by Marisah Mock
Local hockey player Marisah Mock has recently returned from the Australian 16 and under National Hockey Championships in Adelaide. Representing Victoria, she played in a seven day tournament from August 12 to 19.
I started hockey when I was eight years old because a friend was playing. I remember her dumping a mouthguard in my hand and the next thing I knew I was involved in the West Gippsland Hockey Association playing for the Gulls.
I was new to Gippsland and playing local sport in a supportive environment helped me to meet new people and make new friends.
The Gulls had strong ties with my school and church which made it easy for me to surround myself with hockey friends. Playing in the under 8s early on Saturday morning during rain, hail or shine quickly grew on me as I progressed through the age groups.
I started trying out for higher level teams, making academies but not the squads, however this year I was selected in the under 16 Victorian SSV Team which was exciting, and made the squads of both the under 18 state side and under 16 HC Melbourne Futures side.
The Victorian SSV Team was a long selection process that had to narrow down many players to just 16. We then trained at various locations, underwent education sessions and put into practice what we learnt in practice matches in preparation for Adelaide.
Going to Adelaide was both exciting and scary, I've never represented Victoria before and never knew what it was like to play the best players from the other states.
Unfortunately, we drew two of the toughest teams first-up which were New South Wales and Queensland, which we lost 6-0 and 8-0 respectively.
But, we picked ourselves back up across the next few days, winning against ACT (6-2) and Tasmania. (3-1).
We then suffered a loss to Western Australia (3-0) before our rest day midway through the tournament.
With three losses and two wins in hand, the ladder was very tight making the last game of the regular rounds a must-win against South Australia if we were to play off for third place.
Refreshed after our rest day both teams came out in strength and the score was held to zero-all for much of the game.
I sustained a ball to the face which resulted in a trip to hospital however, there was no harm done apart from a sore nose.
In hospital I watched the rest of the game as all games were livestreamed and we ran away with a 3-0 win, booking us a spot in the third place playoff.
The playoff was an intense game against WA but we went down 2-1, finishing fourth out of the seven states that competed.
It was a great experience, playing with Victoria on your shirt and your surname on your back.
Being in a team environment for a whole week was another experience in itself, doing lots of recovery sessions at the beach, team dinners, cheering on the Matildas and losing our voices after that Sam Kerr goal.
I learnt a lot that I can take home with me such as team tactics, personal skills and the importance of a mouthguard.
* Marisah Mock is a year 10 student at Chairo Christian School who did work experience with The Gazette last week.