Black Sticks youngster plays the waiting game
Black Sticks young-gun Sam Lane is becoming used to the waiting game.
Two years ago, his hopes of playing at the 2018 Commonwealth Games were dashed due to a serious knee injury, which required two surgeries and 12 months on the sideline.
Now, the 22-year-old have to wait until next year to feature at the Olympics for the first time after Tokyo 2020 was postponed.
Rather than get despondent, the youngest member of the Black Sticks men’s squad is remaining philosophical.
‘‘It’s kind of nothing compared to what many other people are going through [with Covid-19].
‘‘At the end of the day we’re just players and all we do is run around with a hockey stick and chase after a little white ball. I think putting that in perspective, compared to many other people in the world, we’re pretty lucky.’’
Representing New Zealand at the Olympics had been Lane’s dream for the past eight years, but he has time on his side.
With Tokyo 2020 pushed back until the second quarter of next year, several Black Sticks veterans will be another year down the track in their careers.
The Black Sticks hadn’t finalised their Olympics squad before the coronavirus outbreak. Striker Lane, who has gained 65 caps since debuting in 2016, would have been a near certainty to attend his first Games.
In New Zealand’s last match in February, he struck twice against Argentina in Christchurch in what could be the Black Sticks’ final outing for a while.
Had the global health crisis not hit, the Black Sticks would have just completed Pro League games in Netherlands and moved onto Germany.
‘‘The Olympics is just huge for hockey. I’ve been looking at this for a very long time. I also had the Commonwealth Games taken away from me through injury, so this meant a little bit more to me.
‘‘It’s not just the hockey team,
I think everyone is just going to have to grow and as
New Zealanders we deal with adversity not too badly, so I think if anything it’s probably almost a strength for us.’’
Lane was determined to make the most of the unprecedented situation facing athletes worldwide. When the Black Sticks eventually come back into camp he wanted to be at his best conditioning-wise.
Auckland-based Lane had returned to his family home in the South Canterbury town of Temuka for the four-week lockdown.
He was being creative with his training, using his father’s gym equipment and a resistance band to carry out his planned programme. With the hockey turf off limits, he was using the backyard to work on his dribbling skills.
Lane believed the standard of hockey at the rescheduled Olympics would be extremely competitive. Had Tokyo 2020 gone ahead, starting in July, preparations would have been severely disrupted for players and teams in the midst of Covid-19.
When the Games were held, all the top teams would be there and at their peak. To beat the best in the world, when they were at
hug him, he wouldn’t come inside, we elbow-bumped. their best, would be ‘‘a pretty cool memory to have if the boys can do it’’.
After a trying
2019, the Black Sticks men had produced some encouraging results to start the year, beating Argentina, Spain, and Great Britain.
Lane felt they had been tracking in the right direction for the Olympics before the pandemic.
‘‘Last year we definitely struggled against all these
‘‘This is a good opportunity for family and friends to bond. We spend a lot of time at our workplaces and getting that oneon-one time with our families and close friends is important, even though it’s going to be really testing.’’
Nyika said the postponement of the Olympics would be hard for ‘‘so many athletes that haven’t qualified’’.
‘‘It adds a whole extra element of uncertainty to the situation. Obviously it’s pretty stressful and disappointing but people’s health comes first and I think they [Games organisers] are doing the right thing.’’
The 24-year-old, who won gold in the light heavyweight class at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and won the heavyweight title on the Gold Coast four years later after failing to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics, said he’d yet to reassess his plans.
‘‘I honestly haven’t even had the chance to talk to my team and get a plan in place, so it’s really hard to know at the moment.’’ teams, but this year we were starting to beat them and we were learning how to win and were feeling really good.
‘‘We didn’t even have our best team out on the field by then as well.
‘‘To take a little bit of a step back is a bit of shame, but I think we’ll bounce back stronger.’’