Defence is what Kate Perrett does best; it’s her bread and butter as a Tamworth district and state hockey defender.
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So you can imagine her surprise when the Gunnedah representative was called on to play striker in the final hours before play at the recent Australian Women’s Masters Hockey Championships in Adelaide.
“I thought all I can do is give it a go,” Perrett said of the positional change.
Her impact on the game was immediate with the rookie front-line attacker scoring a goal in the opening match against Tasmania.
The success continued for her over-40s divisional side with victories against South Australia and Queensland in the following games, before a showdown in the final against Victoria.
The match ended in a draw, forcing a “wobble off”– a new variation of the penalty shoot-out – to decide the winner.
Perrett’s NSW team won the wobble off 4-2 to secure a memorable and hard-fought championship gold medal.
“It was an amazing feeling to win... extremely satisfying for the hard work that everyone had put in,” she said.
After finishing with the bronze medal at last year’s championships in Melbourne, the new-look 2013 team led by incoming coach David Mike and manager Gretchen Gamble, both from Sydney, was determined to go better again.
Perrett felt the win was just rewards after a sensational team performance second time round.
“It’s a credit to our squad and proved to us that we could do it,” she said.
“We stuck to our structure and were undefeated throughout the whole tournament.”
Five representatives from the squad originated from regional and rural areas, with the rest made of up of metropolitan-based players.
A highlight of the tournament, was that despite having only a three-day camp to prepare, she thought all players gelled as though they’d been playing together for years.
“Even though there were a few players in the side who had played for Australia, no one was out to win it by themselves,” Perrett said.
“We played as a team and played for one another, which was really great to see.”
When she is not pulling up the socks for her state, Perrett travels to Tamworth to train and play in the first grade competition with the Services Club.
They placed in the top-three in the season just gone and blooded a number of talented younger players into the side as well.
“It was great to see our junior girls step up this year,” she said.
Closer to home, Perrett hoped Gunnedah hockey can one day reform to field its own side in a neighbouring North West competition.
“Maybe we can get it going, maybe we can’t,” she said.
“It all takes time and commitment from those involved.”
She added the likely option for Gunnedah, while troublesome, would be for a local team to train on grass but play on the synthetic surface in Tamworth.
Whatever the outcome, it’s unlikely Perrett will be hanging up the hockey cleats any time soon.
She said one glance at the over-60s masters players is motivation enough to know there are plenty more playing years left in her yet.
“To listen to what they’ve done, and where they’ve been, it’s quite inspiring... and the skill of them is amazing at that age,” she said.
Next year’s Australian women’s master’s championships will be held in Darwin.