A Buckley sister act

Jemma and Elly Buckley are hockey royalty of Perth and are seen as a dynamic duo to many in the community, and their legend spans across the global seas.

Jemma, 32 and Elly, 28 are sisters who grew up together with a single passion, they have lived and breathed hockey their whole life.

Something that helps, is when you have two brothers to compete against and a father with a great knowledge of the game.

“Our dad always played, and we would go down to the Wolves clubroom and watch him play as little kids…he played state and we followed in his footsteps,” Jemma said.

“He coached us and he put our two brothers and us into the one team, so that way he could coach the one team on the weekends.”

Growing up in that environment created a drive for the girls and when talking about the competitiveness they had, it is easy to see how they grew up to be so good.

Jemma said that hockey wasn’t the only thing the siblings fought to be the best at, and that the rivalry was prevalent in their everyday life.

“Everything was a competition…we challenged each other in that way.”

Having someone to grow up with and play against constantly would have greatly helped the girls' development and drive, but to them, it isn’t a competitive advantage.

“I think It’s really helped us enjoy it a lot more, we have played for so long and we do really enjoy playing with each other,” Jemma said.

“I think some people drop off and do stop playing but having your sister there makes it a bit easier in that you always have someone in your life to rely on and debrief with games about.”

It didn’t take long for the girls to realise they were better than the average player and that they might be able to go further with their hockey careers.

The opportunity for the girls to take their hockey further was a natural decision, and their success from early years made that easy for them.

“We always grew up being the younger players in the state teams,” Jemma said.

“[We were] picked quite young for that sort of stuff and we knew coming out of high school there was an opportunity to go and play in America and get a degree paid for.

“We were recruited to go over and play, and we went for it.”

While hockey has always been the biggest sport in their life, they did try other avenues growing up.

Jemma said while the pair are sisters, there is a huge amount of difference between the two of them.

“Elly’s always been more naturally talented at everything and I was incredibly uncoordinated at every other sport that we played,” she said.

“It’s quite funny that we are different in that sense, our close friends always joke about how bad I am at everything and how good Elly is at everything.”

Though they have spent most of their hockey life together, things took a turn when the girls were given an opportunity to play in America at the collegiate level.

They went down different paths, with Jemma going to play for the Maryland Terrapins and Elly playing for the Virginia Cavaliers, rival colleges in the ACC.

The decision to go to different colleges was a hard one but it was an opportunity that they were both excited for and took full advantage of it.

“Elly ended up going to Virginia through Chloe Pendlebury, who is another Wolves player and Neil Hawgood who used to coach WAIS, he set that all up,” Jemma said.

“I ended up at Maryland because of Terry Walsh who was actually one of USA’s international coaches.

“I don’t know how it happened that we were at different schools, but it was at the same time that we went over.”

While they played most of their hockey together up to that point, they ended up meeting on the field as rivals and they would play their hardest when facing each other.

“When we played against each other, I think that was incredibly competitive about who was going to come out on top, we used to always play together, and it was the first time that we played against each other” Jemma said.

In the 18 months that Jemma spent over in America playing hockey she had a very successful time with Maryland, winning the championship with the Terps in 2010.

While she didn’t stay as long as Elly did, who stayed the entire 4 years with Virginia, Jemma said the experience of winning over in the US was one she will never forget.

“It was a pretty awesome experience to be honest, they treat their student athletes as royalty,” she said.

“Everything gets paid for, you get new uniforms, new shoes, everything gets provided and winning a national championship over there was amazing.”

Since the time the girls came back to Perth and have ended up back out on the field together on the same team, they have seen great success.

With them winning four championships together for the Westside Wolves and having Jemma play around 280 games and Elly play about 190 games, their passion for the club and the game is evident.

When asked about their future, Jemma said they do not see it changing any time soon.

“I don’t think we could ever leave Wolves, I think our dad probably wouldn’t be happy,” she said.

“We have played at the club since we were in Minkey and coming through the junior program, so we probably won’t ever leave the club to be honest.”

Growing up with all the success they have had could not have come without the supportive environment, and Jemma attributes their careers and success to these people.

“For us we are really lucky that we have a really supportive family, our mum and dad probably haven’t missed a game in the last 20 something years we have been playing hockey, they love it and come to literally everything,” she said.

“They came to every state tournament as kids, they still come to every game on the weekend.

“I think we are pretty lucky that we do have that support network around us at Wolves, and also have had some really great coaches over the years for the women’s program, when we have had Scott Goodheart, Tony Powell, Will Bias, everyone has had a real positive influence on us, and they have helped us along the way.”

By FRASER WILLIAMS