Daniel Scanlon’s exceptional hockey season will continue next month when he plays for a New Zealand under-19 side touring Australia.
The New Zealand team will play sides from Australia and Japan, along with other teams during the nine-day tour.
Scanlon, a St Paul’s Collegiate student, was named Waikato Hockey’s young player of the year, despite still having a full year left at college.
His play in premier hockey had been top notch this year, and he transferred that form into rep hockey for Midlands age grade teams.
Now he gets his first shot at international hockey and he can't wait.
"This is the first time I will play [in] a New Zealand team, so I'm really excited," he said.
"I've always wanted to play for New Zealand, and the Black Sticks obviously, so this is sort of the first step towards doing that one day."
A prolific striker, Scanlon has set some goals for the Australian tour, which includes banging in a few goals. He also wants to continue developing his workrate on the field, being the first line of defence when his team loses the ball.
If Scanlon can win the ball back quickly, he said his team is in a better position to counter attack and score goals.
"You do have to be quite fit, and I pride myself as being one of the fittest runners out there."
Scanlon is an impressive 800m runner on the track, and said it benefits his hockey because of the mix of speed and endurance required to do well.
"It’s the perfect track event for a hockey player, just because of what you have to do when you're playing hockey," he said.
"I'm not doing much track at the moment because of hockey, but I am working really hard on my fitness before we go to Australia."
If making an age group national team was the short-term goal, stepping up to the Black Sticks in future is Scanlon’s major goal.
That goal has been boosted somewhat by the inclusion of Hamilton 19-year-old Nic Woods in the Black Sticks squad for their series against Australia this month.
The two are regular competitors at club level in Hamilton and had played each other at college, when Woods was the standout for Hamilton Boys' High School.
"When I played him I might have beaten him once in the game, and I talked about it all game after that, even though he beat me about five or six times," Scanlon said.
"He’s definitely an idol of mine, because he’s made the New Zealand team so quickly after leaving school.
"It just shows what you can do with a bit of hard work, which I know he has put in. He’s playing some amazing hockey."
Scanlon leaves for Australia with the New Zealand squad on December 3.
