By JARROD POTTER
MOST people would go to ground when the national side overlooks them.
Greater Dandenong Warriors’ Hockey Club secretary Michelle Lombardo, from Narre Warren, shrugged off Australia not selecting her for the upcoming Masters Hockey World Cup by going elsewhere.
Lombardo is the beneficiary of a unique heritage which has allowed her to shrug off missing the Australian Over-40 Women’s Masters hockey team by… signing up to play for her home country New Zealand.
Lombardo emigrated from Hawkes Bay, New Zealand six-years-ago and has represented Victoria since she picked up the hockey stick again.
“We’re in the World Cup this year selected to play in Amsterdam and we’re pooled in the group with Australia and against the Netherlands so there are some very tough teams in there,” Lombardo said.
“I didn’t even realise I could go across the waters… had to get a release here.
“Last year I was selected for the Women’s Masters Victorian side and we had our tournament in Adelaide and won all our games.
“Went into the final unbeaten and unfortunately we let the ball drop and came runners-up – had to do a shootout and they were one-up on us.
“Through that we had Australian trials, I put my name down and whilst I got some good feedback, they told me to develop and work on a couple of things and they might select me for future tournaments.”
Out of a selection trial of 300 women, Lombardo emerged as one of the Silver Ferns’ best to head over to Amsterdam later this year for the Masters World Cup.
“But because the World Cup is in Amsterdam this year, I didn’t want to wait another four years, so I made inquiries with New Zealand… they were trialling their team two weeks after I came back from Adelaide.
“So they asked if I could get a release from Australian hockey, I went over trialled and got selected and I was very impressed.”
Despite her selection for New Zealand, Lombardo wants to keep pursuing an eventual spot in the Australian team.
In the meantime though, she would love to help guide New Zealand to victory over Australia at the World Cup.
The Masters World Cup is in Amsterdam from 5-13 June.
