While the Hockeyroos and Kookaburras were defeated in the quarter finals of the Paris Olympic Games, here on home soil, Cohuna’s Chelsie Hird stood proudly on the podium receiving a bronze medal for the Country Victoria team at the Hockey Australia Country Championships.
The event was held at the Goulburn Hockey Centre from August 3 to 10.
Chelsie’s selection for the team came after two trials at Melbourne and Geelong, and in her eighth year playing for Country Victoria, coaches chose her as part of the leadership team and assigned her the vice-captain role – assisting the coach with structures and rotations, ensuring team members had a good time and someone to talk to if needed.
With members from across Victoria, the team trained together just three times prior to the championships – at Brunswick, Geelong and Footscray, and managed one training in situ before competition began, however, due to illness in the week leading up to the championships, Chelsie missed that training.
A victory over the Australian Defence Force (ADF) 3-0 on day one saw the team off to a strong start, and day 2 secured a win against South Australia 2-0. Day 3 saw the team’s first loss, to Queensland 0-3, followed by two more losses over the next two days, to Western Australia 3-4 and New South Wales 0-1.
Due to the team’s strong start, they came fourth and made the quarter finals against New South Wales.
“We played well against them on Friday, but unfortunately lost 3-4 in a very intense game,” Chelsie said.
The loss put them in contention for a bronze medal in a match against Western Australia.
“Going into this game, we knew it would be challenging as they beat us in the rounds, but we knew if we played well, we could beat them. It was a very nerve-racking game. We won this game 1-0, which was very exciting.”
Not only did the team win bronze, Chelsie won Most Valued Player for the Victorian side for the tournament.
“I was very proud of the team,” Chelsie said.
“It was a relatively new side coming into the tournament, so it was hard to know how we would go. We had an amazing start and bonded really well. I had so much fun being a part of this team, and winning bronze was a great result.”
For the 28-year-old who grew up in Gannawarra but now lives and works in Cohuna and is studying her Master of Primary Teaching, keeping up her hockey commitments involves a lot of travel. Chelsie plays for the Geelong Hockey Club in Vic League 1, playing home games in Geelong and travelling across Melbourne for away games.
“It’s crazy to think that hockey could take me to so many places and meet so many amazing people along the way. Hockey has given me the opportunity to travel Australia and the world,” Chelsie says as she reflects on her humble start with hockey in Kerang as a young primary school student in the early 2000s.
From starting minkey on the secondary school’s grass oval in Kerang through to playing on Astro Turf and representing Victoria and Australia, and playing 6 months in the Irish hockey premier league, Chelsie acknowledges the support of her family, from covering costs to driving her across the state and country.
“The structures we play and the rules of the game have definitely changed over the years, but the reason I still play has stayed the same: to go out there, give it all I’ve got and have fun.”
Bronze medal or not, there is no rest for Chelsie as her Geelong Hockey Club team heads into the finals this week.
This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 29 August 2024.
