Shanea Tonkin’s reignited love for hockey sparks Hockeyroos selection

Shanea Tokin’s debut Hockeyroos selection is the result of hard work, a recalibration in mindset and an ultimate love for the sport.

“It took a couple of hours for the news to sink in,” she said of receiving the call on her selection.

“It was something that I had worked so hard towards and to find out that the hard work had actually paid off, was the best feeling.

“Being able to tell my parents and family that I had actually made the team, after all the support they have given me the whole way through, was pretty special.”

Representing your country runs in the family for Tonkin, with her father, Shane, part of the Australian Olympic Team in baseball at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

With the remainder of the Tonkin family all pretty eager to pick up a stick and belt a hockey ball down some AstroTurf, it comes as no surprise that that young Shanea wanted to follow suit.

In fact, following suit for almost two decades of her life. “I started playing hockey with my cousins when I was seven. I got into it through my family as a lot of them play. I’m actually really uncoordinated, but somehow it seems to work with hockey!

“I fell in love with hockey because it has that family environment, where I could play with my cousins, aunties and even mum and dad. It was always so much fun, so I absolutely fell in love with it.”

However, her passion for the sport has at time wavered and the ride to her recent Hockeyroos selection hasn’t been simple.

“It’s been a wild one, very up and down. I made my first junior Australian team at seventeen. When I finished year 12, I realised I really wanted to play for the Hockeyroos and play hockey as my job.

“But after playing in a junior tournament and missing out on selection into the Junior World Cup team, I fell out of love with the game and put all these expectations on myself. So, I thought to myself, what do I need to do to change?

“I ended up playing hockey because I could, which helped reduce the pressure and helped me to fall back in love with the sport. I also got more balance in my life.”

The speedy striker went back to full-time university, promptly finishing her degree in nursing where she now works at St John of God Hospital, combining work with her training commitments.

“I work full-time as a registered nurse, it’s a nice balance between hockey as it switches my mind off and keeps me balanced.

“My boss is fully supportive of my situation, which is awesome. The COVID-19 situation has at times made me feel a bit uneasy, but the couple of months delay has meant that we have been able to put things in place to feel a little more at ease.”

With no competition outside of the local State League games held in Perth these past two years, there has been a whole lot of training with little ability to put the work-ons into action.

“It’s been hard just training and training, then being told about a potential camp and it then being cancelled. But at the same time, it’s been good being present and focusing on one or two things to work on each session, which has helped with my development.

“WAIS has also really helped me over the years to set up really good foundations in hockey and my personal life that I can use every day. They have allowed me to grow into the athlete and person that I am today.

“I am really grateful for their support, especially the coaches I’ve had along the way with Jeremy Davy [previous WAIS Women’s Hockey Head Coach], who left a couple of years ago and then Steph Andrews [WAIS Hockey Head Coach], who I’ve had recently. They have both been so great, both with my development in hockey and allowing me to work full-time as a nurse.

With two weeks of training under her belt as a Hockeyroo, Shanea now sets her focus on cementing a place in Hockeyroos team, with future competitions quickly approaching.

“It’s actually quite a busy year, we have World Cup at the start of July and then the Commonwealth Games at the start of August.

“I really just want to immerse myself within the group and become the best athlete and teammate that I can become and I hope from doing that, I can solidify a spot in both the World Cup and Commonwealth Games teams, that would be my goal for the year.”