In the first of a series of New Zealand hockey team appearances on the global stage over the next three months, Cotter’s team is ranked No 12 for the tournament and includes fellow Hawke’s Bay player and fellow Black Sticks senior women’s representative Emma Findlay.
In pool play they meet No 4-ranked England on Friday, Japan (No 15) on Saturday and No 5-ranked the United States on Monday.
The best placing at Junior Women’s World Cup level for any of the nations in the pool was England’s third place at the 2022 championships in South Africa, a tournament New Zealand missed after being unable to compete in the qualifying tournament because of the Covid-19 crisis.
Cotter, a former Napier Girls’ High School student, had an impressive Black Sticks debut, subbing on at the age of 19 against Spain in February which made her a near-automatic choice for the next game.
She told Hawke’s Bay Today from Santiago: “We’re super excited to get under way with the tournament and I know the girls are all eager to get stuck into our first pool play matches.
“We haven’t played any international games as a full team yet but believe we are capable of matching some of the top sides here in Chile,” she said.
“We have England, Japan and USA in our pool, which we are preparing for as tough games, but also with some confidence that we can put out a good performance and hopefully get some results our way.”
The two from Napier are among several players from Hawke’s Bay lining up in international hockey in the near future, with Napier brothers Luke and Jonty Elmes next off, to the junior men’s World Cup in Malaysia starting on December 5.
Cotter’s sister, Kaitlin, and former Iona College pupil Olivia Shannon are in the women’s Black Sticks for a five-match trip to the United States, including three internationals, ahead of an Olympic Games qualifying tournament in India in January, and Findlay’s brother, Sean, was at the 2023 men’s World Cup with fellow Hawke’s Bay players Sam Hiha and Dom Dixon.
Hawke’s Bay was once the dominant force in New Zealand women’s hockey, winning the K Cup national championship nine times between 1968 and 1980, but in modern times is seen as where the players are developed.
Hockey New Zealand communications manager Dom Thomas described Hawke’s Bay’s situation as an “interesting one”, because most of the talent “ends up going to play for Auckland or North Harbour as that’s where they move to when they join the Black Sticks”.
“But if everyone who was eligible to play for Hawke’s Bay played for them then they would be one of the best sides at a national level,” he said.
The Black Sticks are typically ranked higher than their resourcing suggests and the teams “typically punch above our weight on the world stage”, he said.
“I think the NZ public has quite high expectations for our sports teams – especially among the more well-known sports,” he said.
Players such as Cotter, Findlay, and the Elmes brothers are now part of a plan to position New Zealand to challenge for the medals at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 50 years of journalism experience in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.
