From Wagin to the World stage

Australian hockey great Ash Nelson’s journey with the Hockeyroos was a decorated one but she never forgets where it all began.

Nelson, who scored 69 goals during her 205-game international career, grew up in the small wheat and farming district of Wagin, located about 225km south-east of Perth.

“I started when I was about five years of age and used to follow my two older brothers down to the Wagin hockey field,” Nelson said.

“My cousins played hockey, and my dad played hockey, my aunty played hockey, besides from my mum who played netball, it was a path that was expected to be chosen given the family love for the game.

“Being the youngest and the only girl, I always wanted to be competitive with my brothers and try and get a hit.”

Growing up in regional WA may have shaped an early future for Ash, but it was age 15 when her boarding school journey in Perth began, and her career took off.

Nelson’s accomplished international career came suddenly to her in 2007 when she received a very unexpected phone call.

“I didn’t really know if I was good, I went to state trials and got in, then it was a journey from making state teams to have the chance to represent Australia off the back of [state under] 21s in 2007,” Nelson said.

“Somebody got injured and I got a call from someone, to this day I do not remember who called me but they said ‘we need you on a plane to go over to Adelaide and play for the Hockeyroos’.

“I didn’t realise that I was on the radar, I was just playing for the love of the game and didn’t even realise that senior selection was even on the table.

“I put the phone down and thought ‘is this a joke?’, but when I got a ticket with my name on it to go over it was quite a surreal experience.”

Nelson then went on to play her first international match for the Hockeyroos against Japan, and shortly after, her career skyrocketed.

Highlights for Nelson’s career include participating in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

“[Delhi] was one of the hardest tournaments I have ever played in, just because of the heat with the 1pm games,” Nelson said.

“We had a couple of injuries, so we were down to 14 players, physically it was really taxing on the body.”

While all the odds may have been against the Hockeyroos women, the final game and victory was well worth it.

“In the final against New Zealand, in the last couple of minutes they managed to tie it up and I remember thinking ‘I don’t know if I can do this’, and I was so exhausted,” Nelson said.

“I was not sure if I could go to extra time or play out one on ones.

“I dove for a ball and did not get up for about a minute after because of how exhausted I was.”

While the tournament may have been draining, Ash and her side managed to persevere into penalties.

“It went into penalty strokes and I was fortunate enough to take the first stroke,” Nelson said.

“People always say that being the first to take the stroke would make me really nervous but because I was so exhausted, I was really calm and wanted it to be over.

“I managed to push on and put it down low in the corner, and that was such a relief.

“Nic Arrold at the time was the last one to take it, and she sealed the deal, it was an amazing experience.”

Ash talked fondly of the experience of playing with the group of girls that she did at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the opportunity that it was for her.

“Any time you get the opportunity to win with people that you have trained extensively with, and you all have a common goal is a wonderful moment,” she said.

“It is great to have success with a group of people and not just individually.”

Either having the success of an international career or juggling full-time study can be difficult in itself, let alone doing both as Nelson was.

“Having more than just an athletic career was super important, so I decided to study occupational therapy, which was a way to give back to the community and give me a purpose outside of hockey,” she said.

“It was really difficult; you have to accept that it will take you longer to finish your degree, my group of friends finished uni a year before me, it was stressful.”

Ash graduated from Curtin University in 2010, the same year that she won a Comm Games gold medal with Australia, giving her some security outside of her athletic career.

An Olympic Games is a notable feat for any athlete, one Ash was lucky enough to achieve when she played at the London 2012 Olympics.

The experience, while an incredible opportunity, left Ash feeling a slight amount of disappointment.

“It was amazing to go but I still have a sense that I wish that it had gone better, we really had the potential to do better,” Nelson said.

“We missed out on the final due to goal difference, and it came down to not scoring one goal or having one goal scored against us.

“In the first game we played against New Zealand, they scored in the first couple of minutes, which was not the ideal start.

“We played quite well and at any other Olympics getting this number of points would have got you to the finals, but this one was different.”

Despite her feelings of regret, the experience was still once-in-a-lifetime for Nelson and her teammates.

“You walk around with icons of the sport; you see Usain Bolt and Roger Federer and you kind of get those ‘pinch yourself’ moments,” she said.

“As a team I just think we had to potential to do better.”

Alongside her Olympic and Commonwealth Games successes, the 2014 World Cup in the Netherlands stands out as a big career moment for Nelson.

“In Holland they just really love hockey, and the rivalry between Holland and Australia,” she said.

“The way it ended up was that the Kookaburras and the Hockeyroos were both in the finals and both Holland teams were in the finals, so it became a grudge match between two countries.”

The rivalry may have been at boiling point, but the men’s and women’s sides being in the final was a moment of pride for everyone back home in Australia.

“We came in with a lot of belief, to have thousands of people in the crowd, you could not hear your team mates on the field,” she said.

“There were seas of orange with little pockets of yellow.

“We lost two-nil but felt that it was a good game and we played to our full potential.

“I don’t think there was much more we could have done, sometimes losing can have an element of success about it.”

The low points did not hang around for long as the Hockeyroos bounced back, claiming victory at the next Commonwealth Games in 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland.

“That was a hard one for me, I came into it with an injury that I got from the World Cup,” she said.

“We were quite a dominant team throughout the tournament, the type of hockey we were playing, and our attitude really spoke about us as a team, and we did not give up against England.

“We got down to the last penalty corner in the dying seconds of the game and managed to win it, Jodie Kenny was able to slot it in and I remember being there for the deflection and it didn’t go in the first time but she calmy slotted it in the corner.”

Nelson felt the Glasgow victory was a different type of win compared to Delhi.

“I did not get to take a one-on-one this time, so I had to watch on as the girls took them,” she said.

“I was quite confident we were going to win because we had that belief, and at the time our goalkeeper Rach Lynch was the best in the world at doing one-on-ones.”

An ACL rupture in 2016 brought Nelson’s career to an early halt, ruining her chance at a fairy-tale ending.

“I was hoping the Rio Olympics would be the final dance and it would be a good way to end my career, having a shot to make it into the finals,” she said.

“The disappointment was around not getting that opportunity so every other chance I had needed to be appreciated more and you really never know when it will be your last game.

“I knew as soon as I did the injury that it would be over, I knew I would not have the passion and the drive to come back, and I just knew it was time.”

Ash stayed with her team after the Olympics to do her rehab and ensure she could get her knee right, even if her international time was coming to an end.

Off the back of this, when one door closes, another opens, and Ash was able to open new career avenues for herself.

“When I did my ACL, the silver lining was that I was more available to do some stuff for the Olympics with radio and TV, and even some commentary,” Nelson said.

“I enjoyed it, the live aspect and being around sport."

“There is more growth to be had, particularly with women’s sport, I think we need more female voices covering sport.”

Nelson’s time spent travelling the world representing Australia has been beneficial in developing the communication skills that assisted in her success.

“I went back and did a post grad in broadcasting,” she said.

“I got my first job with Nine and 6PR, and after doing that I have since been at Ten as a full-time sports reporter.”

With all she has experienced and the opportunities she has been given, Ash credits everything to where she came from.

“I had a wonderful upbringing in the Wagin community,” she said.

While they do not have the resources that other places might, they certainly put the effort in the make sure we got every opportunity to develop and grow.

Nelson now spends her time as a broadcaster for Ten, as well as continuing her playing career in the All Flags Premier League for Suburban Lions.

By FRASER WILLIAMS