NZ selection eases the pain
Any feelings of disappointment about missing the Junior World Cup were quickly forgotten when Pippa Norman was named in the senior women’s Black Sticks squad.
The Rangitikei hockey player has been selected as one of 12 debutants in the Black Sticks squad to play a five-test series against Malaysia in Stratford in two weeks’ time.
The 21-year-old defender has been in the New Zealand under-21 squad since 2014 and was the cocaptain of the team that went to the Netherlands last year.
But when it came to picking the team for the junior world cup in Chile, which started a week ago, Norman was strangely picked as a non-travelling reserve.
‘‘I was pretty disappointed,’’ she said. ‘‘I’d had a massive two years building up to the junior world cup and I was disappointed not to make that team. You can only do what you can do. I’m looking forward to moving on and hopefully this eases the pain.’’
Now she was keen to take any opportunity she could when it came to playing for the senior women’s team.
She got the word she had been picked for the New Zealand team after a junior world cup training camp.
‘‘I was really really excited about it.
‘‘I was surprised, but it was a pleasant surprise after the hard training.’’
The feedback the New Zealand selectors had given her before the camp was to improve her fitness, which she has been working hard on and in a recent training camp she set a personal best in fitness training.
She hasn’t had any indication of where she fits in the team’s plans, but hoped to get to Stratford fresh and get a good run.
Norman, who plays for High School Hockey Club and Central, has just finished her third year studying a bachelor of science majoring in zoology at Massey University.
She is of farming stock between Bulls and Marton, and started playing hockey at South Makirikiri School, before going to Wanganui Collegiate School.
With her mother Kathy Norman (nee Paterson) a Black Stick in the late 1980s, Norman had a hockey stick thrust into her hands at a young age.
Her younger sister Beth has also played for Central, and she has two hockey-playing brothers.