In Her Own Words - Liné Malan

By Liné Malan

My family and I were all born in the UK, but when I was three years old we moved to South Africa. My upbringing in South Africa was really amazing. With my mum and dad always being very sporty, they introduced us to all forms of sport from a very young age, My dad played first-class cricket on his day and my mum was a very good water skier. Now they are very much into their golf. Growing up with two older brothers also got me very involved in sport and of course brought the competitive nature out in me.

When we were really young, my dad converted our yard into a sporting yard. He built a cricket pitch, a wall to hit tennis balls against with a netball hoop and so on. We had neighbours who were also involved in sport and would always jump over the wall when they heard us playing and joined in and it was just such a wonderful community to grow up in (the number of windows we broke was a bit concerning though). We also grew up across the road from sporting grounds where we always had access to tennis courts, hockey fields, rugby fields and cricket nets. I am very fortunate for all these facilities and all the opportunities my parents granted us. I played tennis, hockey, netball and competed in athletics and swimming competitively in primary school. I had my provincial – equivalent to state here – in tennis, hockey, netball and swimming. When transferring to high school, we had to choose one summer sport and one winter sport and I chose hockey and tennis. With a lot of help from my parents, brothers and coaches I managed to excel quite a bit in both sports and was fortunate enough to have represented South Africa in both hockey and tennis.

Throughout the years from under 13 to under 16, I never made my provincial A team, I always played in the B or C team. I worked really hard and was just never picked for the top teams, I put my mind to it and said to myself I will never play in a B or C team again and when I turned 16, I was chosen to represent the South African u/16 team. This was a huge achievement for me. I was shaking and that was where my international career started. Another two proud moments were when I was chosen to participate in the Junior World Cup in Mönchengladbach (Germany) in 2013 and making my debut for the senior national team in 2014 with my parents in the stands. I remember they were very emotional, because they knew how hard I had worked to get to that point.

The South African hockey program was always very challenging. I had some great teammates and our unity through the tough times still stands out to me. We never had the funding, and it was very challenging for us to get together as a group. Most of us were working full time after uni and all our annual leave was dedicated to sport. I was fortunate enough to have worked for my university's sports medical clinic and they supported my sporting career and gave me quite a lot of time off for it!

My major high moment in sporting was the day I made my debut for South Africa - it was a dream come true standing there singing my national anthem loud and proud! My major low was just the constant disappointment that came with selection and injuries. The selections were never consistent and not always on merit. It was deflating knowing you have worked your butt off, and you don’t get picked. In 2015 I played in the World League in Valencia and being quite hard and judgemental on myself I actually thought I had a pretty decent tournament, after that I was left out of the Africa Cup team with not much of a reason. I put my mind to it again to never give them any reason to leave me out again. I put the hard yards in and made sure I was the fittest player in the team... which eventually led to me snapping my Achilles in 2016. That was a huge low in my career and a very hard injury to bounce back from and all from overuse, trying to prove that I was good enough when I actually already was.

I have played in a few different countries and my hockey journey is actually amazing and I wouldn’t change it for the world. When I was busy completing my Honours degree in 2014 I had a six-week break and decided to hop on the plane to play a few games in the UK for Canterbury Hockey Club. In 2015 I had a compulsory internship year and started my Masters degree so I wasn’t able to return that year. I loved it and ended up going back for another full season in 2016. Whilst playing there I was offered the opportunity to come over to Australia, I had the choice between YM and Hale at that stage. My mind was set on YM, because they were in the Premier League, but after chatting to a few people my gut had me choosing Hale Hockey Club. I was in Australia for two weeks before I snapped my Achilles and unfortunately had to return home, but I felt like I hadn’t experienced hockey in Australia properly and had to return. In 2017 I returned, and I absolutely fell in love with Perth (being very similar to home). After the 2017 season here, I went back to the UK to play a season for Holcombe Hockey Club, but soon after returned back to Perth in 2018 and applied for my residency and have been here ever since.

I made my debut for the WA Diamonds in 2017 and my Thundersticks Hockey One debut in 2019. The WA program for me has been great - just being able to train as a state team for a few months and get everyone together is more than what I ever had in South Africa. The competitiveness at training and the high level of ability amongst players has helped me improve my hockey quite a lot. Also getting to know the girls and the friends I have gained out of the Diamonds/ Thundersticks set up has been amazing, and very welcoming and friendly.

I would absolutely love to play internationally again, but I think I am getting a little old! My biggest goal is for my hockey club, Hale, to win a premiership - preferably this year to redeem ourselves from the past two losses. It's devastating losing the grand final two years in a row and I would absolutely love to win it one day, especially with the close knit group we currently have. My second goal going forward is to make the top three in Hockey One with the Perth Thundersticks! I wouldn’t change a thing about anything so far. My hockey journey has been an absolute blast and I have met some of the coolest people along the way who I can now call lifelong friends. I have been able to see the world through my hockey and doing some epic non-hockey traveling on the side too.

I have built a life here in Perth and it's been great. It is extremely hard to be so far away from my family who are my support system, but I knew I would have a better future here. There are more opportunities here and with the current situation, South Africa has taken a real beating which is very sad to see, but Perth is where I will be for good now, but unfortunately I cannot find it in me to call it my home... my home is still in Paarl in South Africa where I grew up and that will always remain that way.

My biggest message to the youngsters coming through is to never give up and always be willing to learn something new. At my age I am still learning more about the game and always wanting to better myself individually to contribute more to my team. Working hard isn’t something all youngsters do much anymore, but I can promise you the saying “hard work pays off” is a real thing. Set your own goals, work as hard as you can to achieve them and never compare yourself to the hockey player next to you - be the best YOU can be.

As told to Erin Harwood

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