In her final year at Hamilton Girls' High School, Hotham admits it's not easy training for a national team alongside completing her studies, but her school has been accommodating.
"I guess I haven't got the balance just yet. If it's training or study, I'll head down the training pathway. I've been allowed to do four subjects so I can train during school."
"I do tempo, sprints during my study period, go to class and then another study period when a coach will come in. After school, I either have touch or sevens training. Usually after that I'll go to the gym."
At 17, Hotham is often playing with and against older women, some almost twice her age.
"When you're sitting in camps across from Portia Woodman and Niall Williams, the best players in the world and they're so much older than you, I feel like the baby of the team, but I also feel like they're my sisters."
The daughter of Nigel Hotham, long-time coach of the Hamilton Boys' High School first XV, sevens and touch teams, Hotham seemed destined to become involved in the sport.
"My whole family has played touch from a really young age, my two older brothers played rugby and I wanted to follow their pathway."
