TOUGH ACT: Emily Gaddum is taking the festival job, Rio ambitions and home front in her stride in the next few days. PHOTO/Warren Buckland
THE ROAD to Rio has enough twists and turns to keep protagonists on tenterhooks but for Emily Gaddum there's the distraction of taking care of a few things on the domestic front to soothe her jangled nerves.
"I have changed my shirt name so I'll be wearing that for the first time against Canada and then down here in Hawke's Bay, so Harry will be quite proud of that," says Gaddum (nee Naylor) from Hawke's Bay after she and Harry Gaddum got married in Taupo last month.
Yesterday Gaddum travelled to Hamilton to join New Zealand women's coach, Mark Hager, and his squad for two matches against Canada tomorrow and Monday.
The Kiwis go into camp in Napier for the international Hawke's Bay Cup, which is part of the annual nine-day Hawke's Bay Festival of Hockey, from Tuesday before the tourney begins on Saturday, April 2.
The 30-year-old Black Sticks defender still has a few Naylor shirts so they will take pride of place as well.
"I've got 263 caps so I'm not sure if I'll quite hit 300 but, hopefully, I'll get a few more caps under my belt," she says as the most-capped New Zealand female international.
The Gaddums are building their new home on the outskirts of Havelock North.
In the past three weeks she has been helping organise the hockey festival here, not long after returning from the four-week stint in Argentina with the Black Sticks women who drew their series 2-2 but claimed the bragging rights on a superior goal difference.
Gaddum returned from her post-Glasgow Commonwealth Games hiatus last September in the NHL, with Hager picking her to play against Argentina. She thenpicked up a hamstring injury and was out for two months.
"I felt good in Argentina. My body felt good and I was fit coming out of it with lots of training and rehab work on my hamstring so that feels really strong."
She hadn't had much hockey before going to Argentina so was a little rough around the edges, but as the tourney progressed her muscle memory duly responded.
"I'm back to my normal playing self. I'm fit and ready for the next challenge - the games against Canada and then the Hawke's Bay Cup, which is a big tournament in the build-up to Rio," says the Central Mysticks player, who is now more a defender than a midfielder as opposed to her bridesmaid and former international captain Kayla Whitelock (nee Sharland), who has gravitated to midfield/striker because of her scoring prowess.
If anything, that year-long layoff has had a refreshing effect on Gaddum.
The squad of 25 will be culled to 16 in June, including two travelling reserves who won't play in Rio.
"Mark will keep trying new combinations before picking his final team."
She has a lot of hard work to do because of her layoff in a squad brimming with competitive members.
"It's a good thing because everyone is pushing for a spot. All the young girls have played 50 to 100 games for New Zealand.
"It's got good depth. I think it's the strongest group I've been involved with in my 10 years of playing," Gaddum says.
The defence is "solid" with everyone familiar with their roles on the platform of experience but, she hastens to add, there are always areas to improve.
"On attack and defence because we probably let too many goals in when we were in Argentina, and we didn't score enough from our chances."
Gaddum reckons the Black Sticks' chances of winning their own HB Cup tourney this year is "pretty good".
"Going on the rankings you'd probably think a New Zealand and Australia final," she says, mindful they lost in the dying seconds to the Aussies in last year's final, in which she did not play.
"It'll be nice to turn that around but all the teams are strong because six of them have qualified for Rio."
After the HB Cup there's the Four Nations in Australia in May and then the Champions Trophy in Britain the following month.
"It'll be my last hurrah because I've been going for quite a while now.
"If I get to Rio - I still have to make that final 15 - it'll be nice to get a medal," she says, reflecting on how close the tormented women got to finding a perch on the podium in London in 2012.
"We finished fourth in London so we've been asked to go one better but we want to be three better to win gold."
Gaddum says the Champions Trophy will lure the world's top six sides so that will be the ideal mock exam before Rio.
However, she's mindful not too many teams will be keen to show all their party tricks before the Olympics.
"You know, some teams may rest players with a few niggly injuries," she says, suspecting Hager won't rest too many players - but he certainly won't want them to expose all their moves, such as those pertaining to drag flicks and penalty corners.
Her wedding at a family holiday spot in Hatepe, Lake Taupo, last month is something she'll no doubt treasure forever.
"It was good fun, good music, good food so we were lucky to get Sileni wines," she says of the celebrations with 185 guests in a gigantic marquee, including a few hockey teammates.
She was a little nervous alighting from a "an old clinker boat" but found reassurance with her father, Brian, and brother Tom alongside her. "Harry didn't know I was coming in the boat so he got a little tearful."
The newly weds are preoccupied with the details for their new home. He is at the coalface helping the builders while she's making valuable contributions on choosing colours, tiles and such things.