Panera Marshall has no intention of trading her hockey stick for a netball bib _ despite a nasty crack to the head yesterday at inline hockey's Queen's Birthday tournament that left her fighting a flood of tears in the semifinal showdown.
The gutsy Manawatu 13-year-old, playing for Palmerston North's Dragons, had
been the star of her side's semifinal against the Mount Wellington Panthers at the Mount Action Centre, pulling off save after sprawling save to keep them in touch.
Down 2-1 midway through the third quarter of the under-12 playoff, Marshall took a shot to forehead.
Her helmet cushioned most of the impact from the 120-gram flying missle but a sobbing Marshall spent the rest of the quarter off the rink with an ice pack across her forehead.
In her absence Dragons, with no reserve goalkeeper, fell to pieces, letting in four unanswered goals in three minutes to trail 6-1 into the last quarter.
"I didn't want to spend the rest of the game watching so I sucked it up and went back out," said Marshall, who got a standing ovation as she skated back into the arena.
Dragons eventually lost 10-2 but Marshall said the injury hadn't put her off playing.
"I also play netball and, although this (inline) is way more physical, I enjoy it more."
Her coach Stewart Waldman said Marshall's influence on the pint-sized team, which had four girls in its lineup, was huge.
"She's been great for us all weekend and it was a pretty big ask for her to go back out there after the hit she took."
The weekend tournament was Tauranga Inline's biggest yet, with 19 teams competing from throughout the North Island.
New Plymouth Ravens took the under-10 grade ahead of Mount Wellington Panthers and Hamilton Devils.
Tauranga's Mighty Ducks lost their playoff yesterday in the under-12 grade 5-2 to Hamilton Devils.
Tauranga will host the national inline hockey championships at the Mount Action Centre from September 26-30, with 60 teams expected to attend.
