Ms Bradey says working with her dogs Girl and Meg is a great retreat from the city life of a Black Stick.
Seven years ago when Kayla Bradey led her Dannevirke primary school hockey team to their first win in the inter-provincial Rawleigh Cup tournament, she had a dream to make it to the top in the sport.
Inspired by her cousin, former Black Stick Caryn Paewai, Ms Bradey's dream is coming true with the midfielder named in the Black Sticks development squad and hoping to represent New Zealand in the upcoming series against the Indians in November.
"Making it into the squad was a huge surprise. It was awesome," Ms Bradey told the Dannevirke News. "This is all happening very fast, but it's so exciting and it's so cool to show you don't have to be from a big city to make a team like this. It even happens in small-town Dannevirke."
Ms Bradey said her selection was cause for celebration for her family.
"I think my dad was the most excited," she said. "We celebrated for a week, but then to achieve my next goal they soon put the screws on."
Ms Bradey, 20, plays her hockey in the Manawatu and travels to Auckland to train with the Black Sticks.
"It's about being able to step up into the team when we're ready," she said. "It's something of the unknown and a bit daunting because coming up against a full international side, I don't know how hard and intense it will be.
"The expectations on us are huge. We've [Black Sticks] got to keep performing to get funding, so there's a lot of pressure to keep fit and keep our skills up. There's no slacking off."
To give her all to her hockey career, Ms Bradey has had to leave university and her Bachelor of Commerce studies behind and now works as a shepherd on the family farm.
"I think it was a pretty easy choice," she said. "I love shepherding and my dogs Girl and Meg are my mates. When I go to Auckland everyone else is a townie and I'm the only country bumpkin. I love the farm and I'll always be a country girl at heart but I have to be a city girl sometimes."
Ms Bradey said her parents were along for the ride too, supporting her in every way.
"I couldn't do this without my family," she said.
And Ms Bradey looks back on 2007 and her team's historic win in the Rawleigh Cup with pride.
"We had such an awesome team and yes, I always had this dream, but you don't expect it to happen to you," she said. "Now when I play and train in the Manawatu, I see the young kids looking up to us and it reminds me of when I was their age."
Former coach Suresh Patel said Ms Bradey was a fantastic captain and leader when she took the 2007 Dannevirke primary school girls' team to their historic win bringing the Rawleigh Cup back to our town for the first time.
"Kayla had the ability to always help and encourage her teammates and no one trained harder or had a greater understanding of the game," he said. "When she was on the field, she lifted the performance of others around her because nobody tried harder than she did.
"Right from those early days, you could see she had huge potential and even way back then there was no doubt she was going to one day represent our country."
Making her way to the top of her sport has been a lot of hard work, Ms Bradey admits, but she wouldn't have it any other way.
"I've been out of school for two years, so it's been two years of training hard and Dannevirke's Janine Withey has been the biggest help to me, training-wise," she said. "It doesn't ever get easier."
However, Ms Bradey said she's been given good advice by the national coaches. "They've said enjoy it and to realise hockey isn't my whole life."