Power to Aleisha for breaking into Hockeyroos squad

Aleisha Power has never shied away from a challenge and she has overcome her fair share to securing her first Hockeyroos contract.

The talented goalkeeper from Northam in Western Australia who turned 24 on New Years Day considered giving up the game numerous times, largely due to self doubt.

But last year, in a time where COVID took hold of everything, Aleisha used it to discover a new lease on life, learnt to be at peace with herself and realise what she is capable of.

Aleisha is overflowing with a determination to prove doubters wrong, much of which stems back from her childhood where we was constantly bullied at school.

She helped Victoria Park Xavier Hockey Club win its first Women’s Division 1 Premiership last year alongside fellow Hockeyroos Jane Claxton, Georgia Wilson and Karri Somerville.

Now, after being a standout at last November’s national selection camp, Aleisha has a self belief and is in a place both on and off the field knowing the only thing that can hold her back is herself.

In between her busy schedule, which includes two part time jobs, she took some time to talk about how she has come to be one of three goalkeepers in contention to represent Australia in women’s hockey at the Tokyo Olympics.

Happy Christmas and New Year. How has your break been?

AP: “Summer is usually when I work the most so I’ve been doing quite a bit of that. I went to the beach for my birthday with some mates which was fun and caught up with some cousins as well.”

It has been over a month since you were announced in the Hockeyroos squad. Has it sunk in yet?

AP: “We had our first modified training back yesterday and when I got there it still felt like I wasn’t in the team so I don’t think it has fully sunk in yet. But once things start ramping up I think it will hit home that I’m here now.”

Do you think that adds to the excitement of it all?

AP: “I love to be challenged so if anything is thrown at me or seems difficult at the time, as much as being challenged is hard, I really enjoy it. I am a bit of a perfectionist so I have this determination to work things out and get better at something.”

2020 was a year like no other for everyone. Can you take us through what the last 12 months has been like for you?

“It is kind of funny because I had no focus on my hockey at the start of it. I still wanted to play well and had the idea of hopefully being invited to the selection camp, but I have spent the last 12 months working on my life and making sure I was happy and felt fulfilled.

There was a period of time where I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere in hockey, my studies or my work. I had three months off from the West Australian Institute of Sport and after the isolation period due to COVID I thought I’m not ready to come back to this yet. There were things that I needed to do in my personal life and I think that had a huge impact on how I went into the selection camp mentally. I went into it thinking that I’ve done everything I can off the field to put myself in the best state to perform, and I didn’t feel any pressure. I think it was my fourth senior camp so I went in there with nothing to lose because I felt so stable off the field.

I think that’s why I played well because I didn’t feel the pressure to be successful on the field because of what I had done off of it.”

So last year was a time that you re-evaluated everything?

AP: “I took a step back and asked myself why I haven’t gotten anywhere. I wrote a list of eight things I wanted to achieve in 2020 and none of them were hockey related. Things like do a Diploma of Business, make your bed every morning…things like that. I felt so fulfilled by the end of the year so when I went into the selection camp I gave it everything because I had done so much during the year that it didn’t matter what happened at the camp…I just wanted to put it all out there and knew I wouldn’t be disappointed regardless of what happened.”

Do you think that helped you perform at the selection camp?

AP: “I told myself that I am good enough and capable of selection, so that mindset of giving everything to this, I knew I could do it. It was a real self belief…that if you believe in yourself and that you are capable, then that is the only opinion that really matters. In the past 12-18 months I have had this shift in mindset.”

What does it mean to you to be selected in the Hockeyroos squad for an Olympic year?

AP: “The Olympics is the pinnacle of our sport and ever since I was a kid I have wanted to go to the Olympics. Being picked for the Hockeyroos in an Olympic year is this opportunity that I have wanted my whole life, so it’s an incredible opportunity. Nothing is confirmed yet and I have to earn my spot but I’m really excited.”

Have you set yourself any individual goals for 2021 or is the focus to train as hard as you can and see where it leads?

AP: “I think I have developed a lot of good habits. I’m constantly trying to work hard and accepting when things don’t go right. The Olympics are on this year and I’m in the mix so my goal is to make the Olympic team. There are three of us (goalkeepers) in the squad and only one goes to the Olympics so I’ve just got to do my best. It is going to be difficult but I like challenges. I like it when people doubt me because I find so much satisfaction proving people wrong.”

You’ve already had a taste of being a Hockeyroo when you played in a home series in Adelaide against Japan in 2017. What are your memories of that time and how did the opportunity come about?

AP: “In 2016 I went to the Junior World Cup. We won a bronze medal and I was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament. The following year I missed out on selection for the senior national squad and they had a follow up camp which I attended but didn’t get picked. I was pretty devastated but was still relatively young and knew if I gave it a good shot and had a good Australian Hockey League (AHL) that I could possibly get a Hockeyroos debut. I worked hard in that period of time and then at the end of the year at the AHL I managed to perform well enough to get selected for the home series against Japan. I hadn’t seen the email to let me know that I’d been selected and I got a phone call from Georgia Wilson and she was screaming down the phone that I had done it. I was at work and burst into tears. I trained for a couple of weeks, went to Adelaide and I remember lining up for the national anthem for first game and couldn’t stop crying.”

Now three years later you’re back in the squad but this time as one of the three permanent goalkeepers. You have had to play the patient game haven’t you?

AP: “The three years between debuting and now…if I said that was an easy time of my life I would be absolutely lying. It was extremely difficult. The amount of times I nearly quit hockey I couldn’t count on one hand. I seriously considered giving up and the last time I considered giving up was last year when I had my three month break. It was challenging and having the carrot dangled for three years took a toll on me mentally and physically but I am really proud of myself that I listened to that inner voice that said don’t give up now. I don’t know where it came from but that fight to hold on…I’m glad I had it.”

Can you take us back to the start of where hockey started for you?

AP: “I have two older brothers and was a bit of a tomboy growing up. Whatever my brothers were doing I was doing, so I played basketball, tennis, soccer, karate, BMX…I just followed my brothers wherever they went and tried to be better than them.

I’m from Northam (100km northeast of Perth) and the soccer association closed down which is what we were playing at the time. My brothers then went and played hockey and so I wanted to play hockey. Mum still has the letter I wrote to Northam Hockey Association asking them if I could play the big kids hockey. I didn’t want to play Minkey, I wanted to play with the big kids. They my brothers started going to Perth to play for Curtin Trinity Pirates (now Curtin University), so I started playing there when I was 12 or 13. I made my first state team when I was 13. Mum took me down to the Under 16 schoolgirl trials for experience and I ended up being named as a train on player at the age of 13. I made every state team and played indoor hockey for a while. I got nationally identified when I was 16. I wasn’t originally invited to the futures camp but I played in a local grand final where we won and the national junior coach at the time just happened to be there. Then I went to the Junior World Cup in 2016 and made my Hockeyroos debut in 2017.”

When did you realise goalkeeping was your thing?

AP: “In juniors they rotated – everyone had to have a go in the goals. I was ok at it so I ended up getting stuck as the goalkeeper. Goalkeeping chose me, I didn’t choose goalkeeping. It happened before I came to Perth, so by the time I turned 13.”

A lot of people probably don’t see goalkeeping as a very glamourous or exciting position on the field. What is the best thing about being a goalkeeper?

AP: “There are a lot of misconceptions about goalkeeping and that we don’t do anything. I would burn over a thousand calories during a training session. There’s a misconception that you don’t have to be fit to be a goalkeeper. The best part of goalkeeping for me is the amount of control you have on the game and the amount of influence you can have on it. Everyone looks at the midfield and the strikers but we can make one save and change the game.

The amount of times my communication has prevented something from happening, I think our impact is really underrated. I think the selling point for me is the satisfaction of denying the opposition. They might do this amazing play and string a host of passes together that finishes with a shot, and all you have to do is make a save to deny it and make it amount to nothing. There’s a real satisfaction that you are the person in between them scoring and winning or losing. I really like that part of it.”

Goalkeepers wear a lot of protective gear. Does it still get annoying having to put it on?

AP: “It doesn’t take me too long. Sometimes I’ll zone out and put the kicker on the wrong foot but it doesn’t slow me down too much. I’ll put the gear on, walk a bit and then think that doesn’t feel right, I might have to adjust something. It kind of becomes a part of you and does feel comfortable when it is all on.”

What is the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome?

AP: “As a kid I was quite unhealthy and overweight, and got bullied at lot at school. I didn’t have a very good primary school experience and coming to Perth was a good thing to get out of that environment. So for me it was overcoming a lot of self doubt because that was ingrained in me as a kid and I was bullied for my appearance. It was a really hard 12 years but we live and we learn and I look at where I am now. I’m not naturally a small person so to get strong and fit and get where I am today has probably been the toughest challenge for me.”

Finally, what do you enjoy doing off the field?

AP: “I’m a believer that once I’m away from hockey, I’m Aleisha Power. I’m defined by my personality. When I’m away from the field I love socialising and I also love learning, so I’m currently studying a Diploma of Business and doing a Bachelor of Science, Nutrition part time. I love exercising, I love cooking, so they are the things you’ll find me doing away from the hockey field.”