Active Hockeyroos pass on skills to youngsters

Hockeyroos Georgia Wilson and Jane Claxton spent time running specialised skills clinics in Albany on Sunday as part of Active8 Hockey’s first regional visit.

Wilson launched Activ8 Hockey this year, focusing on coaching after she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Hundreds of local players from the Lower Great Southern Hockey Association took part in the sessions run by Wilson and Claxton along with Englishman and high-level sports coach Ben Wright.

Wilson said the trip to Albany had been well received and she was keen to make it an annual event.

“Recovering from an ACL from January last year through to February, I decided to put my resources into my coaching,” she said.

“Getting quality coaching is so important, particularly for regional communities, so I feel it is important to come down and help with that.

“This is the first time we’ve been regional and it’s been fantastic.

“We are hoping to come down next year and make it a regular event.” Wilson has made 31 appearances for her country and said the next few months were important, with Olympic Games qualification still to be gained.

“We didn’t qualify directly at the Oceania Cup which was a huge setback,” she said.

“We have a two-game series against Russia coming up in October and that, for me, is a chance to gain selection. However, coming back from such a traumatic injury, I have to be patient and put in perspective that I’m 23 and have only played 31 games.

“The last two, three weeks I noticed a big shift in my body and how my knee feels and I want to do a thorough pre-season and be ready to go when the national team cranks up in January.”

Wilson is one of two WA members of the Hockeyroos squad, the other being Tambellup’s Penny Squibb.

Squibb has 10 Hockeyroos caps to her name and trained with Wilson at the WA Institute of Sport before both forced their way into the national team.