Pair to represent NZ in India

Holly Gaskin and Tara Hall were following a trend when they were both selected in the Junior Black Sticks women's hockey team to play in the Lal Bahadur Shastri under-21 Four Nations tournament in India from November 8 to 12.

That the duo will be debuting in a national side at the very same time is hardly surprising when their hockey curriculum vitaes are perused.

The two 21-year-olds represented Wairarapa at various age group levels before attending Wairarapa College where they played for their first XI. As well, they were members of the Dalefield senior women's side in the Wellington premier division club competition.

From there they moved on to Wellington where they both joined up with the Indians club before transferring to Harbour City this year.On the provincial front, Gaskin and Hall have played for Wellington at under-21 and senior women's level and were part of their national league team in 2011.

And, remarkably, their close hockey relationship extends into their university studies as well with both women studying industrial design at Massey.

"Yes, I suppose we do see plenty of each other," Gaskin said yesterday.

"It's always good to be training and playing with someone you know so well, I guess we've been able to push each other along".

Gaskin was "rapt to bits" with her Junior Blacks Stick selection as the defender had deliberately taken the second semester off from university to provide time for extra training.

But while she gave herself a "pretty good"chance of making the cut she wasn't counting her chickens because of the high quality of those in the reckoning for her position.

"You can't take anything for granted, someone is always going to be unlucky and miss out.".

Hall, a striker, was optimistic of being included in the 18-strong Junior Black Sticks side but, like Gaskin, was well aware there were no guarantees.

"I knew I had done the work to make it but you can't be too confident, you can never be too sure what the selectors will do."

Both Hall and Gaskin are looking forward to coming up against the best of their age groups from Australia, Germany and India, and are keen to make the sort of impression which will push their case for the Black Sticks senior team further down the track.