Squibb determined to make most of second Hockeyroos chance

Hockeyroos defender Penny Squibb is living proof of someone who has been knocked down, dusted themselves off, learnt from the experience and done everything to bounce back.

You can take the girl out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the girl. Penny is a country girl at heart having been raised on a farm in Tambellup, a town situated 300 kilometres south east of Perth.

The 27 year old now finds herself back in the Hockeyroos fold after being in the national squad in 2019 only to be dropped for 2020.

But rather than wallow in self pity, Penny used the COVID affected last 12 months to better every area of her game that needed improving. Her persistence, perseverance and unwavering love of the game has seen her receive a second coming of sorts as she secured a place in the Hockeyroos squad in an Olympic year.

Penny is as grounded as any elite athlete could be and she is ready to use her experiences, particularly of the past two years, to hers and her Hockeyroos teammates’ advantage heading into 2021.

We caught up with her after she spent some time back at home to find out how she managed to make it back into the Hockeyroos squad and why this time around she knows it will be different for the better.

Did you have a nice break over Christmas?

PS: “I went home to the farm for two weeks which was nice to get out of Perth and chill out for a while. It’s always nice to have the whole family together.”

Have you still got your bedroom from when you lived there?

PS: “It’s exactly the same actually. My brother, sister and I have still got our rooms at the house from when we were kids.”

It has been over a month since the announcement that you are back in the Hockeyroos squad. How does it feel?

PS: “I felt a little bit nervous going back for my first training session, even though it was only a small group of us. You are not sure what to expect or what to feel. I’m guessing when the whole squad is together that I’ll get those nerves again, but it was nice to relax a little bit and take myself away from everything that was happening. The hype of being selected, to be able to go away and spend some time on the farm. I find I’m one of those people that can think about a lot of different things all the time and can almost play scenarios in your head before they happen.”

You must have shown your wares and what you are capable of at the selection camp?

PS: “That was one of my goals going into it…to purely just play hockey. When I relax and not think too much about every aspect of the game, I generally play better because I play on my natural instincts. So that was a big thing for me. Coming into this year you learn from the coaches and everyone else, but at the end of the day you’ve got to enjoy working hard and playing hockey because that’s what we’re there for.”

Everyone has their own story of how they made this squad and yours is unique in that you were in the squad in 2019 and then found yourself out of it after one year. What does it mean to you to be given another opportunity?

PS: “There is a bit of relief and also a feeling of accomplishment. After my deselection at the end of 2019, I had meetings with Goodas (Head Coach Paul Gaudoin) and we decided that it was a matter of me putting my head down, working hard and improving on the things I needed to. That’s what I went out to do last year…put myself in the best position I possibly could to get reselected. I was comfortable at the end of last year that if I didn’t get selected that I had done everything I could have to put myself in that position. Mum and dad have always told us kids that at the end of the day, as long as you can say you have done everything you could, you have to be comfortable with that because it’s only yourself that is going to eat you up about it. Heading into the selection camp I knew I had done everything I could and that gave me confidence going into not only the camp, but also this year. To be in the squad now, it is kind of nice to know that all the hard work has been noticed. Now the hard work starts again.

After I was dropped I knew I still wanted to play hockey. I worked as a relief teacher and in a hockey shop last year, and both of those jobs allowed me to keep playing hockey. To get picked in the Hockeyroos again, it was the first step in making sure that it’s not going to be a repeat of last time. When I first got picked it was almost a sigh of relief but also overwhelming because I didn’t know how to respond or react. Now I semi know what is expected and the pressures, demands and everything that comes with high performance sport…and I’m better equipped to deal with them all. I’m looking forward to this year because I have been there and I’d like to impart what I’ve learnt to the group.”

If there is a silver lining to being dropped in 2020 it is the fact that the Olympics have been postponed by 12 months due to COVID and now you’re in contention to make the team for Tokyo?

PS: “I thought my Olympic dream was gone and then all of a sudden COVID hit. So when it was postponed, it became a matter of working hard to put myself in contention. The Olympics is the ultimate goal but it is also making sure that every day I’m getting better so you give yourself that chance to get picked.

Years of different hockey and working at schools, you soon realise that if you only do what you have to, you set yourself up to fall from what you think is ok. Whereas if you can keep looking at ways to get better, then you are going to get better.”

How did your love of hockey start for you?

PS: “I think I was six years old when I played my first hockey game and it came about because my older sister broke her arm at a birthday party. My older sister and brother both played and my dad was the coach and we needed an extra player, so that’s how I started.

For our family Saturdays were all about hockey. We would go to hockey at 9am for my game and we would stay there until 8pm at night having dinner because my brother, sister and dad would all have their games throughout the day. That’s where my love of the game came from. I played all of my juniors in Tambellup and didn’t play on synthetic turf until I was 13. I think everyone should have a training session on the grass because you certainly learn to watch the ball more than what you do on turf.

I got picked in my first state team when I was 14. I was still living on the farm so mum and dad used to do the eight hour round trip to Perth every week for ten weeks. Every Friday I would miss half a day of school, we would drive to Perth, train Friday night and Saturday morning and then drive back to Tambellup for hockey on Saturday afternoon.

A year later I moved to Perth for school because my local school was getting smaller and my parents were about giving us the best opportunity in both sport and academia. I continued playing hockey at Curtin University and made my way up from there. I think my first year at the West Australian Institute of Sport was in 2012, so it was just a matter of keeping at it. There was never a time I didn’t love hockey and I kept coming back to the fact that I still wanted to do it. Playing hockey was the one thing in the world that I wanted to do and that is still the case now.”

Is it fair to say that you can take the girl out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the girl?

PS: “Definitely. That’s one of my favourite sayings. When I was back on the farm during the break I needed to do a long steady run and dad needed to do some sheep work, so he told me I can run behind the sheep. That was my run, 45 minutes running behind sheep getting them into the yards. One of my first days back at the farm was on the tractor feeding the cows and I really enjoy that because it gets my brain off hockey and out of Perth. It allows me to be me and it is relaxing. So that saying is very true for me.”

Would you say your hockey journey has been one of persistence considering you have been at WAIS since 2012 and you are now getting to have your second crack with the Hockeyroos?

PS: “When I first got picked I had some messages from people about persistence and perseverance and sticking with it. I spoke with some of the older WA Hockeyroos girls who were from the country and they said that time you have to work that bit harder or longer for it makes it more special in terms of knowing how hard you have worked. That day you get to put on the Hockeyroos uniform to play an international is not just the training sessions from the last six weeks that you’ve done, it is the training you’ve done over the last six years. As elite athletes I think we sometimes get caught up in the moment and forget about what made us love the game in the first place. If you keep finding that enjoyment you are only going to get better.”

What did you do in your time away from hockey last year?

PS: “I really enjoyed relief teaching and found that was a great release from hockey. The students are at school and don’t really care who you are or where you’ve come from. You are just their teacher so I really enjoyed that and am going to try and keep doing it this year.”