TEEN STAR HOPING FOR BLAZE OF GLORY
JESSIE Reid will forever remember the day she was told she would make her national league debut.
After training with the Brisbane Blaze squad for weeks, the team for the inaugural Hockey One competition was set to be announced early this month.
“They told us that they would call us if we didn’t make the team so I left my phone at home all day,” Reid said.
“The squad was supposed to be named on Hockey Queensland’s website on Friday but it wasn’t and then I was training with my teammates and I got an email from head coach Nikki Taylor.
“I was running and I saw it pop up and it was good news. I was with my Gold Coast team (the Roosters) and I’ve been playing with those girls forever so I told my sister (Jade) and then I rang my mum.”
Reid, 18, who started playing hockey at age four, will now get the chance to impress against Australia’s best when the competition kicks off on September 29.
“I’m really excited to train with the national girls and seeing their skills and intensity and hopefully I get to play a game,” she said.
After growing up on the Tweed and attending the same high school as Hockeyroos sister duo Maddy and Savannah Fitzpatrick, even graduating alongside younger sister Kendra, Reid hopes that the Blaze brings her a step closer towards her hockey dream.
“I’d love to wear the green and gold and hopefully be lucky enough to go to an Olympic Games,” she said.
If not, Reid could soon be gracing court rooms around the country after starting a law degree this year.
“It wasn’t even my first preference,” she said.
“I was going to do medicine or science but then I realised that if I wanted to play hockey, I wouldn’t be able to spend six hours in a lab each week.”