Determination and drive fuels Illawarra indoor hockey players heading to Croatia for World Cup

Running their own training sessions, playing in multiple teams and showing the utmost dedication to the sport has paid off for Illawarra indoor hockey players, who have the rare opportunity to head to Croatia next month to represent Australia.

The strength of the region’s indoor hockey competition will be on full show at the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup, with players who have developed their skills in the Illawarra, or have represented the association, making up a significant portion of those selected to represent the country.

Following winning gold with the NSW side at the national championships, Brooke Welsh, Tegan Neowhouse and Kelsey Hughes are among those named in the 12-person World Cup women’s squad.

It is the second time Kelsey, who was named player of the tournament at nationals, has made the World Cup side, and she hoped to bring a bit more experience this time around.

“At the last World Cup I was probably one of the youngest in the team and now being one of the older and more experienced players, I hope I can just help the younger players be prepared for what the competition is like.”

The 25-year-old from Albion Park Women’s Hockey Club joins a wealth of experience, including that of head coach Emma McLeish who has only recently retired from international competition, and plays alongside Kelsey in the local competition.

“We are fortunate to have a coach with such a strong understanding of the game and also extensive experience as a previous player,” Kelsey said. “She is someone I have looked up to from a very young age and I look forward to learning from her in this new role.”

Brooke and Tegan are among those joining the World Cup team for the first time.

They said the selection marked a rare opportunity for indoor hockey players.

“It’s amazing; I feel like it’s once in a lifetime,” Tegan said. “The fact that it’s every four years, it’s not a frequent event, and also to play at that top level – we don’t have many competitions that we regularly play in and experience international games.

“Especially for indoor hockey, this is the highest that we get to play and being able to go to a world event is incredibly exciting,” Brooke said.

But reaching this level of performance required a lot of effort, most of which needed to be initiated by the players themselves because of the limited opportunities and resources for high-level training in the sport.

So as well as their state training and games, they would also run their own sessions.

“In the local comp we try to play in both the women’s and men’s comp each week, so that’s two games; so outside of it we’re doing as much fitness that we possibly can just to keep up,” Brooke said.

“Five days of the week we’re trying to do exercise and at least two of those touching the ball.”

In indoor hockey only five field players and one goalkeeper take the court at a time, with 12 players selected altogether in each of the women’s and men’s sides.

The limited spaces make the selection extremely competitive, particularly for goalkeepers like Tegan.

“There’s only two spots so you really have to be up there to even be considered,” she said. “So just being in the squad I was just so excited because I was just hoping that if I trained really hard and I played well enough at the nationals I could get there.

“The other goalie I’m with, she’s amazing; she’s been to so many World Cups and I’m just excited to go away to the tournament with her and learn so much and I think it’s going to be a great experience.”

Making the men’s side is Wests Illawarra player Thomas Miotto, former Wests player Josh Gregory and former Albion Park Hockey Club player Connor Tuddenham.

Alongside Kelsey, Brooke and Tegan is Nepean’s Erin Burns, who also competes locally for Albion Park Women’s; as well as former Illawarra representative Samantha Economos, who played for ACT at Nationals.

Avondale Hockey Club’s Gaye Tarrant will also be coaching New Zealand’s team.

“Illawarra is one of the biggest comps in the state, if not Australia,” Brooke said. “So we have quite a strong competition just within the Illawarra itself.

“We are quite strong throughout all age groups and I think that comes from all of the volunteers that put a lot of work into our juniors,” Kelsey said.

“The training that’s available for our juniors is pretty good and just the fact that we do have an indoor comp; I know a lot of other associations really don’t have the opportunity to play once a week.”

The FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup in Croatia starts 3 February.

For more information visit the FIH website.