HOCKEY - Olympic trip at top of list for McQuinn

She's being compared with Lizzy Igasan already but Northland hockey's latest Black Stick Jasmin McQuinn isn't sure she deserves those accolades yet.
"People have been saying that a lot recently but I'm not so sure, I've known Lizzy since I was little because she used to play (hockey) with my sister, I didn't get to play with her in the (recent) trials but she's still nice to me when I see her, which is a big plus," she said.
The 18-year-old defender and Midlands' striker Gemma Flynn were the bolters into the 20-strong national women's Olympic hockey squad named on Friday, but McQuinn is still struggling to come to terms what her selection means.
"I haven't thought about the future too much ... I want to go to the Olympics, of course, but it still seems like a long shot at this stage," she said.
What she does know is that her plans for next year have changed significantly as she tries to become one of the 16 members of the squad who will go to Beijing.
Black Sticks coach Kevin Towns will visit Whangarei in two weeks time to meet with McQuinn and team-mate Charlotte Harrison and their respective parents.
"He wants to set us some goals and give us a programme of what's happening next year before our first training camp in January," she said.
McQuinn had been planning to attend Waikato University to study for a communications degree with Auckland University of Technology as a back-up but now - because the team will be "centralised" in Auckland for training purposes - AUT seems like the only option.
"So I'm still going ahead with doing communications but the only difference is that it will take longer, I won't be able to study full-time because it's going to be such a full-on year," she said.
McQuinn's great form in National Hockey League this season was complemented by her outstanding performances in the recent seven-game trial series against the Korean national side.
"People think I wasn't nervous playing in the trials but I was. I started off badly but it came together in the second and third games - it was good that I knew some of the players and having Charlotte, my best friend, in the team calmed me down."
McQuinn was surprised more Northlanders didn't make it into the squad.
McQuinn's selection is all the more remarkable after her hockey career was almost ruined by a knee injury a few years ago.
"I had knee surgery in the fourth form, an ACL reconstruction and an arthroscopy - the whole works really, and missed the whole season," she said.
"I found it hard when I came back, because everyone else had gone up a level especially skills wise and I was a trying to catch up to them - fortunately I had good friends who played hockey and they helped me and got me back into it."
The knee no longer gives her any problems and McQuinn seems certain to have a long future in the Black Sticks - hopefully it will include a trip to the 2008 Olympics.