Hockey royalty feature in Queen’s honours list
Two of New Zealand’s recent hockey legends can now add Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit to their storied careers.
Kaylawhitelock and Emily Gaddum were both given the gong in this year’s Queen’s Birthday honours for services to hockey. The two friends grew up together and played a lot of hockey together in their lengthy careers.
Gaddum, now based in Hawke’s Bay, and Manawatu¯’s Whitelock have both had long stints in the Black Sticks, playing at multiple Olympics, Commonwealth Games and international tournaments.
Whitelock played 255 games for New Zealand from 2003 to 2016 and, when she retired, she was the second most capped Black Stick. Gaddum was New Zealand’s most capped player, with 274 games, when she retired in 2016 after 12 years in the team.
Whitelock came out of retirement at the end of last year with an eye on this year’s Tokyo Olympics, which have been postponed until next year.
Whitelock said she was shocked at the Queen’s Birthday honour and hoped to celebrate at some point.
‘‘It’s obviously good for hockey and promotes hockey. It has been a long career.
‘‘I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs.’’
Whitelock would likely have been travelling with the Black Sticks in the past couple of months, but Covid-19 ruled that out.
She said the Olympics had been in the back of her mind.
‘‘I’m still on a fitness block while I’ve been in lockdown. I’ll try and play a bit of club hockey here in Manawatu¯ and take it from there.’’
Gaddum echoed Whitelock’s thoughts about being surprised to receive the honour and didn’t see it coming.
She is now chief executive of the Hockey Foundation, has coached Iona College and Woodford House high school teams in Hawke’s Bay, is playercoach for the Havelock North club, and has run school holiday programmes and youth camps in Hawke’s Bay.
She said she still enjoyed playing and played in the National Hockey League last year.
Both players were in the New Zealand team that won a silvermedal at the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010 and a bronze at Glasgow in 2014.
They also won gold medals at the 2005 and 2009 champions challenge tournament, and played at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
Captain of New Zealand from 2012 to 2016, Whitelock was named New Zealand women’s player of the year in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016.