NZ women's Inline hockey captain mixes it with men at nationals in Levin

Tara Fox.

New Zealand inline hockey captain Tara Fox is capping off a busy week at the national competition in Levin this week by playing in the men's grade.

Fox, 35, had no qualms about mixing it with some of the best male inline hockey players in the country.

"I'm quite a physical player anyway," she said.

Fox was not out of place among the men either, showing her class as a defender in what was an extremely face-paced game at senior level.

It was a busy time at the tournament for the recently married Fox. As well as playing for the Hamilton Devils women's side, of which she was also the coach, and she also coached the club's under 19 and under 16 teams.

It was raining gold for the Devils as the U16, U19, and women's teams had all won gold medals, with the men's campaign kicking off tonight.

Fox originally began figure skating as a 5-year-old on ice, which led to a passion for ice hockey where she had also represented New Zealand, retiring in 2014.

But she made a choice to continue playing inline hockey, although hinted that retirement was not far off after a lifetime on skates.

"I've travelled the world with hockey. This could possibly be my last year," she said, although she would love the opportunity to coach national teams in the future.

As a dual New Zealand inline hockey and ice hockey representative, she had travelled the world with both sports, and said New Zealand's inline results stacked up well in the international arena.

The NZ women's team, ranked 11th in the world, was placed third at the 2013 world championship, while they finished seventh in Italy last year.

Away from the rink, in recent years Fox had established the inline hockey coaching company Hockeywise. She was formerly Tara Tissink, before marrying teammate Courtney Fox earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Levin Thunder was praised for their organisation of the event.

President Arden Phillips said the club had waited for 26 years to stage the national competition, as their 65m x 40m wooden playing surface was rated one of the best in the country. The rink was larger than the standard size of 50m by 25m.

There were more than 650 players from 65 teams competing this week, in grades ranging from under-10s to Premier and Masters divisions.

Games were starting at 8am and were played well into the night.