It was playing hockey in Scone as a kid that sparked a love of the sport for Olympian Alice Arnott, and last week she came back to town to help share that love with the next generation.
“It’s just been really special to be back where I grew up, because this is where it all started for me and I just hope that being here can inspire future generations of possible Hockeyroos and Kookaburras,” Alice told The Hunter River Times.
“I remember when I was around this age Nikki Hudson came to Tamworth and I went to a clinic similar to this with her and I was just in admiration of her. It seems weird to think that maybe these kids think of me that way as well, I still don’t really feel like I should have the right for that, but it’s really nice and anything I can do to help inspire them is cool.”
After spending around six years playing in Scone, Alice started making the trip to Tamworth to play on turf fields, working her way up the ladder until making her Olympic debut in Paris this year.
“I feel like it hasn’t really happened, it just went so quickly,” she shared when asked what it was like.
“You’re so in the moment while you’re there that you don’t really appreciate where you are, and then you come home, and everything goes back to normal.
“So, it’s a funny one, it’s obviously such a cool thing to have experienced, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I have experienced it.”
When discussing highlights of the games, Alice shared that the team gelled really well and she loved getting to play and spend time with them.
Also, the surreal experience of living in the Olympic Village where she would be walking down to the food hall and pass the likes of Rafael Nadal or Simone Biles, something Alice will not soon forget.
The Hockeyroos contracts ended at the end of August and Alice along with her teammates will turn their focus to the Hockey One National League Series that is part of the selection process for the 2026 squad.
“At the end of that there’ll be a squad announced, hopefully my name will be on that list, my sights are firmly on the World Cup in 2026, we haven’t heard much about Commonwealth Games yet but hopefully that’s still on the cards and then LA Olympics would be pretty cool as well,” Alice concluded.
– JEM ANSHAW
