Fiji tourney honeymoon too

SAVED: Melissa Hylton will be saving her best for Fiji. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Wanganui's Melissa Hylton will not allow a lack of game time affect her performances in goal for the New Zealand President's XI at the Oceania Pacific Cup hockey tournament in Fiji next month.

The Wanganui season is long since finished, so the 34-year-old has been concentrating on physical fitness and technique in the lead-up to the round robin tournament in Suva between December 6 and 13.

Hylton will also have the added pressure of being the only goalkeeper the team take to Fiji where they will meet the host country, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Australian Country.

The former Collegian now Techno player gained selection after representing New Zealand Maori women at the Affiliation Tournament in Hawkes Bay in March which they won beating Australia, NZ Masters 35, NZ Senior women, NZ Indian women and a Hawkes Bay invitational.

She caught the eye of NZ Maori selectors after being called in as stand-in goalie for Aotea two years ago. Aotea are selected from players in the lower central North Island including Manawatu, Taranaki and Wanganui.

"Their goalie was absent and I've been a goalie most of my life - since about 10, actually, so I stepped in," Hylton said yesterday. "After that I got selected for NZ Maori and we won the Affiliation tournament. The President's side was picked from that tournament and I wasn't initially in it. They called me about two months later saying I'd made the side."

Without match time before joining the President's team two day training camp in Auckland on December 3, Hylton has been rising at 5am each day to begin hard physical workouts with the chairman of Wanganui Hockey Ian Glenny and then in the evenings working on technique with longtime player and mate Michelle "Mouse" Low.

"Once a week Ian and I run the Durie Hill stairs and do other workouts the rest of the time. I also work with Mouse on my goal-saving agility and ball technique. I'm feeling pretty fit. Well, as fit as a goalie needs to be - it's more about the agility."

Glenny said Hylton deserved her shot at top level.

"She's just so committed I don't mind getting up at 5.30am and helping her as a personal trainer. When you set her a task, so always wants to go that one step further," Glenny said.

"Those games she's played for Aotea and NZ Maori she's played every second."

Hylton will travel to Suva with her husband Riki Goff and the pair will use the tour as the honeymoon they never had after getting hitched in March.

"We never did get to have a honeymoon, so Riki is coming too and we'll leave the kids at home. I'd also just like thank all those individuals and businesses that have helped us get to Fiji. The support has been amazing."