Hockeyroo Angie Lambert

“I’ve always said ‘If you can see it, you can be it’ and if we were able to host those sorts of events and do it regularly, not just one-offs, it would set ourselves apart as a hockey city.

“Which I feel we already are, but if we take that extra step then it would it be amazing what it would do not just for hockey in Toowoomba but our sport in general.”

Stewart etched her name in Toowoomba and Australian hockey history last year when she starred for the Hockeyroos at the Olympics and scored three goals during their campaign – a high which she has had plenty of time to look back on during her knee rehab.

“The past six months for me have looked a bit different than the other girls who went and competed,” she said.

“I have been rehabbing from a knee operation from an injury that I got earlier in the year (2024) and made worse in Paris.

“But I think it has been easy sometimes for me to get caught up in the rehab and what I’m doing now.

“But the reflection points where I can look back and go ‘I actually achieved something that has been a lifelong goal for me’ it still is that pinch me moment of ‘I can’t believe I went and did that’.

“I am obviously in the position where hopefully if I keep myself fit and healthy that I can try again and hopefully this time come away one better with a medal.

Olympian Tatum Stewart in the Grand Central Floral Parade of the Carnival of Flowers, Saturday, September 21, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“It is pretty amazing and definitely something that I would not have been able to achieve without, as I keep coming back to, the support of the entire Toowoomba Hockey Association.”

The past few months have provided a unique challenge for the Australian defender as she has had to watch her Brisbane Blaze teammates from the sideline throughout her rehab process.

“This is my first sort of major injury where I’ve required surgery and had more than three months off,” Stewart said.

“I think the hardest thing that I’ve found is realising how far you’ve got to go to get back to where you know you can be and the struggles that come with accepting that your body’s just not there yet.

“You can’t push those boundaries otherwise you’ll just end up at square one.

“So it really is just taking your time day by day, doing what you can and what you’re supposed to be doing to get back to where you want to be.

“With my knee in particular because I have been doing it that way and trying not to get too far ahead of myself or worrying about the fact that I am not as strong as I once was, I know it will come if I keep putting in the work.

Tatum Stewart in action for Australia

“So I think that is how I go about it to avoid those sorts of anxieties around worrying if my knee will hold up or those sorts of things.”

After last competing back in early August, there is now a light at the end of the tunnel for the 22-year-old as she has her sights set on returning to the hockey field soon.

“(I am) literally itching to be let loose on the field, I had one of my first few training sessions back with the group (on Tuesday),” she said.

“I have had a few solo sessions but (Tuesday) was my first back with the group.

“I only had 10 minutes maximum of load, it is always pretty devastating when the physio comes and taps you on the shoulder and says ‘that’s enough’ when you feel like you’re only just getting into it but I take what I can get and just hope for more minutes as the days go by. “It is getting closer and closer to that full game so it is pretty exciting.”