Hockey: Black Sticks debutante faces big challenge for right wing

By TERRY MADDAFORD

About the same time the New Zealand women's hockey team were winning their epic 1991 Olympic qualifier 4-2 over South Korea in Auckland, Carol Ward was a 13-year-old schoolgirl in Westport playing the sport for the first time.

This afternoon, Ward will herself be facing South Korea in her international debut in Wellington - the first of four tests the visitors will play in New Zealand.

The series, the first outing for the New Zealand team since the Sydney Olympics, gives seven new caps an opportunity to fill the gaps left by the retirement of a handful of players after the 2000 Games.

And Ward, who has played a good deal of her hockey on Westport's grass surfaces, faces one of the biggest challenges.

As a specialist right wing, she plays in the same position as Mandy Smith, who is unavailable for this series, but is certain to return to play India and Australia later in the year as the Black Sticks build towards August's Champion's Trophy in Holland.

"I know what I'm up against, but I'm determined to give it a go," said Ward.

"Now that I have made the side, I would love to stay there."

Dragged into hockey by her sisters to make up the numbers, after playing other sports including netball, rugby and softball, Ward has taken a "have stick, will travel" approach to the game.

She has now played more than 30 games for Canterbury and has been in national under-15 and under-18 teams - playing in Australia with her older age group side. She had a season of club hockey in Turin, Italy, and joined her mother for a couple of games in Darwin while on holiday.

"Hockey took me to Christchurch," said Ward, who played "all along the frontline" in her Buller days, but now, as a player regarded as tough and reliable, specialises in the demanding right wing role.

With the need for speed and skill, Ward keeps herself fit by playing social squash and touch. She also juggles her hockey with part-time work both in Westport and Christchurch.

At 23, Ward is not the oldest of the newcomers in the national squad. North Harbour's Paula Enoka, 26 and without ever having played in a national side, is the bolter and the oldest of the debutantes.

Seventeen-year-old Melody Rowe is the youngest in the squad of 16 who will face the Koreans.

Suzie Pearce, with 115 caps, is the most experienced. By the end of the series, she and the team's other centurion, Sandy Bennett (110), could be joined in the 100-club by goalkeeper Helen Clarke (97 caps).

After Wellington, tests will be played in Napier and Levin before ending back in the capital.