Cullum-Sanders’ amazing rise to Hockeyroo

After not even being on the radar for the Hockeyroos, Hannah Cullum-Sanders is about to cap off a remarkable five months.

Cullum-Sanders was working a shift at a local supermarket when an email came through from Hockey Australia High Performance Director Bernard Savage with the subject line ‘2022 Hockeyroos Squad Selection – NZ Tour’.

“Strange – must be a mistake” was her first response when she first saw the email during her work break. No…this was no mistake. Cullum-Sanders’ name was on the Hockeyroos squad list of 22 players to compete at the Trans Tasman Series in Auckland.

It all hit home when Hockeyroos Head Coach Katrina Powell called the 18 year old to congratulate her on her selection.

“I got an email but I was at work at the time so I didn’t open it,” recalls Cullum-Sanders.

“I saw my name and thought it was a mistake at first and then got a call from Triny to congratulate me.”

While the outbreak of COVID across the world has been a hindrance for many, Cullum-Sanders used the pandemic to her advantage. She spent 2020 and periods of lockdown training and strengthening the weak areas of her game.

She scored seven goals for Queensland in last year’s Australian U18 Championships before life started to become ‘COVID normal’ at the end of 2021.

Heralding from Maryborough, a town 220 kilometres north of Brisbane, Cullum-Sanders’ hard work and improvement in her game led to her being offered a scholarship at the Queensland Academy of Sport at the start of this year. Since then it has been a whirlwind of a ride.

Currently in a gap year after completing Year 12 in 2021, Cullum-Sanders is working at a supermarket while dedicating the majority of her time and energy to her hockey pursuits.

“I haven’t had a lot of experience in high performance institutes…it only started when I was accepted into the Queensland Academy of Sport at the start of the year. That was my one goal, so I ticked that off,” said Cullum-Sanders.

She was invited to ‘fill in the numbers’ at the Hockeyroos selection trial in Brisbane and that’s when caught the eye of Powell.

“I was told I was a fill in and to have fun, so I wasn’t putting any pressure or expectation on myself,” said Cullum-Sanders.

“I felt like I fitted in when we had the trials in Queensland.”

This approach and her subsequent performance saw her selected into the National Development Squad, which are the athletes seen to be on the fringe of the Hockeyroos.

Cullum-Sanders then flew to Perth to spend a week training with the Hockeyroos squad where she reinforced her talent and potential.

Then the unavailability of fellow Queenslander Renee Taylor, who continues to recover from hip surgery, opened the door for Cullum-Sanders’ Hockeyroos call up.

“I’m really grateful and it’s still sinking in as I didn’t think I would be playing hockey for Australia for at a couple of years at least. To have the opportunity now is just amazing,” said Cullum-Sanders.

“It’s an opportunity to prove myself to the girls and the coaches because that’s what you need to do when you come into a team.”

For those fascinated by Cullum-Sanders’ hockey journey, it started from a young age courtesy of her mother’s involvement in the sport.

“I played soccer when I was 5 and ended up playing hockey because mum played hockey and all my friends’ mums played hockey, so we would all go and watch it and then started playing,” said Cullum-Sanders.

“It was Under 11s that I realised you could play this sport seriously and around that time I was watching Brooke Peris and others playing for the Hockeyroos on television, and now to stand in the same room as them is unreal.”

Cullum-Sanders flew into Auckland with teammate Claire Colwill to join up with the rest of the squad today.

The Hockeyroos’ 4-match Trans-Tasman Series against the Vantage Black Sticks will be livestreamed in Australia on LIVEHockey. Match 1 is on Tuesday 10 May at 5.05pm AEST.