Hockey: Sibling rivalry fuelling passion

OH BROTHER: Brooke Neal (in pink) and fellow hockey international brother Shay have spurred on each other to greater heights. PHOTO/Duncan Brown

AS X and Y chromosomes go, it appears the Neal family from Whangarei have got the right formula in hockey, if you get the genetic drift.

Mark, a design and print company proprietor, and Leone Neal, a schoolteacher, are the proud parents of Brooke and Shay Neal, who are Black Sticks representatives for their respective genders.

"I don't know, it might be in the genes but mum and dad are really supportive," says a grinning Neal, revealing her father represented Northland at age-group level so there's definitely a trickle-down effect biologically.

Brooke and Shay have often engaged in some healthy banter on matters pertaining to such things as height and why she's a defender and he a striker.

"I guess we played a little together and fed off each other," says the 23-year-old of her brother playing in the Sultan Azlan Shah Memorial Cup in Malaysia from this week while she is an integral part of coach Mark Hager's matrix saddled with the task of trying to thwart the Australian foragers in the second semifinal of the Hawke's Bay Cup from 6.15pm today.

The New Zealand women's national team, who are seeking their first bragging rights here, play the defending champions in a tournament which is part of the third annual HB Festival of Hockey in Hastings.

It's an all-Asian affair between favourites Japan and China from 4pm in the other cup semifinal at the Unison Stadium despite the gulf in their 10th and 5th world rankings, respectively.

Brooke Neal is hoping to make her Olympics debut in Rio with her brother but appreciates nothing is a given until makes his cull in June.

Working part-time in marketing for BrandSpanking, she this year put her job on the backburner to focus on her hockey aspirations.

The healthy sibling rivalry always adds a bit of flavour and purpose to their quests.

"Growing up we had good-natured rivalry," she says, adding he always won anything related to sport.

"I'm taller than him though, which I claim is the only thing I have over him.

"He doesn't like to talk about it but somehow I got the height genes in the family."

"Now it's different, though, and we support each other a lot."

Like any children growing up, it was normal for their parents to keep their rivalry in check.

It amuses her that Shay believes she evolved into a defender because when they were little he'd dress her up in goalkeepers' gear and a helmet, before whacking tennis balls at her in the lounge.

With age, no doubt, they soon found common ground that perhaps was most accentuated on the dance floor, of all places.

"Before our hockey got serious, we both loved to dance," she says, revealing they had won a radio competition that earned them a trip to New York to dance with the Step Up choreographers.

Black Sticks siblings Brooke Neal and Shay Neal. PHOTO/NZME.

"I was 16 and Shay was 18. It was such an unreal experience," she says on her website.

Shay graduated as a solicitor last year and is working for the law firm, Meredith and Connell, in Auckland.

Like most families in Northland, the Neals have built an affinity with the pockets of exotic beach spots dotting the picturesque coastlines, including Whananaki and Puriri Bay which are "their favourite places in the world" for their endless summer camps.

The Hockeyroos have had the wood on the Black Sticks since post-London Olympics in 2012 so today's performance will not only be a snapshot of the hosts' character but also their resolve in the, at times, meandering road to Rio.

"It's always fun playing Australia because we have that over-the-ditch rivalry so we're really looking forward to playing them on Saturday," says the Northland NHL player after the Stacey Michelsen-captained Kiwis hung out the South Koreans to dry in a 6-0 spanking on Thursday in the quarter-finals.

"It's going to be the same thing [as Korea] with the mind set of keeping a clean slate at the back and we're going to be obviously tested a little bit more but that's what the tournament is all about.

"It's always great playing those top teams [in building towards Rio]."

Having won the 2-2 series against Argentina a few weeks ago was great but to add the Hockeyroos to that list would be an ideal affirmation to the Olympics.

"We're playing another series against them in Darwin so it'll be really good to have the lead from here going there."

Neal says it'll be nice to win the semifinal today in front of a home crowd in a bid to etch their name on the silverware for the first time.

"It's nice to have family watching at nice venues around the country because we do play a lot overseas as well so the local factor should be another factor to get us through."

For the back line putting up the shutters against the golden blitz it's essential they communicate with each other.

"We need to have each other's backs and make sure we're there for 'out letting' and defence then we should be good."

The winners of Japan and China, she says, also will be a handful.

"They are really skilful players who run hard and are physical so we'll have to make sure we can match that and we aren't getting too ahead of ourselves because we have to beat Australia first and that's going to be difficult."

Picking up attacking South Korean players trying to latch on to aerial passes was one of their goals and accomplished well on Thursday night.

"We did our jobs really well so we're pretty happy," says the lanky Kiwi defender.