Hockey: A brave new world for hockey side

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

It's mind-numbing work, but Olympic hockey player Diana Weavers has to persevere to get to Sydney.

Weavers counts heads as they pass through the door at Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand.

When the New Zealand women's hockey team moved to Wellington for their final countdown to the Olympics, they had to find work in the capital for 10 weeks.

Captain Anna Lawrence marvels at Weavers' fortitude.

"It must be so hard standing there just counting people on days when you're just exhausted from training," she said.

Some of her team-mates admit they are struggling with the new routine.

Weekday mornings they have to switch on the lights to see through the gloom on the turf on top of Wellington's Mt Albert Park when training starts at seven.

By 9.30am, transformed in their business suits and wet hair, they literally run to their cars to get to work.

Goalkeeper Helen Clarke, who edits school journals in a job organised by New Zealand coach Jan Borren, notices it more than most. Every day she leaves with four changes of clothes, and those huge, man-on-the-moon goalie suits.

"You go to work and rush through whatever you have to do, before it's time to come back for the next training in the afternoon," she said. "It's very tiring. I know we're here for the Olympics. But we're rushing everywhere, to get to hockey, to work and back to hockey again."

Sure, the world champion Australians will not be dashing anywhere off the field in the final 50 days before the Games. They will be in a live-in camp and will not have to work.

But Lawrence questions whether living in each other's suitcases is a good thing. She would rather have it the way the New Zealanders are doing it - living apart and working apart to get time away from each other.

"If there was an option for us to go professional tomorrow, would it be the best thing for us?" she said. "I don't know ... we're just not used to it. Part-time work is a break away from hockey and it gives some stimulation for the mind.

"The hockey is very hard work, two full-on sessions a day. But it's easy to stay motivated with the Olympics at the end of it all."

The move to Wellington is a sacrifice these players were willing to make, after striving for a full four years to get to the Games. On a cloudless winter Wednesday morning, they are all there pounding the turf except for veteran forward Tina Bell-Kake, who has special dispensation.

The Auckland mum-of-two flies down to Wellington on Thursdays and goes home again on Saturday nights so she is not too long away from her children.

"She has a very different family situation and the team accept that," Lawrence said.

"It's actually harder for her, training on her own during the week. But when she gets down here, she's keener than all the rest of us - we've all had enough by that stage of the week."

Midfielder Skippy McGregor is the only player not holding a stick. She suffered a whack on her hand during the tri-nations tournament with Australia and Germany a fortnight ago, and is still taking it easy.

Fullback Jenny Duck is keeping pace with the rest of the team, even though she is on her way back from surgery on her spine a few months ago. Borren will make his decision today on whether Duck is fit enough to go to Sydney with the team.

But Duck says she is happy. "My back is not the sorest part of my body, by any means," she groans as she walks off from two hours' intense practice.

Her final fitness test today is in the form of New Zealand's weekly match against one of the top men's club sides in the Wellington premier league.

So far the women have won all their games.

"We've been going okay. In the first game against Karori we only won 1-0 after 14 corners. We couldn't believe how flat we were after coming home from Australia," she said.

"Last weekend we beat Dalefield 6-3. There was a bit of atmosphere, a busload of supporters came down from Masterton."

Borren does not attend all the training sessions. Some days he sends his old Wellington team-mates along to lend a hand - such as former New Zealand captain Peter Miskimmin and national goalie Hugh Biss.

They have another six weeks of their strange existence in the capital, before moving north to Auckland for a series against Argentina, and then it is off to Sydney.

As the players frantically run off after morning training, they grab bananas given free to the team.

"There's always bananas and pineapples or dairy and baking," said Lawrence.

"It's not a bad life."


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