MAYLANDS hockey player Aleisha Power will achieve her goal of representing Australia at the Junior World Cup in Santiago, Chile later this year.
Power, who recently played for the WA Diamonds in the Australian Hockey League (AHL), was selected in a 18-member squad for the women’s competition held in November.
The 19-year-old said she was surprised by her selection after a tough AHL campaign.
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READ NOW“I almost had a goal scored against me every game but I learnt a lot from the different situations and I am really excited to start training and working out what I can improve on from here until the Junior World Cup,” she said.
“I have been away with a lot of these girls before on previous junior trips so I am pretty excited to finally know who I am playing with.
“I am really excited to represent my country…the biggest thing for the junior age group is the Junior World Cup.”
Power said it was a “treat” to visit countries like Chile and China, as she would not have gone to either if not for hockey.
Head coach Tim White said the selected team was a talented group of young athletes.
“It provides flexibility across a range of lines and there’s a mix of experienced players at this level along with some exciting new talent,” he said.
“It’s a skilful and athletic group and we now look forward to working hard over the next six weeks to prepare as well as we can for the tournament.
“Obviously it was a very difficult selection process given the number of talented athletes we have in the under-21s age group, however we have looked at performances from across the year and feel that the athletes we have chosen are the ones who will give us the best chance of success at the Junior World Cup.”
The team will depart for Santiago on November 20.