ROSIE’S LONGEST BREAK SINCE SIX
HOCKEYROO Rosie Malone is amid the longest break she has had from competitive sport since the age of six. The Gold Coast athlete has been part of the national squad since 2018 and COVID-19 seemed a world away while she was training in Perth in late summer. Then the borders started closing. Malone, 22, opens up about the Australian program being shut down and what it has been like reconnecting with family and disconnecting from hockey.
GOLD Coast athlete and Hockeyroo Rosie Malone is someone who is resetting their sporting goals due to the COVID-19 crisis.
As part of the Australian women’s national junior team that won bronze in 2016 at the Junior World Cup in Chile she has continued to pursue her Olympic dream.
In 2018 she was named in the national squad and has since been working hard to maintain her position.
COVID-19 hit and she moved back to the Gold Coast from Perth where both the men’s and women’s teams are based. I was lucky enough to catch up with her to discuss how she was coping.
She said COVID-19 seemed a world away from the Hockeyroos’ Perth base until the Australian borders started to close. It was then she decided to come home to the Gold Coast and that the situation became far more serious than they all thought.
“I had never felt so conflicted with what I wanted to do – whether to head home and be with family or stay in Perth to keep training for the Olympics,” Rosie, 22, said.
“It was a day after I booked my flights that Hockey Australia called an emergency meeting and decided the whole program would shut down indefinitely. Then the Olympics were postponed.
“I have now been at home on the Gold Coast for three months. It has been the longest break I have had from competitive sport since I was six years old.
“Initially, I was loving my time away from hockey as I did other forms of exercise and activities.
“There was also a kind of peacefulness and a very slowed-down atmosphere at home as people had to approach life very differently.
“I can’t believe the highlight of my week was going to Coles or Aldi!
“And I have loved spending time with my sister.”
Rosie was unsure when the Hockeyroos program would start again because she has been told the WA border won’t open until August 8.
She explained that the girls who stayed in Perth have started training part-time. The rest of the squad will commence training with state institutes under AIS guidance.
“I’m looking forward to playing a season with my home club, Burleigh, and playing matches in Brisbane,” she said, with a smile on her face. “To be able to play without pressure for a while and focus on individual skills training is something I am looking forward to.
“It will most likely be in early November when the 2021 squad is selected from a big camp held in Perth.
“The current squad’s age ranges from 18 to 33 and the postponement of the games meant that many of the girls
had to look at their lives and make choices.”
Rosie said the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics until next year was not something that you could just shake off in a flash.
“Some of the more senior players in our team definitely
had plans to finish up after Tokyo and I really felt for them,” she said.
“They now had to weigh up whether it’s worth making all those same sacrifices again.
“What makes it even harder is the fact that there is no certainty about the Games, or international sport itself.
“It was easier for me as I am a young member of the squad.”
Since being back on the Coast, Rosie has started back sprint training with her old athletics coach, has done pilates and yoga classes for the first time, ran with a triathlon group, played some tennis and kicked a soccer ball around with some of her old football teammates.
Her mum has even tried to coax her to learn to play squash.
She has also been doing some coaching within the school system and getting involved with compiling videos and live interviews for athletes in lockdown to maintain their connection to sport.
And so, Rosie’s passion for her sport and commitment to motivate younger athletes has continued.
She has travelled to at least 15 different countries and in 2019, as part of the Pro League tournament, travelled to nine countries in five months.
While cherishing the opportunities, it is refreshing to hear someone speak so openly about her love, disappointment, challenges and passion for herself, her team members and the young athletes she works with.
Everyone on the Gold Coast, I’m sure, wishes her the best in her journey to the dream of Olympic gold.