Hockey career comes to a premature finish

Press, 9 November 1984, Page 15

Hockey career comes to a premature finish

By

KEVIN TUTTY

Robyn Blackman, who has been a priority selection in the New' Zealand women’s hockey team for six years, will be missing when the next national team is named. Blackman has retired from international hockey after a distinguished career, at the relatively youthful age of 25, and at a time when her best hockey years should be approaching.

Numerous factors have combined to lead Blackman to the conclusion that retirement was the inevitable step she had to take. The most telling factor, she said, was the amount of time that had to be spent training for overseas tours and tournaments.

“I would love to keep playing, but it has been hectic for the last six years. I have had to train through every summer since I was selected in the New Zealand team, and that is hard when there are other things in life.”

Miss Blackman is a schoolteacher and this year, preparing for the Olympic Games, she found it difficult fitting in training. “Some people say teaching is easy, but I found I was up late at night after training, catching up on work. I could see that if I continued it was going to get more and more difficult.”

A player of small stature, Blackman makes up for lack of height with nuggety determination and excellent stick skills. Because she played as a half, a position which requires soundness rather than flamboyance, she never won true recognition for her competence at international level.

Her retirement is typical of her thoughful approach to the game, and her teammates. The prospect of continuing to play but being conscious of the fact that she might not be able to give total commitment to the national team, would be a situation foreign to Blackman.

The decision to end her international career after 41 matches was irreversible. “I don’t want to stop and come back later. I would miss tours, and I think if you do that you lose touch with international hockey. There are also a lot of young players on the verge of the national team and I might not be able to make it back anyway.” “It was a decision I thought about for a long time. I had decided before I went to the Olympics that I would retire, but when I got there and got caught up in the atmosphere and competition I almost changed my mind. But once I got back to New Zealand the decision became final.” Other factors in Blackman’s decision to retire were her impending marri-

age and the financial commitment which overseas tours require. Members of the national team still have to pay a high proportion of the cost of any tour. Her considerable skills will not be entirely lost to the game however. Blackman intends to continue to play for Canterbury and assist it to add tc the proud record of six national championships in the last seven years.

One regret she has about her international career is that New Zealand never achieved the success she believed the team was capable of. Her first international tournament was at the world championships in Vancouver in 1979. New Zealand was seeded third for the tournament, and although it lost only one game, finished ninth. In the six years leading up to that tournament New Zealand had played 22 international matches without a loss. There were a number of memorable games for Blackman in spite of the general lack of success of the national team. In 1982, New Zealand beat Canada, 3-2, in Wales and came back from 1-2 to achieve the result. The first match of the Los Angeles Olympics, against the Netherlands, was also memorable, in spite of New Zealand losing, 1-2, to a goal of doubtful validity in the dying minutes.

Blackman has no ambitions to pursue coaching but will use her considerable knowledge to assist young players at her school and for her club, Carlton.

“I am happy to help the club because it has been tremendous to me during my career.” Fortunately for Canterbury, Blackman will still be available for provincial selection and it is not inconceivable that she will still be in that team 10 years hence provided time and enthusiasm allow.