Hockey: Progress needed in last hitout

By DAVID LEGGAT

The Black Sticks' Olympic buildup takes a big step forward soon after midnight in Athens tonight when they play the first in a block of four internationals in six days.

The games, starting with South Africa, will round off their preparation for the Olympic competition. And after losing three internationals in Germany and Holland by a combined 14-2, it's time to sharpen up.

Key defender Lizzy Igasan reckons the squad have been lucky to have an extensive leadup programme before the Games tournament starts. Although they have been working through various combinations, sorting out what strategies best suit the squad, time is starting to run short.

"We've been pretty happy to have that many games. It's a good opportunity for us to get everything out there, working on how we want to play," the North Harbour 21-year-old said.

At the moment it was a matter of getting the foundations in place, and not being dispirited by negative scorelines.

"We're trying to achieve certain things, so when we get to Athens we'll know what we want to do.

"We have goals individually and as a team but we have to focus on the process and not the outcome.

"This is a stepping stone and there are times it looks like we've been playing together for years. But we've definitely had a big change since the start of the year when we hadn't played much hockey together."

Igasan remembers her first international - "against Korea in Wellington 2001. We won and I scored a goal" - as if it was yesterday. Now she has sailed past her half-century of caps, invariably at the heart of the Black Sticks' defence.

She'll be there for years to come and is already standing out for her leadership on and off the field, according to coach Ian Rutledge.

He argues that although the captain's band sits round the arm of midfielder Suzie Muirhead, the hard-hitting Igasan is a leader within the team setup. Not to mention his firm conviction that "she's well on her way to becoming one of the premier defenders in the world game".

Igasan is a sports co-ordinator at Rangitoto College and studying psychology at Massey University, doing a Bachelor of Arts - "I don't know where I want to take it. I'd like to intertwine it with my teaching" - but still pondering a specific career path.

She's come a long way from her days of whacking a ball round Kensington Park in Whangarei as a four-year-old. It was a family affair, Mum, two sisters and her brother all playing the sport. She moved south from Whangarei Girls High on a scholarship to Rangitoto in 1999, spending her sixth and seventh forms there. Now she's back, workwise, on familiar territory.

The Athens Games are new ground, however. Igasan was one of the new group of players swept in after the Sydney Games of 2000. She's eager to taste the Olympic adventure, but reckons it's important to keep a sense of perspective if world No 9 New Zealand are to make a dent in the 10-team competition.

"It's definitely becoming more and more real as we get closer, but with that comes the understanding that we've got a lot of hard work between now and then.

"We have to take the event away and play the tournament, and get some reward for the hard work we've been doing."


Black Sticks' countdown

Tonight: v South Africa (world No 13)

Sunday: v Netherlands (No 3)

Monday: v Australia (No 2)

Wednesday v Korea (No 8)

The Olympic programme

August 17: v China (3am NZT)

August 19: v Japan (5am)

August 20: v Argentina (7.30pm)

August 22: v Spain (7.30pm)

Classification games start August 24